Committed: A Love Story

Great balance of personal narrative and factual research

I enjoyed "Eat, Pray, Love" but wasn't sure what to expect from Liz Gilbert's new book. This book is very different and that is a good thing. Both are memoirs of an extraordinary year in the life of the author, but the author is much more mature during this year of her life. It is obvious the year of "Eat, Pray, Love" worked.

I was fascinated by the facts about marriage presented in "Committed." Liz Gilbert balances historical and anthropological research with stories of her own emotional and physical journey.

I will buy this book for my young adult daughters, who are evaluating their beliefs about relationships and romance. My marriage to their father ended in divorce. I'm in a much better marriage now. I suspect they are afraid of choosing wrong the first time. This book may help them put their concerns into perspective and certainly give them something to think about.

24 out of 24 people found this review helpful.

Uhh..is it over yet?!

Oh my goodness! I could not wait for this book to be over..which is why i didnt! I stopped half way through. I liked the first book and thought it was a great book to give as a gift. I cant say the same about this one. NO GOOD at all! So boring. Dont waste your money on this one. If you dont believe me..please just check it out at the library..you will thank me later lol.

4 out of 4 people found this review helpful.

An Unfortunate Follow-up to Love

After I read 'Eat, Pray, Love' by Elizabeth Gilbert, I was thrilled to see she had released another book. What a disappointment 'Committed' was. Although it was written in a similar fashion to her first book, this one lacked the connection to the reader. There were some interesting, historic, and fascinating threads within the book, but it lacked the connection between the reader and the author that makes a book compelling.

I got tired of listening to Ms. Gilbert's babbling on and on about her quest to marriage. If she had taken us with her on her wanderings through Vietnam, Laos, and Bahli it would have been more interesting. The places in the book where she did tell little stories about the people she met were very interesting. How she was treated as an American woman was fascinating. It was the personal questions and revelations on why or why not she should be getting married that slowed the story down. The premise of the book was good, the overall effect was weak.

Upon finishing the story, my first thought was "Whew, thankfully I'm out of this story." This book lacked the fire, drive, and passion of her previous work. A disappointment.

3 out of 4 people found this review helpful.

Enjoyable

My mom suggested I read this. I never read Eat, Prey, Love and I didn't expect much out of Committed. I was pleasantly surprised though. I learned a lot and I thought Elizabeth Gilbert's writing was very good. I have always wondered what the real deal behind marriage was and why it is such an obsessed upon thing. Now I have a much clearer idea. This is not a novel, more an essay. I recommend it to any lady who is thinking about getting married in the future.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Too much research

I think the story would have been a lot better if she would of engaged us with her actually story and not about ancient research. Eat, Pray, Love was very engaging and I really thought that this book was going to be the same. I found myself skipping over the history lessons on marriage and wanting to read about her story of what went on during her trails and tribulations.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Why get married?

The author tells her true life story of being forced to marry her foreign lover or never see him again. He's been banned from the US so she must either live abroad with him or marry him. During the paperwork to complete his FBI check to decide if she can marry him or not, she tells us her soul searching to decide if this is what she is willing to commit to. She researches various books on marriage and comments on how they impact her decision. Maybe she's too analytical for others. Love is supposed to just happen and not be dissected but if you finish the story, I think you'll appreciate marriage anew.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Persuaded to stay un-Committed

I can't say I liked this book more than Eat, Pray, Love, but I did learn a lot from it. I found the origins of our modern day marriages to be interesting, and in the end, I found myself to be quite Greek in my thinking. As a nonconformist, I found validity for my desire to stay unmarried, even though Gilbert's experience with the same information was quite different. I think any couple contemplating marriage could benefit from reading and discussing this book.

2 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

A must read for all skeptics of marriage or long term love.

I was going through a very tough break up when I saw the movie made about the book, Eat, Pray, Love. It was everything I needed. It helped me learn how to heal and focus on myself. When I saw this book was the second part of Eat, Pray, Love I knew I had to read it. Being a child of divorced parents and recently being dumped by the love of my life, I knew anything with "a skeptic makes peace with marriage" in the title, was made for me. The book discusses the authors own personal journey with accepting marriage, as well as explaining the meaning of marriage around the world and the view of it years ago. I would reccomend this book to anyone who is losing hope and faith when it comes to love and/or marriage lasting a lifetime.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

LOVE IT!!

