Committed

Kind of self-indulgent and meandering, but easy to read and had its interesting moments - a historical fact here, a statistic there, a quote or two that gave me an insight about relationships and commitment. I should probably read Eat, Pray, Love at some point.

This is a memoir, but also a lesson in marriage. What marriage means to one person, or one religion, or one culture, is so varied and yet unique. I understood the author's hesitance to marry a second time after having one failed marriage. And a second marriage may not work either, but by learning and maturing after the first one, she now has more tools in her “how to make marriage work” belt.
I'm sure this book is not for for everyone, but many could learn a think or two from it.

Gilbert provides here a thought-provoking, well-researched deep-dive into the institution of marriage (predominantly) in the Western world. Though it didn't quite have the same kind of satisfying narrative as Eat Pray Love, it also wasn't quite a memoir so much as a distillation of research, historical and sociological, interspersed with Gilbert's own personal matrimonial dilemma. Which worked. As always, Gilbert's voice is friendly, witty, erudite but casual - a delight to read. I enjoyed it quite a bit, and as a bit of a marriage skeptic myself, learned a lot of things I still need to chew on. Would recommend for anyone who likes Eat Pray Love and wants to give marriage a second thought.

3.5 stars. I wish we could give half stars.