Reviews with content warning for Eating disorder - Otämjbar

Untamed by Glennon Doyle 🐆
🌟🌟🌟✨

🐆The concept: "Who were you before the world told you who to be?" This is the question Glennon Doyle finds herself asking when the Christian marriage and family that helped her achieve sobriety is stifling her and she falls in love at first sight with a woman at a conference. She finds that the voice that leads her towards fulfilment doesn't come from outside herself - from "on high" or a spiritual guide - but from deep inside herself, and sets off in pursuit of that voice.

I don't read a huge amount of self help-y books, and this was definitely jumping in at the deep end. The tone throughout was like a mix between Fight Song by Rachel Platten, a TED talk, and a CEO's LinkedIn post about a conversation with their child that ends with the phrase "let that sink in." Sometimes it hit on something profound, sometimes it felt more like she'd capitalised random words and hoped for the best.

The topics she discussed were wide-ranging and she didn't shy away from anything. There was even a chapter about racism, which was a bit of a mixed bag. It started with an irritating anecdote about Trump's election - a friend calling her, distraught, and Doyle doing the smug "woke" white woman thing of "Well maybe now FINALLY everyone will wake up!!!" And while I thought Doyle did well at explaining how she as a philanthropist balances a sense of personal responsibility and acknowledging her own racism with taking action, I wasn't fully convinced by her comparing anti-racism work to sobriety. I'm not sure how far I can get behind anti-racism as a form of self-help for white people, and it's symptomatic of the individualist lens that I felt characterised this book.

Overall, this was enjoyable and at times illuminating, but I'm not sure it totally convinced me!

🐆 Read it if you think best in metaphors and analogies because my god, does Doyle LOVE them. If you're in a time of real flux right now this would probably be quite reassuring.

🚫 Avoid if you have a low threshold for irritation or if any of what I've said above sets off alarm bells!

Content Warnings

kelly_e's review against another edition

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hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.0

Title: Untamed
Author: Glennon Doyle
Genre: Non Fiction
Rating: 4.00
Pub Date: March 10, 2020

T H R E E • W O R D S

Digestible • Reflective • Empowering

📖 S Y N O P S I S

Four years ago, Glennon Doyle—bestselling Oprah-endorsed author, renowned activist and humanitarian, wife and mother of three—was speaking at a conference when a woman entered the room. Glennon looked at her and fell instantly in love. Three words flooded her mind: There She Is. At first, Glennon assumed these words came to her from on high. Soon she realized that they came to her from within.

Glennon was finally hearing her own voice—the voice that had been silenced by decades of cultural conditioning, numbing addictions, and institutional allegiances. This was the voice of the girl Glennon had been before the world told her who to be. She vowed to never again abandon herself. She decided to build a life of her own—one based on her individual desire, intuition, and imagination. She would reclaim her true, untamed self.

💭 T H O U G H T S

I read Untamed in small weekly sections along with a handful of other women as part of an online group, and I am not sure if I would have picked it up otherwise. Reading and discussing it with other women really enhanced the experience as a whole and I definitely got more out of it than I would have had I read it along.

I decided the best way for me to consume this book would be by listening to the audio, which is read by Glennon herself. While I couldn't relate to many of the chapters and topics, the ones that I did relate to really struck a chord. Part memoir, part self-help, part essay collection, it is written in a way that is easily digestible. However, there really isn't a consistent timeline or flow to how it is organized. I didn't mind this, but I know it will not work for some people.

After listening to Untamed there is no doubt in my mind Glennon is an incredibly powerful activist and speaker. I could see how this book could easily rub some people the wrong way, yet for me there were parts which were empowering. I have since started listening to Glennon's podcast, and I would consider reading something else she writes in the future.

📚 R E C O M M E N D • T O
• Brené Brown fans
• book clubs

🔖 F A V O U R I T E • Q U O T E S

"She said this: 'I've spent the past week considering your question. I can imagine a thousand easier stories about mothers and sons. I can think of a million happier ones. But I cannot imagine a single story truer or more beautiful than the heartbreaking one I'm living now, with my boys.'"

"The truest, most beautiful life never promises to be an easy one. We need to let go of the lie that it's supposed to be."

"Perhaps the only thing that makes grief any easier is to surrender completely to it. To resist trying to hold on to a single part of ourselves that existed before the doorbell rang. Sometimes to live again, we have to let ourselves die completely. We have to let ourselves become completely, utterly, new."

"Depression and anxiety are not feelings. Feelings return me to myself. Depression and anxiety are body snatchers that suck me out of myself so that I appear to be there but I'm really gone. Other people can still see me, but no one can feel me anymore - including me. For me, the tragedy of mental illness is not that I'm sad but that I'm not anything. Mental illness makes me miss my own life."

Content Warnings

jordan21's review against another edition

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funny reflective fast-paced

3.5

I had high hopes for this memoir, but found myself more annoyed than inspired. A few of the essays did resonate with me, but most of the others were filled with too much unrealistic dialogue to be enjoyable. As a writer myself, I’m in disbelief that anyone could remember full paragraphs of a conversation with their daughter or partner like Glennon claims to have done in Untamed.

I also feel like she portrays her sexual awakening in a very bootstrap-type of way that is not accessible to the average person. Yes, I agree that it was a brave thing to leave her husband for the sake of finding happiness with Abby, but not every closeted gay person has the privilege to start a new life with a famous, white, ex-soccer star. Virtue signaling came in very strong for me throughout this read and I’m surprised at how little criticism I’ve seen it receive.

Content Warnings

amylynnknitsreads's review against another edition

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hopeful lighthearted reflective medium-paced

3.0

There was nothing bad about this book but there was also nothing that I can really wave about when it comes to this book. It was good but I wasn't particularly inspired buy it nor did I come away with any great revelations. I enjoyed learning about the author's life and her experiences and hearing her point of view.

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