Committed: A Skeptic Makes Peace with Marriage by Elizabeth Gilbert

Unabridged Audiobook Read by the Author.

I will admit that I wasn't a fan of Elizabeth Gilbert's book Eat, Pray, Love... I wanted to love Eat, Pray, Love because I'd kept hearing how fabulous it was. However, while reading it a few years ago, I found that it wasn't the book for me. I felt like Elizabeth Gilbert did a lot of whining/complaining throughout the book... Especially, during the first one third of the book. 

Believe it or not though, I actually enjoyed the movie version of Eat, Pray, Love, more than I enjoyed reading the book itself, which is a first ever for me. I usually always like the book so much more than the movie adaptation of the book.

So, if I didn't enjoy reading Eat, Pray, Love, why did I decide to listen to the unabridged audio version of Committed: A Skeptic Makes Peace with Marriage by Elizabeth Gilbert? 

Well, there were two reasons that I decided to listen to the unabridged audio version of Committed: A Skeptic Makes Peace with Marriage by Elizabeth Gilbert. The first reason being that a fellow Bookcrosser was actually offering to share her copy of Committed: A Skeptic Makes Peace with Marriage with me, so I decided to take the opportunity to listen to this unabridged memoir and then pass it on to another listener. The second reason I chose to listen to the unabridged audio version of Committed: A Skeptic Makes Peace with Marriage by Elizabeth Gilbert was because I was curious to learn a how a skeptic makes peace with marriage. 

I'm actually really glad that I didn't let my intense dislike of Eat, Pray, Love dissuade me from listening to Committed: A Skeptic Makes Peace with Marriage, because I really enjoyed listening to it.

Below is the book overview on the Barnes & Noble website of Committed: A Skeptic Makes Peace with Marriage:

At the end of her bestselling memoir Eat, Pray, Love, Elizabeth Gilbert fell in love with Felipe, a Brazilian-born man of Australian citizenship who'd been living in Indonesia when they met. Resettling in America, the couple swore eternal fidelity to each other, but also swore to never, ever, under any circumstances get legally married. (Both were survivors of previous horrific divorces. Enough said.) But providence intervened one day in the form of the United States government, which—after unexpectedly detaining Felipe at an American border crossing—gave the couple a choice: they could either get married, or Felipe would never be allowed to enter the country again. Having been effectively sentenced to wed, Gilbert tackled her fears of marriage by delving into this topic completely, trying with all her might to discover through historical research, interviews, and much personal reflection what this stubbornly enduring old institution actually is. Told with Gilbert's trademark wit, intelligence and compassion, Committed attempts to "turn on all the lights" when it comes to matrimony, frankly examining questions of compatibility, infatuation, fidelity, family tradition, social expectations, divorce risks and humbling responsibilities. Gilbert's memoir is ultimately a clear-eyed celebration of love with all the complexity and consequence that real love, in the real world, actually entails.

What I enjoyed about Committed: A Skeptic Makes Peace with Marriage is how it is the way in which this memoir unfolds. I felt that Elizabeth Gilbert does a great job of sharing her thoughts about marriage. Ms. Gilbert also does a great job of sharing her personal history of marriage and that of Felipe's history of marriage with us as well as how they both came to the idea of marrying one another.  

Ms. Gilbert also does a wonderful job of writing about the history of marriage in western culture. Along with sharing the history of some of her family members' marriages.

I also enjoyed reading about Elizabeth Gilbert and Felipe's experience living overseas while waiting to be able to return to the USA. During their life abroad, Gilbert speaks with other women from Asian cultures about their marriages/married lives, which I found interesting.

I'm giving Committed: A Skeptic Makes Peace with Marriage by Elizabeth Gilbert a rating of 9 stars out of 10 stars. I may even be inspired to read more books written by Elizabeth Gilbert in the future after reading Committed: A Skeptic Makes Peace with Marriage. I was really impressed with this entire memoir of marriage and love.

Until my next post, happy reading!!