Elizabeth Gilbert returns with an offering that is devastatingly vulnerable. I devoured this book in hours, compelled to stay alongside the author on a journey that is equal parts heartbreak and epiphany. A narrative of searing self-awareness and painful honesty sits alongside intimate poems, conversations with God, and personal doodles and drawings. Her story is incredibly compelling. She freely shares the lessons she’s learned through grief, heartbreak, and addiction, and is generous in passing on the wisdom she’s gleaned from the rooms that led to her eventual recovery. I’m looking forward to gathering with my best girlfriends for an autumnal book club to share and unpack this powerful work. Thank you, NetGalley, for the early preview of a book that just might save lives.

I was delighted to receive an ARC from the publisher. I was always very invested in the story of Liz and Rayya's relationship - so romantic, right?! I didn't imagine it would end quite like this, but when I take my rose-tinted glasses off, I now can't see how it would have ended any other way. Having been one of the original 'Eat, Pray, Love,' girls (I don't know what it is about that book, looking back, but it struck a chord) and a fan of her follow-up 'Committed,' and two historical novels, I felt like I knew Liz, but in this beautiful story she strips herself bare and looks at herself and her relationship with Rayya with unforgiving, sober eyes.

One poet - Anne Sexton? wrote 'There is no use in loving the dying, I have tried.' This book is proof of that, that there are some rivers - as per the title - you can't step in, or that you can't step in twice. When Rayya is diagnosed with cancer, she and Liz admit their feelings for each other and fall in love, but not the kind of Beaches/Boys on the Side love you might expect, an amour fou characterised by addiction, screaming, illegal activity and 'eating like a ten-year-old at a birthday party.' Fun, but only up to a point.

The drawings and the mystical between-chapter poems addressed to 'my love' or 'my darling,' don't add much for me, but they do provide breathing spaces from the intensity of the narrrative, which will occasionally have you gasping for breath as if you were one of these women. Interestingly, the 'Love' lady has now been single for five or six years. Who knows what her next chapter will be?

A beautiful, heartbreaking, painfully honest but ultimately hopeful story of love, loss, addiction, and perseverance.
The book is about the loss of Elizabeth Gilbert’s partner and long time friend, Rayya Elias, exploring their journey through friendship, terminal cancer diagnosis, a romantic relationship, addiction relapse and ultimately loss.

From their beauty of their love story to the harrowing experience of Rayya’s terminal illness and drug relapse, Gilbert never shies away from vulnerable depictions of the truth and the care, reflection and introspection she brings to the story is palpable.

Gilbert also shares her own experience with addiction and 12 step recovery in a thoughtful and self-aware way which will surely touch and resonate with the many people who seek to understand and feel understood in their pain and search for recovery. Thank you to NetGalley for the preview of what, for me at least, is a life changing book.

Elizabeth Gilbert’s partner Rayya dies and initially she hears her vividly and clearly in her consciousness, so much so, she still seems to command the room. Then it begins to diminish and more than five years pass, her voice has faded but then suddenly, there she is again. In the interim, Elizabeth gets herself together, with sobriety for one. Suddenly on her 54th birthday there she is and Rayya tells her she loves her and will be waiting for her at the river when all this is over and that it’s time for her to write an honest book about her addictions. Just as suddenly as she appears, she’s gone. Liz follows Rayya’s advice and so here goes! She does her best to tell us the truth about what happens between her and Rayya Elias, no holds barred.

This is quite some memoir as it takes the reader on a rollercoaster journey. The authors grief at losing Rayya is so intense that it’s palpable. Her many struggles are explained with searing honesty as she lays herself open and bare. It’s incredibly honest about her addictions, co-dependency and instability and so at times it’s a bit brutal. However, if you’re going to write a book like this, it’s utterly pointless unless you are honest or you derive nothing positive from it. I do hope it’s been a cathartic experience for her as part of her healing.

What of Rayya? She is portrayed so lovingly, vividly and her often unfiltered truth is at times awe inspiring in the reactions that she gets from people. Elizabeth Gilbert makes me wish I’d had the privilege of meeting her as she does sound a force of nature and quite simply fantastic.

Interspersed between the narrative are some wonderful sketches and poems that add to the reading experience.

Overall, it’s raw, heartbreaking and sad and yet there’s optimism and healing too. It’s beautifully written and very powerful.

With thanks to NetGalley and especially to Bloomsbury Publishing for the much appreciated early copy in return for an honest review.

A painfully honest story of love, addiction and loss. Liz goes to extreme lengths to help her friend/ lover Rayya's passage through a diagnosis of terminal cancer. Descriptions of Rayyas relapse into drug addiction are harrowing. Liz tells of her personal addiction to needing to be loved. Despite all her best efforts Liz has to step away and let someone else cope with Rayya.

Elizabeth Gilbert’s new memoir, All the Way to the River, is as radiantly tender as it is searingly raw. The author invites us along on a personal deep dive into love and loss, into grief and the mechanisms of all-consuming addictions in whatever form. This is a book of love and blunt vulnerability told with absolute honesty. If I could give it 10 stars, I would, and then ask for more.

