Gilbert weaves an epic story, a century long adventure, with unique individuals, and science. It is a masterful study of souls, loves, and our natural world.

The fastest, most engaging thousand pages you’ll ever read. I’ll never forget Alma and her amazing life that literally came alive in this story.

Not the best book I have read!

Boring beyond belief.

This story was fascinating, and incredibly well written. Elizabeth Gilbert knows how to use language. It is a romance, a generational saga, a travelogue, a history, and a scientific treatise—a masterpiece of fiction.

Needs heavy editing ... and a plot.

If you like well developed characters you’ll like this book. The relationships between the characters are wonderfully developed too. I also really enjoyed getting a glimpse into the development of science and botany over the course of the 19th century and I thought the details of Henry Whittaker’s journey from botany to pharmaceuticals was fascinating. My favorite part of the book would have to be the thing that bothered Alma the most: if kindness serves no evolutionary function why do we show it? It’s a good read. It slows towards the middle but picks back up for a good ending.

I’m not 68, very widely read, and a lover of many disciplines. This book ranks among the best I’ve read. It is quite simply a tour de force, spanning science, literature, psychology, history, religion, travel, and love. The author can expect to die happily, having left something of real value and inspiration for generations to come, much as Alma Whittaker felt in her last days.

One of the most engrossing and excellent books I’ve read in the past decade.

Brilliant! Gilbert at her very best. Possibly her best writing to date. An epic by any measure- one that delights. I hated that it ended.