More pasta please!

Since the movie is about to be released, I thought my first post would cover Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert.
First, I am wondering why there are so many females out there who hate this book.  I guess it's that weird, jealous-thing where females have trouble being supportive or happy for other females.  I've had a friend who thinks the book is entirely selfish and who thinks its ridiculous that someone got an advance from a publisher to leave their life and go on a year-long adventure.  Mind you, this person has not read the book.  I told her she was just jealous.  She agreed.
To be fair to the author, Gilbert was a successful writer with street cred, not some random nobody whose only published writings consist of blog posts (ahem).  Another friend, who did read it, said she got annoyed with the selfish parts.  But, isn't that the point of a memoir?  A memoir is an account of one's personal life and experiences.  I'm not sure how you feel, but I don't want to read someone's memoir that leaves out the messy, selfish parts.  Isn't that the point?  That by reading this person's journey, you might learn a little bit more about yourself?
I haven't finished the book, but so far I find Gilbert's honesty about the end of her marriage and her insecurities to be refreshing.  It's hard for women to tell the world how we really feel without worrying about being stuck. By stuck I mean typecast.  Like, she's emotional or she's a bitch.  Once you shed that first tear, you'll forever be "the emotional one."  Forgetting the fact that women (and people, in general) are too complex to be generalized in such a way.