I'm torn on how to rate this, but I have to go with the 3 star approach because try as I may, I just plain don't enjoy Elizabeth Gilbert's writing. She has this unnerving habit of inserting herself into everything, and making even someone else's biography somehow about her.

All that said, I'm not going to lie...I chose this book because there was a beautiful, bearded sonofabitch on the cover and that's my kryptonite. The overview of Eustace Conway's life was intriguing enough to actually move past the cover, and so I did. SPOILER ALERT: as is the main theme of the book, Eustace is kind of a douche-canoe. Wait, that's not fair. He's a raging control freak when it comes to the land he has worked his whole entire life to acquire, and I get that. What is incredibly compelling is how he did it all, and that alone is worth the read. I mean, all ass-hattery aside, this guy had a vision and made that vision come true through pure, unadulterated sacrifice and hard work. It's beyond amazing what he has accomplished in life, and you begin to understand his personal issues as the book goes on (I even suspect there are some deeper things going on).

After I read the book I searched for some more current information on Eustace and ran across a TED Talk he did, fascinating! I wish he had written the book himself and left Elizabeth Gilbert completely out of the picture, as the most interesting parts were direct excerpts from his personal journals.