at first i refused to read this book despite raves from friends and book reviewers. i assumed it was a book where every other sentence was "praise the lord" not that i have anything against the lord, just the phrase. then on a night of tv desperation i watched the movie.
so.........it's not what i thought! hmmmmmmmmm maybe i will read the book.
for probably the second time in my personal history, i liked the movie wayyyyyyyyy better than the book. the author should thank julia roberts for saving everyone from the drivel.
at first i thought, wow what a brave woman to take off to places unknown and live, really live the cultural lifestyle and do it alone! kudos elizabeth!
things fell into place about 1/3rd of the way through. i had my "ahah" moment.
this was not a personal journey! this was a book assignment! she had been given a rather large advance BEFORE she ever left the ground. when a person writes for themselves they rarely think of an audience they just write, but when there is an audience involved, phrases are coloured, feelings are altered to fit the scene, thoughts are abridged. in other words, this whole book is just one big editing job. it's not a memoir of the true sense, it's a sham. shame on you elizabeth!
on the other hand, maybe, because she knew there would be an audience, it added a quality to her writing that perhaps would not have been there had she just been scribbling in her personal journal. listen to this sentence. "they in no way match this stinky, slow,sinking,mysterious, silent, weird city. venice seems like a wonderful city in which to die a slow and alcoholic death, or to lose a loved one, or to lose the murder weapon with which the loved one was lost in the first place." cmonnnnnnnnnnnnnnn!!!!!!!!!!!!!! that is not the stuff of personal diaries, that is the stuff of "i've got to earn my big fat advance for this pretend journal.
okay! i feel better now. got that off my chest. rant is over, heart rate down to normal.
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