Committed

     Author                Elizabeth Gilbert

     Country              United States

     Genre                 Non Fiction: Memoir

     Publication         2010

     Pages                  481








I am not too much of a taker for non fiction but somehow I ended up picking this book and believe me, there are no regrets.

To put it in a snapshot, this book is one woman's search for the true meaning of marriage. Through the course of the book, Liz takes us through various aspects of matrimony: how different societies view marriages differently and how she struggles to make sense of matrimony in her context (having been almost forced into marrying her new boyfriend on account of some American Immigration issues)

One of the key thoughts that stay with me as I hand the book back to the bookshelf are that marriages are all about striking the right balance between autonomy and intimacy: in other words; while intimacy and close proximity make marriages strong; the space to be yourself make marriages last. 

The book beautifully takes us through the evolution of marriages from being an institution that used to provide only finacicial and social security to becoming one that also needs to create an emotional connect - a true sense of happiness. And it's this redefinition of the purpose of marriage that defines the current society - love marriages are on the rise and so are divorces and it takes a layman to work out the correlation between the new purpose of marriage and hence spiraling divorce rates due to unhappy marriages. 

All in all, this book is a thought provoker. 

It forces one to question and to find the answers. 

For someone like me who believes in the sanctity of marriages, it was interesting to see the other side of the coin: a true sceptic making peace with it!