Eat. Pray. Love. Individually, these words represent three actions that each person performs at one time or another as a means of survival or as an attempt to maintain sanity.

Put together, those three little verbs form the title of one of the best books I read all summer long.

The book chronicles the darkest, lightest, saddest and most humorous periods of Elizabeth Gilbert’s life.

Gilbert is a talented writer whose material needs are beyond satisfied.

And while her career, home and husband kept her anchored in the Big Apple, her heart pulled her in a different direction.

Her memoir narrates her incredible journey back to her center.

And readers hang on by every syllable as Gilbert conquers depression, overcomes divorce, does some serious soul-searching, and falls in love all over again.

The beauty of it all is that she does it with the same hesitation and appreshension of any living, breathing human who must look change sternly in the eyes and shake hands.

Anyone who has had their heart broken or revived can identify with this book.

Its words resonate both with humans who have experienced unadulterated happiness and the interruption thereof.

And I believed with such religious fervor that when you take such a simple title, mix it with such a complex, real-life storyline, and add in a dash of Julia Roberts, you have created an inevitably irresistible concoction.

Boy, was I wrong.

And this deep dissatisfaction is shared with all people who read voraciously.

It is a deep emotional experience shared by those of us who insist on reading the book first and then being first in line to see the film on the silver screen.

But once you’re sitting in the movie theater trying desperately to hear the actors’ voices over the obnoxious crunching of popcorn and slurping of soft drinks, you start to notice the discrepancies and omissions in the film.

Sometimes, it can make the experience all the more enjoyable, especially as you observe the blissfully ignorant “non-readers” who don’t know the difference.

But there are times when that synthetic, Botox-laden, Hollywood-enhancement takes away from the beautiful imperfection of the story that you read with such pure satisfaction.

I found this to be especially true with “Eat Pray Love.”

Perhaps it was both na’ve of me to think that a film could replicate these things, but with Julia Roberts as the headlining actress, I figured anything was possible.

Perhaps it was even unrealistic of me to believe that 365 days of life could be jam-packed into 90 minutes of film.

But it was neither na’ve nor unrealistic of me to expect that the director would at least try.

I have such fond memories of flipping through all 352 pages of “Eat Pray Love.”

There was intense joy, there was heart-wrenching pain and there was overwhelming satisfaction.

It was so complex. So intense. So fulfilling. It represented life condensed into word form.

And all of the emotional simulations made it 10 times more gratifying.

If there was a food pyramid for books, “Eat Pray Love” would have fulfilled every food group, including the little portion at the top of the pyramid reserved for sweets to be consumed only in moderation.

I held closely to those memories like a high school crush as I watched helplessly as I fell out of love with the film.

I was deeply, depressingly disappointed.

Eat-a-whole-pint-of-Ben-and-Jerry’s-disappointed.

Covers-over-my-head-at-noon-disappointed.

The whole premise of the book and provocation of Gilbert’s travels was her failed marriage.

But the marriage itself was not given enough play time on the silver screen.

Characters who were so significant to her spiritual and emotional development were given entirely too little face time.

There was no opportunity for the viewers to develop attachment to the characters, and thus, to their invaluable contribution to Gilbert’s life experience.

The film was visually impressive. There’s no denying that.

The travels, the scenery, the cuisine. It was all aesthetically pleasing on screen.

But the film failed to illuminate the lessons that came as a result of these things. It barely shed a cheap keychain flashlight’s worth of light on the depth of Gilbert’s experience and relationships.

Fortunately, for me, I saved $2 by going to the matinee.

So do yourself a favor and use that nine bucks to buy some Top Ramen and a soda at Buc Mart.

And save the two cents change you get back for a rainy day.

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