Book Review: Eat, Pray, #FML

I know this book is wildly popular among solo traveling women, but I struggled with Eat, Pray, #FML–I really wanted to like it…but I just couldn’t. I completely admit that I may not be the ideal demographic for the book (namely my age).

The premise–a woman whose life falls apart when she finds out her husband is having an affair and then jumps into a magical new love a little too quickly, then finds herself exploring Europe on her own–is one that has real potential for self-discovery and learning, both about herself and about the countries she’s visiting. (You should know from my Eat, Pray, Love book review that I do love that premise.)

Unfortunately, what you end up with instead is a very superficial attempt at discovery–lots of partying, lots of validation from others, and lots of deflection about her role in what’s gone wrong.

I have done my share of partying in other countries and I went through my own painful relationship ending where I was self-centered and scared and angry and I want to give the author credit for working through her pain in the only way she knew how. But, I’m afraid this book is just another example of someone quite privileged and sheltered looking for validation from others.

There are moments of real insight and it did make me think about my own relationships (both now and in the past), but those moments are buried in between repetitive stories of Instagram photos, pub crawls, text messages, and concerns about gaining a pound.

It’s also clear that she’s fairly new to traveling, which also made me think about my own experiences (Do I remember my first hostel experience? Have I ever been scared to take a flight by myself?) I had hoped, then, for more insightful impressions of where she visited, but I’m not sure she did a lot of sightseeing during the day…there are a few descriptions of a few places and, of course, my mouth watered as she described various dishes along the way, but there wasn’t much on interactions with locals or anything that could bring each place to life.

I will also add that I listened to this book on audio, read by the author; I wonder if I would have enjoyed it more on the written page… I would have created my own voice for her and the regurgitation of texts may have left a different impression.

Again, I struggled with this book–it clearly has a very specific target audience and, unfortunately, I’m not in it. There are some interesting insights and if you’re struggling with a relationship ending, you might gain from reading Eat, Pray, #FML. But…you might not gain much.