A FRIEND MENTIONED THIS BOOK IN A CONVERSATION, W/O READING EPL, I STARTED READING COMMITTED AND I JUST LOVE IT, I COULDN'T SET IT ASIDE.
LOVE STORIES ARE MY FAVORITE AND THIS ONE HAD THAT.. AND MORE......SOMETHING SO REAL.....I ENJOYED IT ALL THE WAY.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

It's like having a conversation with your best girlfriend

I disagree with the negative comments about Committed. If you loved Eat Pray Love and read it a millions times over again, then you loved it because you could relate to the person writing it. It was as if Elizabeth Gilbert grew up with you, you spoke with her daily (or weekly as you grew up) and she was on your speed dial to discuss anything and everything when you needed to talk, laugh, cry.

I ordered the ebook last night and read it on my new nook next to my new husband. I laughed outloud and felt enlightened and overjoyed that Elizabeth Gilbert was back in my living room. It doesn't matter if you're married or in a relationship or single. The book is vintage Elizabeth Gilbert and it's Elizabeth Gilbert that we love.

The messages that she shares in the book can be applied to anyone who is open enough to understand that life happens in a million different ways and we need to keep an open mind and heart so that we can apply the beautiful lessons we learn throughout the journey (good, bad and ugly).

Thanks for another great read!

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Really enjoyed it

This book is about how Gilbert and her boyfriend, Felipe, overcame their aversion to marriage. She included her research results during her journey toward acceptance of marriage. Although she way overthought it, it helped me appreciate my marriage of 33 years even more.

I liked it.

She over analyizes and rationalizes a bit like me, but worse. I love it.

Every Couple Should Own This

I found this book to be a very insightful and honest look into relationships and what makes them work. A lot of it rang very true and I think anyone in a marriage would benefit from this book.

Points to ponder!

This book I can relate to now that I have gotten wiser with age! I'm sure I read it in my 20's I would think none of it applied to me. Live and learn. I'm in a much healthier marriage this time and now I can reflect on past mistakes!

((yawn))

This book goes on and on and on about statistics and facts(?)...not much storyline except for the end which is great because I can relate to her situation however not a great read. Boring and drowned out. Buy it if your a fan, otherwise skip it.

A must read for the divorcee

I read Eat Love Pray several times and loved it. Saw the movie and was disappointed...UNTIL...I went through the most horriffic and unexpected divorce. Then the movie seemed to be on TV every day asking me to watch it again from a different perspective and it made so much more sense to me.
This particular book is about two people who have both been in my situation and are going to re-marry. The first part of this book made me weep so hard I had to put down the book because the analogy of why MY marriage broke up is right there. Then comes another, and yep another. But I pushed through because it was really important that I read this book. Just like the movie, had I not gone through something similar I don't think the book would have meant to me as much as it did.
Good read! Congrats to Elizabeth & Felipe!

Pretty good

This book is one of those that I can take my time to read. I enjoyed the history and what marriage is to different people. As a skeptic of it myself, this definitely kept me interested.

Relatable!

I love Elizabeth Gilbert's style of writing, from the heart. I was able to relate to her experiences and struggles as she writes as if you're talking to her, rather than reading her book. Thanks for another great read!

Great book on marriage!

This is great for anyone thinking about marriage, married or divorced. I admire Gilbert's reality on life, love & marriage! Excited and ready for her next book!!

A fantastic read

This book should be required reading for all women. This may be a book on the surface about marriage, but at its core is a book about the strength and the powerr of women. I'll be honest and say I expected this book to be about a woman giving over her power to a man, but that was not what I found at all. This book has wonderful insight into the relationships all around us, mothers, fathers, sisters, husbands, wives, and friends. As a 2nd-timer into marriage, I found this book resonated with me. I actually enjoyed this book more than "Eat, Pray, Love".