Elizabeth Gilbert met Rayya Elias in 2000 when she asked Rayya, a musician, filmmaker, and hairdresser, to cut her hair. In the following years, the two became close friends, never wanting to be apart. When Rayya was diagnosed with pancreatic and liver cancer in 2016, they professed their love for one another and had a private commitment ceremony.

As in her first memoir, Eat Pray Love, Gilbert doesn’t flinch from the truth of self-examination. She faces, with absolute honesty, the reality of being codependent and addicted to love. She finds her way through 12-step programs and onwards into the realm of spiritual awakening and surrender. It’s here that her healing begins.

If you liked Eat Pray Love, I can highly recommend this book. It struck a deep chord within me, and I know it is one I will reread.

My thanks to Bloomsbury Publishing and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I’m a huge fan of Liz Gilbert’s work so reading this book was a continuation of her life’s work for me and it was an experience.

Liz has previously talked about how her partner died but to see the full story of a full life lived and also how an addict deals with not only their own addiction but their dying partners is on another level.

This book is a mediation, it’s a memoir and it’s a remembrance but most of all it is the truth of a love that lives on despite death.

All The Way To The River is a raw, moving and deeply insightful memoir that explores love, grief, addiction and recovery with unflinching honesty. Elizabeth Gilbert reflects on her relationship with Rayya Elias, from their first encounter to their inseparable bond and eventual love. What begins as an unlikely friendship grows into something more powerful, yet also more dangerous, as both women wrestle with addiction, self-destructive tendencies and the complexities of intimacy.

The strength of this book lies in Gilbert’s vulnerability. She does not shy away from the darker sides of love and passion, nor from the painful truth of how destructive cycles can play out in even the most meaningful relationships. At the same time, her reflections are full of compassion and clarity, illuminating the ways heartbreak can also open the path to healing and self-awareness.

The book also offers an important exploration of addiction beyond the familiar patterns of alcohol and drugs, examining instead the addictions of love, sex and codependency. Gilbert presents these with empathy and insight, helping readers to understand the powerful grip of behaviours often overlooked but equally destructive.

This is a book that will resonate with anyone who has struggled with love’s consuming power, or who has sought freedom from patterns that no longer serve them. Both heart-wrenching and liberating, it is an unforgettable read that lingers long after the final page.

Read more at The Secret Book Review.

It's a love story, the kind that involves addiction.

This was a beautiful, emotionally intense read about addiction, love, pain, and growth. It's Elizabeth Gilbert at her most raw, sharing the personal story of her relationship with Rayya Ellis. I loved getting to know Rayya through this book, she is a firecracker! EG doesn't shy away from the hard stuff, but there's so much grace in how she writes it.

This book is heartbreaking and honest. I read it over two days - I could barely put it down. I also loved the poetry and art woven throughout. I found it very easy to relate to Liz in this book. I think a lot of us face similar struggles in our own way. The references to Eat Pray Love were a lovely touch, especially since that's the book that made so many of us fall in love with EG and set her on this path.

Definitely a must read book for fans. I'm sure anyone going through addiction or loss would find something meaningful in the writing too.

As someone who has read all of EG's works, I felt so lucky to read this early. Thank you to Bloomsbury, NetGalley and Elizabeth Gilbert for the opportunity.

Wow, this book was so raw, honest and compelling, I’ve been thinking of the right words to describe it but maybe the best word is actually, human? This book just felt so real, Gilbert was honest about her own shortcomings, struggles, and faults in a way that I think represented what it is to be human and that none of us are good or bad but instead human beings made up of good and bad moments, good and bad decisions and in turn good and bad experiences.

The love that Gilbert has for Rayya was so elegantly weaved through the text of this book, in fact it felt less like a book and more like a love letter of a real life, shared. It didn’t gloss over the hard parts of life or love but instead represented them each in their own rawness and vulnerability. It represented both humans as individuals but as two people joint together too. I found the love throughout so moving and the rawness at which it was expressed so vulnerable and mesmerising.

The elements around Gilbert’s own addiction were really interesting, especially being around a topic less talked about and I thought the condor at which she explored this and let us in was really inspiring. She really looked shame in the eye and said ‘why should shame stop me from healing’ and I think in the world we live in now, that is just so powerful.

The writing flowed so elegantly, as someone who absolutely adored City of Girls I really loved seeing how the development in Gilbert’s fiction work transcended to her Non-fiction work too. I found the prose and captivating writing that completely blew me away in City of Girls dripped throughout this memoir too, and it really made for such an enjoyable reading experience, that left me reflecting on what it really means to be human. I loved the poetry weaved throughout and thought that although the poems themselves were also deeply moving, the pace change helped the flow of the story in that I was able to not dwell in the sadness but instead embrace the next piece of the story.

Overall, this book was deeply moving, deeply honest and just breathtakingly human. I would absolutely recommend reading it to anybody although taking care when doing so as it was far from an easy read (I had to take multiple cry breaks). I genuinely feel privileged that in a world that can often make everyone hide their shame and pain away, Gilbert was willing to give us the love story of her and Rayya.