Famous for writing the multi-million best-seller Eat Pray Love,  Liz Gilbert is back with another honest and insightful memoir.

All the Way to the River is the story of how she fell in love with her best friend, left her husband and the crisis that ensues when they are faced with a terminal diagnosis and a re-emerging drug addiction.   

This is definitely not a comforting story of love and loss, neither is it a self-pitying account of Gilbert as a victim. It is a harrowing, sometimes violent, and deeply moving narrative of how two people loved each other, lost each other to addiction and then lost each other again in death.  

What makes Liz Gilbert’s stand out from many other authors is her narrative feels so brutally and completely honest. Everything is laid bare for the reader to examine no matter how uncomfortable.

The reader sits front-row in Gilbert’s life watching, what can only be described as a horror story as her partner rediscovers her drug addiction and the impact this has on them both.

The book really takes a magnifying glass to what it is to be human and looks at the extremities of human behaviour in the face of such terrible circumstances.

I loved this book for its candidness, its bravery and how unafraid Gilbert is to show all the parts of herself to the world. 

It does feel like a love story, but it is also about self-awareness, human behaviour and the painful and messy experience many of us have on what she calls ‘earth school.’

I loved this book, although it was not an easy read. It was however deeply moving, brutally honest and a story that will stay with the reader long after the final page. 

5 Stars  *****

If you’re interested in any other books by Liz Gilbert i loved both Big Magic and City of Girls.