PORTSMOUTH—
Writers on a New England Stage, the celebrated author series presented at The Music Hall with partners New Hampshire Public Radio, Yankee Magazine and RiverRun Bookstore, welcomes Elizabeth Gilbert to the stage on Thursday, February 3, 2011. In her only New England appearance this winter, the bestselling author of “Eat, Pray, Love” will discuss her latest work of nonfiction, “Committed,” which will be published in paperback in early February. The new book, which also topped the New York Times bestseller list, is a true “love story” and a favorite of readers across the country.
“We encourage Gilbert readers who don’t yet have tickets to act fast as the night is nearly sold out. You won’t want to miss hearing from one of today’s best-loved authors, a voice that has resonated with generations of women,” said Writers on a New England Stage Executive Producer Patricia Lynch.
“Committed” begins where Gilbert’s # 1 New York Times bestseller Eat, Pray, Love ended—just after Gilbert fell in love with Felipe, a Brazilian-born man of Australian citizenship who’d been living in Indonesia when they met. Resettling in America, the couple swore eternal fidelity to each other, but also swore to never, ever, under any circumstances get legally married. (Both were survivors of previous bad divorces.) But providence intervened one day in the form of the U.S. government, which—after unexpectedly detaining Felipe at an American border crossing—gave the couple a choice: they could either get married, or Felipe would never be allowed to enter the country again.
Having been effectively sentenced to wed, Elizabeth and Felipe spent the next ten months wandering haphazardly across Asia, traveling with limited resources and waiting for word from their immigration lawyer as their case languished in bureaucratic uncertainty. Gilbert used this time to investigate the concept of marriage: examining what historians, psychologists, sociologists and poets have written about the subject, interviewing everyone from housewives in Vietnam and Thailand to family members and friends, and looking closely at how marriage has evolved to reflect our social needs and how it is so often intertwined with religion, politics, class, and money.
“Committed” tells the story of one woman’s efforts to make peace with marriage before she enters its estate once more. Told with Gilbert’s trademark wit, intelligence, and compassion, the book attempts to turn on all the lights when it comes to matrimony by frankly examining questions of compatibility, infatuation, fidelity, tradition, economic realities, divorce risks, and social expectations. Myths are debunked; fears are unthreaded; historical perspective is found; and romantic fantasies are ultimately exchanged for vital emotional compromises. In the end, Gilbert’s book is a clear-eyed celebration of the complexity and consequence that real love, in the real world, actually entails.
Tickets to Writers on a New England Stage: Elizabeth Gilbert are $13 ($11 for members of The Music Hall), available through The Music Hall Box Office, located at 28 Chestnut Street, Portsmouth, over the phone at 603-436-2400 or online at www.themusichall.org. Autographed copies of “Committed” (paperback edition) are available on the evening at The Music Hall or in the days following at RiverRun Bookstore.
Photo caption: Renowned author of “Eat, Pray, Love,” Elizabeth Gilbert, comes to The Music Hall in Portsmouth on Feb. 3 to discuss her new book, “Committed.” (Courtesy book cover image of “Committed”)
Writers on a New England Stage, the celebrated author series presented at The Music Hall with partners New Hampshire Public Radio, Yankee Magazine and RiverRun Bookstore, welcomes Elizabeth Gilbert to the stage on Thursday, February 3, 2011. In her only New England appearance this winter, the bestselling author of “Eat, Pray, Love” will discuss her latest work of nonfiction, “Committed,” which will be published in paperback in early February. The new book, which also topped the New York Times bestseller list, is a true “love story” and a favorite of readers across the country.
“We encourage Gilbert readers who don’t yet have tickets to act fast as the night is nearly sold out. You won’t want to miss hearing from one of today’s best-loved authors, a voice that has resonated with generations of women,” said Writers on a New England Stage Executive Producer Patricia Lynch.
“Committed” begins where Gilbert’s # 1 New York Times bestseller Eat, Pray, Love ended—just after Gilbert fell in love with Felipe, a Brazilian-born man of Australian citizenship who’d been living in Indonesia when they met. Resettling in America, the couple swore eternal fidelity to each other, but also swore to never, ever, under any circumstances get legally married. (Both were survivors of previous bad divorces.) But providence intervened one day in the form of the U.S. government, which—after unexpectedly detaining Felipe at an American border crossing—gave the couple a choice: they could either get married, or Felipe would never be allowed to enter the country again.
Having been effectively sentenced to wed, Elizabeth and Felipe spent the next ten months wandering haphazardly across Asia, traveling with limited resources and waiting for word from their immigration lawyer as their case languished in bureaucratic uncertainty. Gilbert used this time to investigate the concept of marriage: examining what historians, psychologists, sociologists and poets have written about the subject, interviewing everyone from housewives in Vietnam and Thailand to family members and friends, and looking closely at how marriage has evolved to reflect our social needs and how it is so often intertwined with religion, politics, class, and money.
“Committed” tells the story of one woman’s efforts to make peace with marriage before she enters its estate once more. Told with Gilbert’s trademark wit, intelligence, and compassion, the book attempts to turn on all the lights when it comes to matrimony by frankly examining questions of compatibility, infatuation, fidelity, tradition, economic realities, divorce risks, and social expectations. Myths are debunked; fears are unthreaded; historical perspective is found; and romantic fantasies are ultimately exchanged for vital emotional compromises. In the end, Gilbert’s book is a clear-eyed celebration of the complexity and consequence that real love, in the real world, actually entails.
Tickets to Writers on a New England Stage: Elizabeth Gilbert are $13 ($11 for members of The Music Hall), available through The Music Hall Box Office, located at 28 Chestnut Street, Portsmouth, over the phone at 603-436-2400 or online at www.themusichall.org. Autographed copies of “Committed” (paperback edition) are available on the evening at The Music Hall or in the days following at RiverRun Bookstore.
Photo caption: Renowned author of “Eat, Pray, Love,” Elizabeth Gilbert, comes to The Music Hall in Portsmouth on Feb. 3 to discuss her new book, “Committed.” (Courtesy book cover image of “Committed”)
