ANOTHER Book to Stay Far, Far Away From...

So I knew that a few people would be disappointed in me for my extreme distaste for "Eat, Pray, Love." And I could continue in my arguments that she still is one of the most self-centered women in the world*, but instead I decided to read the other side of the story.

Let me first alert you to the fact that "Drink, Play, F#@k" is a FICTITIOUS account by a comedic writer who wrote something he thought Ms. Gilbert's jilted ex SHOULD have written. I totally didn't know this until after I'd researched the book...and this research occurred after the fact. This changed my thoughts on this book completely. The real Slim Shady is publishing a memoir in January of 2010 about his divorce disembowelment and I'll probably read that too!

At first, I was absolutely rooting for Bob (that's Mr. Elizabeth Gilbert). He was just a hard-working schmuck who liked his Audi and loved his wife. He never cheats on Ms. Gilbert, provides for her new-agey pursuits, and only looks at her sister's ass once, but claims it was to marvel at the body-shaping powers of bulimia. Nice guy, right?

Mmmmm, not really. He's just kind of...boring. He goes to Ireland and drinks. He goes to Vegas and gambles. He goes to Thailand and falls in with a Hollywood screenwriter and has the opportunity to have an orgy. So essentially this book was supposed to be the BEST. REVENGE. EVER. Supposed to be, anyway.

He is just as vacuous and greedy as his ex. Knowing now that this is a fictitious account, the "Get Out of Jail Free" card I was going to award Ms. Gilbert is still in the deck. I reeeeealy want that written affirmation that she's super-horrible, but after reading "Drink, Play, F#@k," I would have left Mr. Elizabeth Gilbert, too.

*Yes, Ms. Gilbert did raise money for a single mom in Indonesia, but then waffled on her "generosity" (read: the money her friends gave her) when the single mom decides she needs to take Ms. Gilbert for all she was: an American Cash Cow. It comes as a shock to Ms. Gilbert that ANYone in an impoverished country couldn't see her halo radiating from afar. Luckily, we have Gilbert's rich boyfriend to verify, that indeed people are in need in Indonesia and will find any way to survive - and if that means bleeding a self-righteous American dry, than so be it! The power differential, where the white westerner holds the key for a native Indonesian's salvation just grosses me out.