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"Eat Pray Love" is the ultimate chick flick. But a group of women who watched the movie Tuesday afternoon at a Norwalk theater on Westport Avenue said they liked the book better. "Eat Pray Love" is the best-selling memoir-turned-movie by Elizabeth Gilbert, who, after a difficult divorce, embarked on a yearlong journey through Italy, India and Bali to find herself through food, spirituality and intimacy. The movie, starring Julia Roberts, was released last Friday and topped the box office over the weekend.
The friends, all from Westport, had read the book in their Neighbors and Newcomers book club four years ago, when it was first published. "I think the book is deeper," said Marta Vlane during a post-movie chat in the parking lot. "The book is really a quest for spirituality. You can hear her internal dialogue as she learns to meditate. This felt more like a love story." Sharon Litvanoff didn't like the movie. "I thought it was too long and it felt like a therapy session."
Penny Bartolotta agreed with her friends, but thought the story overall appeals to a lot of women. "I think women live through her. You wish you could do what she does, especially the traveling." Penny hastened to add, "Not the leaving the husband part, though." The happily married friends all chuckle at her caveat. Penny, as chance has it, is heading to Italy in a couple of days. She plans, like Gilbert, to seek out a world-renowned pizza shop in Naples.
Jackie Gillette of Norwalk, not part of the book club, saw the movie at the same time with a girlfriend. "The movie reminded me too much of a soap opera and seemed shallow," she said, noting that she didn't read the book. "I did enjoy the gorgeous scenery and the boyfriend [played by Javier Bardem] at the end."
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