boo hoo some rich bitch is sad and spends a million dollars to get over it. what's that got to do with me or most of the people in the world.

geesh. you need a better travel agent if you couldn't travel for a year (2/3rds not in the first world) for less than a million dollars.

"rich bitch"? that seems a tad harsh.

if the book was written by someone who was working class and white, would you feel comfortable dismissing her as "white trash"?

you probably would.

I don't think that the real issue here is the fact that the writer had the means to travel, and that many of us don't, but rather, the fact that sometimes it's necessary to step outside of one's daily life, to get a fresh perspective and hopefully a fresh start. In my own case, I went to a monastery within the U.S. for 3 months. I worked (learned organic biointensive gardening) in exchange for room and board, so my expenses were actually a lot less during that time, than if I'd been working. I took a much needed sabbatical and came back to realize that I needed to make changes in my life. I was able to put away enough money in savings and live simply to make this happen. In a society where 2 weeks' vacation per year is the norm, it's no wonder that depression is so prevalent. No doubt there are many people who think that taking time out is a form of escape, but it all depends on what one does with the time off.

would spend more than 5 minutes listening to the blather spewing from the writers mouth? Only an imbecile. I wonder why her husband really kicked her to the curb. That is the story here.

Do you think your "writers" could actually READ a book once in a while? This article made me hork my breakfast. Oh boy! I can't wait to read about another self-absorbed rich bitch and how she examines her worthless crapy life while traveling to places I can never afford. Gosh! How exciting and NEW!!!!!! I've never heard of this before!!! Excuse me, I need to go turn on my tv and watch some gays redecorate a fake millionaire's house on a desert island while faking his own death to marry a midget whore who's actually a MAN baby!!!!!

I'm drooling over here!

It never ceases to amaze me that we as people have stopped being delighted for those of us who have found a happiness that makes their lives easier. We are on this earth to find our own paths and to learn from everything/everyone around us. No, I may not have the same resources afforded to me as the author has, but this does not stop me from rejoicing in her new found spirituality and being truly happy there is one less miserable human walking this world. And to learn that if it can happen to one it can happen to all, regardless of our resources!

With my hope that peace will prevail -

Susan

Arlington, VA

Good lord, people. You don't have to be rich to travel like this. I'm an American, and very widely traveled because I carefully saved money for 2 years to pay for a 5 month trip, have taken advantage of every period in between jobs to travel, and fully use my pathetic 2 weeks off a year. I get cheap flights to places that cost less than $20/day to travel in. You can stay in a comfortable hotel room in India or Indonesia for less than $10 a night. You can easily travel for a year on $20,000. That's less than a new car. If you got rid of cable tv, that alone would generate $1,000/year - plenty for a decent trip (and you won't miss it).

There is nothing more valuable than taking a step back from the daily grind of everyday life to take a deep breath, renew your creativity, and check in with yourself to see whether you are fulfilled by the path you are on. Travel is good for you, and it is crucial for expanding compassion and understanding in the world. I think the United States would a better nation and Americans would be less depressed and self-absorbed if we got out and saw the world a little bit more.

"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrow mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime." --Mark Twain

Gotta say, the intense vitriol expressed in most of these letters suggests that their writers just found out, from this book review, that the U.S. has some people who are wealthier than they are -- and that such people sometimes write books. Such letters say far more about their posters than the book or its author.

Sounds to me that if you can put your hatred on hold, this book could be an interesting vicarious way to experience one person's significant transformation, and maybe even learn some useful things for oneself as a byproduct.

One more thing: A long time ago, I also had an experience that could only be of the very same kind as Elizabeth Gilbert describes, where she had an out-of-body experience where she seemed to comprise the whole universe, and where she experienced love so intense that she could never have imagined anything remotely like it. (In my case this had no connection to prayer or god -- I have always been entirely secular -- but it was as close to a religious experience as I've ever had. I still don't know what to make of it.)

It seems to me this woman is lucky her book came out before they decided it would be a good idea to fact-check memoirs. It seems like her "perfect" trip involved a lot of fictionalizing. I read parts of it, as much as I could stand, and frankly if I rolled my eyes any more often, they would have become affixed in the back of my head.

I, like another reader, wonder how "debilitiating" her depression was if she scored a book deal and took a trip around the world. That doesn't sound like any depressed, introspective, genuinely substantial people that I know.

If I want to read a lot of truly awful, self-congratulatory crap from an overprivileged, self-obsessed bozo, I'll read Ayelet Waldman. And I avoid her like a bladder infection!!