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From the opening pages, it is evident that Gilbert can write with lyricism, confidence, and substance. I was afraid that her mass popularity would lead to a dumbed down book with pandering social/political agendas or telegraphed notions. I am thrilled to conclude that this was not the case. Gilbert is a superb writer who allows her main characters to spring forth as organically as the natural world that they live in. This is a book of well-considered people of the times, who are emblematic of da...
Elizabeth GilbertI can't say enough good things about this huge, ambitious and accessible novel. I read it based on an interview I saw with Liz Gilbert, where she talked about her inspiration for the story (a family heirloom book from the late 1700's detailing the voyages of Captain Cook), and because I think Gilbert is an amazing writer, whose talent and scope is far beyond the pigeon-holing she's garnered from Eat, Pray, Love (which I also loved). It's far, far too good to give a detailed revi...
If you approach this book looking for an Eat, Pray, Love experience (full of pathos and personal insight) you will be sorely disappointed. I wanted to read The Signature of All Things because I have been a huge fan of Liz Gilbert (both as a person and for her narrative style) for a long time now, and my experience reading this book has been a mixture of enjoyment and frustration, with the scales ultimately tipping to a kind of resigned satisfaction. The novel gets off to a fantastic start. Her c...
A review in three parts:1. I was actually enjoying this and then at 49% a spinster has a spontaneous orgasm from holding hands with a dude in a closet.2. (ten percent later) Oh wait, and now he's a closeted gay! This went from historically interesting to 18th Century days of our botanical queer lives popcorn.gif. Not sure if want but reading rapidly anyway!3. (when done) Oh, sweet Jesus. This book was dedicated to the great women of science, which would be a great dedication if this wasn't also
This novel has no right to be such an immersive bewitching page turner. Its nearly 600 pages long, its narrative force relies on a single character, a plain almost loveless woman whose passion is, of all things, mosses and, though it’s very well written, there probably isn’t a single sentence of memorable virtuoso prose in the entire book. And yet…Elizabeth Gilbert doesn’t possess the rarefied brilliance of Hilary Mantel as a prose stylist but The Signature of all Things shares lots of similarit...
If you loved “Eat, Pray, Love” be warned that this is a very different book: not only a novel, but a sweeping historical and scientific novel, 500+ pages of great writing. Think Barbara Kingsolver meets James Michener and Charles Darwin. Utterly divine, but totally different than the memoir.If you did not love “Eat, Pray, Love” and if you love a big juicy interesting read, you will love this one, because Elizabeth Gilbert, when released from neurotic navel-gazing, is a smashing writer with brill...