I haven't read the book so beloved by Oprah that she's done 3 shows on it, but I just can't help hating it anyway. Why am I such a hater?
Ironically, every time I see the author, Elizabeth Gilbert, I actually think she comes across as intelligent, sympathetic, articulate, and likeable. But the whole premise of the book just makes me roll my eyes.
Perhaps my dislike is more a function of how I feel toward people who are trying to find themselves through luxurious navel-gazing. There's something immensely unattractive to me about a woman who spends a lot of time and money focusing on making herself feel better when she, by many standards, already lacks for nothing...except inner peace.
It just seems like a fool's errand--to fill up your emptiness by navel-gazing intently. If you're empty inside, doesn't looking within just make you more...empty?
For Gilbert, her navel-gazing was done with a $200,000 book advance so no, it didn't make her empty. It allowed her to write her next book, to stay employed, and unexpectedly to hit the big times...a movie adaptation!
But for the rest of us, who are deluded enough to think such navel-gazing may be the answer to our lack of inner peace...well, we'll just keep on gazing into the void.
I hate snake-oil saleswomen. Always cashing in on the poverty and desperation of others while adding no value to society in the meantime.
