How the hell did this become a best-seller and a movie? I'm not even 70 pages into Elizabeth Gilbert's deathless prose and already I'm drowning in cliche. As Jennifer Egan wrote in the New York Times Book Review: "Lacking a ballast of gravitas or grit, the book lists into the realm of magical thinking: nothing Gilbert touches seems to turn out wrong; not a single wish goes unfulfilled. What's missing are the textures and confusion and unfinished business of real life, as if Gilbert were pushing these out of sight so as not to come off as dull or equivocal or downbeat."
Indeed. I think Pollyanna's book is headed back to the shelf, or more likely back to Half Price Books.
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And I was looking forward to reading it too! Is it worse than Julie and Julia (if you read that)? Even though I think that's almost impossible, it's a good measuring stick for me.
Didn't read the book, but saw the movie and it was miserable. Definitely as cliched if not more. HOW did this get to be so popular???
Interestingly enough, they both have new books out this month: Gilbert taking about marriage after she vowed never to marry again (but only because the feds were making it too hard for her to conduct an international love affair, mind you) and Powell airing her adulterous dirty laundry after painting her husband to be a saint. The hypocrisy some memoirists display makes me sick. I know you're a memoirist too, but I also know your story will be a genuine one, not one you concoct just for sales.
Thank you. I certainly believe that too!
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