"Committed: A Skeptic Makes Peace With Marriage" by Elizabeth Gilbert
The time has come, Eat Pray Love worshippers — Elizabeth Gilbert’s new book, Committed: a Skeptic Makes Peace with Marriage, hit stores Tuesday. Committed is a study of marriage through Gilbert’s inquisitive, funny, slightly panicked eyes as she realizes she has to marry her Brazilian boyfriend, Felipe, due to customs issues. If you recall, Gilbert swore to never marry again after the brutal divorce described in Eat Pray Love, but Felipe and inconvenient immigration laws force her to confront her fears. She takes the reader on her journey, sharing her own anxieties and fears (a la Eat Pray Love) while relating a history of marriage in a more journalistic style. Though critics continue to praise Gilbert’s warm, humorous voice, they note that the subject matter of Committed is less interesting than the global adventures of Eat Pray Love. The book is wrapped up by the convenient bow of marriage, but Gilbert’s larger questions about the institution loom unanswered, and perhaps, unanswerable. Fans of Eat Pray Love will be happy to reunite with Gilbert’s voice and insights, but Committed doesn’t pack the same spiritual and emotional punch as its predecessor.
“The ‘peace and contentment’ at which Gilbert abruptly arrives in the final chapter of the book is a little suspicious, given the hundreds of pages of panic that have preceded it.” – Ariel Levy, The New Yorker
“A deeply compassionate, painstakingly researched and often laugh-out-loud-funny treatise on marriage.” – Joy Tipping, The Dallas Morning News
“Gilbert is far too skilled not to be entertaining, but forgive a reader thirsting for more emotion. Marriage is a mystery, the saying goes, and so it remains.” – Samantha Dunn, The Los Angeles Times
“‘Committed’ is more careful than its predecessor to screen parts of Ms. Gilbert’s private life from inquiring eyes. And while that choice may seem wise, it makes the book much less compelling.” – Meghan Cox Gurdon, The Wall Street Journal
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