I keep thinking about Elizabeth Gilbert. I was becoming a professional writer as she was getting famous, and her name has been synonymous with runaway professional success for women. All that money, all that recognition, and it still didn't make her whole.
As an aside, The Signature of All Things is one of my favourite books ever. Such a departure from her memoir style (which I also loved). A thoroughly unique story.
I really love City of Girls. It made me ball my eyes out in a way I really needed, as it turns out!
I need to read that one!
I didn't have a chance to read when it came out, but now I want to!
Highly, highly recommend. It will make you look at moss differently forever. I swear, it’s more interesting than it sounds.
I never got into her memoirs but was blown away by The Signature of All Things…. Maybe she should stick to historical fiction???
I read Eat, Pray, Love in Italy, still recovering from heartbreak and hating my job. It was profoundly impactful to me. The “we can have more than one soulmate” and how some relationships are mirrors, meant to teach us but not last, was all so timely for me. I also quit my job when I got back.
Her new book sounds HEAVY but good
Not a surprise, of course -- work, like love, doesn't fill emptiness. But it's a reminder that success can sometimes make it harder to grow in the ways we need.