by Theresa O'Riordan

Created on: April 24, 2008

I have to admit, I started this book a bit skeptical. The main plot: A woman is trying to find herself, leaves a sub-par marriage, and goes on a trip around the world.

This sort of story reminds me of The Awakening by Kate Chopin. There is, however, a major difference between the two. Kate Chopin's book astonished readers of the late nineteenth/early twentieth century. I didn't care much for the message behind Chopin's book, which was basically that it was alright to abandon commitments, like your husband and children. Chopin's protagonist is a woman who did the traditional thing and realized she felt trapped and unfulfilled. The message was important from a social criticism standpoint, but the story, for me, was just too unrealistic. People can't just go around abandoning people who rely on them. But at least The Awakening expressed the frustration of many women who had been told that their only options in life were to get married and have kids, or live the rest of their lives with their parents as "old maids". This concept was surely on the minds of many women, who, in a time when women could not vote or have a career in the field of their choice, probably didn't have the guts Kate Chopin had.

Fast forward to almost a hundred and ten years later, and we get Elizabeth Gilbert's travel diary. This is a woman who most thirty year olds can not relate to. Sure, many would love to do what she did: split the divorce proceeds from the house, throw all of their possessions into a room at their sister's house, and blow all of their savings on a year-long trip, with absolutely no plan for the future. Don't get me wrong - if you can swing this sort of lifestyle, good for you. My point is that the book provides the reader with more frustration and discontent than it does inspiration. Most people at age thirty have kids and can not just pick up and leave. Gilbert has the attitude that her life was really difficult. Really, she dug her own hole. She got married to someone she didn't totally love, she didn't know how to communicate her unhappiness to her husband, who didn't care to acknowledge it, and she had made commitments and promises she simply couldn't keep. She should be applauded for changing her life in order to make herself happier, but I couldn't help feeling bad for her husband, who by all accounts seemed like a decent enough guy.

Her attitude toward traveling and experiencing new cultures often left me rolling my eyes or cringing. For example, when she travels

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