committed

Friends, it is with a HUGE SIGH OF RELIEF that I am able to announce to you that I have at last finished reading the book Committed by Elizabeth Gilbert, my second book of 2012.

I am willing to bet that many of you thoroughly enjoyed Elizabeth Gilbert's Eat, Pray, Love. I read it a few years ago and fell in love with Gilbert's story of finding peace within herself after a dramatic divorce. It wasn't a page-turner, but rather every page made me think. I adored it. It took me months to finish, but merely because I wasn't in any hurry to finish it. 

I bought Gilbert's "follow-up" to Eat, Pray, Love because I thought it might contain some of the wit, travel, and personal growth segments that I enjoyed so much in Eat, Pray, Love. I was wrong. While this book took me months to finish (5 to be exact), it was not because I was enjoying it immensely and wanted to avoid the end. I have been pleading with the book to go by faster. Begging it to end. Willing myself to read more than 15 pages at a time (nearly impossible with this book). 

 Unfortunately, Committed is no where NEAR the "gem" status that Eat, Pray, Love is. Committed is more like Gilbert's frantic attempt to make peace with the institution of marriage. It is like a diary filled with her frustrations and inner arguments...and most diaries probably shouldn't be published.  

You guys know me, I tend to find the positive in any movie, book, tv show...I rarely review things poorly. While this book had some interesting historical facts on the evolution of Western marriage (yes, hundreds of pages are devoted to the history of Western marriage), these tidbits are not enough to make a good book. I found it overall dull, dragging from page to page. And Gilbert's constant insistence that living life as an unmarried childless woman is completely fulfilling almost made me feel like she was defending her choices too much. Like maybe she doesn't really believe that herself, you know?

I am certainly glad to bid adieu to this book, and do not recommend it to you! At least not if you are looking for a book similar in any way to Eat, Pray, Love. Maybe read it if you are interested in the history of marriage practices. Or if you need a bedside book that will put you to sleep within 20 minutes. I must say I am dedicated when it comes to finishing books; I don't like to give up on books, just in case they are going to be amazing in the end. Not the case with this book, though!

I started The Education of Little Tree last night, a book my grandma gave me for Christmas, and I'm hoping that it has a lot more zest and good writing than Committed did!

What's on your bedside table right now?

Cheers!