Women on road to recovery

Every once in a while there comes a writer, who by no means is the first to write in that genre, but somehow becomes synonymous with it. John Grisham with legal thrillers, Paulo Coelho with inspirational fiction, Helen Fielding with chick lit, and now Elizabeth Gilbert with what is now named ‘Priv-lit’ or private lit.

Priv-lit are books written mostly by women on the path to self-recovery from a painful break up of a relationship. Gilbert’s Eat, Pray, Love is the latest one to cause ripples in this genre.

After her divorce, Gilbert decided to slice out a year of her life to do what she wants and to discover who she is. After this year, she earnestly exposes her experiences through a book and succeeds in laughing all the way to the bank. Eat, Pray, Love is severely criticised by intelligentsia that it is nothing but the ramblings of a privileged woman. But to Gilbert’s credit, it is a well-written book and one needs to approach it with entertainment in mind. Her language is easy, her self-deprecating humour is funny, and her emotions seem honest. This is neither a philosophical journey nor an inspirational account because most mortals don’t have the moolah to pull a Gilbert!

Another book that was published a decade earlier and till date is being devoured by women the world over is Joan Anderson’s A year by the sea. The setting is similar to Gilbert’s — Joan wants to escape the familial ties that seem to all encompass her. But unlike Gilbert’s fancy journey, Anderson roughs it out on the beach of Cape Cod. She does back-breaking work of clamming and survives on measly meals but comes out a new woman after the passage of that year. This is mature writing that makes you think of your own ties and wonder how many of them bind and gag.
Then there is Under the Tuscan Sun: At Home in Italy by Frances Mayes, later made into a popular film starring Diane Lane, a memoir written by an American woman who moves to the Italian region of Tuscany after her marriage falls apart. The book was published in 1996.
Now, as one can imagine, the market is getting a fair share of this ‘slice of time’ literature. Judith Levine, in her Not Buying It: My Year Without Shopping, pens her year-long struggle where she sticks to spending only on needs and not on wants. In How Coffee Saved My Life, Ellie Roscher, a self-proclaimed rich, young, American blond, spends a harsh poverty-stricken year in a small village in Uruguay. What does one get out of these books? Probably some insight as to how to fight back when things go wrong and some vicarious living!
Vani is the founder of online
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