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kelly_e's review against another edition
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."
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
Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Alcoholism, Mental illness, and Body shaming
Moderate: Sexism, Racism, Police brutality, Homophobia, Misogyny, Infidelity, and Religious bigotry
Minor: Vomit, Grief, and Pregnancy
buffyali's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
3.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Mental illness, Infidelity, Pregnancy, Eating disorder, Drug use, Misogyny, Alcoholism, Self harm, Sexism, and Drug abuse
Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Racism
marisa_n's review against another edition
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
3.0
This felt like a book-length version of those cheesy quotes on Facebook that say things like "a flower cannot blossom without rain." Overall, the book was cheesy, superficial, and disorganized.
To be fair, it wasn't all bad. The author has clearly lived many different lives as she's worked to find herself. She's turned her story into a series of easily digestible anecdotes and life lessons. There were a few powerful reminders about self-love, romantic love, and parenting. There were some empowering messages about trusting your intuition, defining happiness for yourself, and challenging oppressive systems.
That said, the actual book itself was a mess. It was simultaneously overly formulaic and completely unorganized. Each chapter starts with a simple anecdote, has an a-ha!/ light bulb moment, and then ends with a life lesson to tie it all together. That said, the chapters were in no coherent order--neither chronologically or by theme. I'm convinced you could randomize the order of the chapters had have a fairly similar reading experience. It was incredibly frustrating to guess where you were chronologically. Moreover, the author was constantly learning a lesson, just to jump back in the timeline and re-learning the same lesson. It made the a-ha moment feel forced and insincere. Lastly, the strange order made the book feel incredibly repetitive, as no topic was given enough space within a single chapter to reach any depth.
The author should have put all the stories in chronological order. This would have helped clearly describe who she used to be, provide us a chance to root for her in her non-linear journey, and then display a character arc. Alternatively, she could have given a brief overview of her story in the introduction, then organized all the chapters (in chronological order!!) into sections organized by large themes, such as inner self, love, parenting, god/ religious institutions, community/activism. I think the messages could have been so much more powerful if she started describing her internal journey, and then how it changed her relationships with those of various proximity to her.
Overall, I think the book was fine. Perhaps I'm just not the target audience... This book might be written for women who are white, christian, politically moderate, mothers (who she used to be). To be fair, if she can reach those kinds of women and engage them on issues related to race, gender, sexual misogyny, etc., then that's a win in my book. That said, I have the feeling she's mostly preaching to the choir.
To be fair, it wasn't all bad. The author has clearly lived many different lives as she's worked to find herself. She's turned her story into a series of easily digestible anecdotes and life lessons. There were a few powerful reminders about self-love, romantic love, and parenting. There were some empowering messages about trusting your intuition, defining happiness for yourself, and challenging oppressive systems.
That said, the actual book itself was a mess. It was simultaneously overly formulaic and completely unorganized. Each chapter starts with a simple anecdote, has an a-ha!/ light bulb moment, and then ends with a life lesson to tie it all together. That said, the chapters were in no coherent order--neither chronologically or by theme. I'm convinced you could randomize the order of the chapters had have a fairly similar reading experience. It was incredibly frustrating to guess where you were chronologically. Moreover, the author was constantly learning a lesson, just to jump back in the timeline and re-learning the same lesson. It made the a-ha moment feel forced and insincere. Lastly, the strange order made the book feel incredibly repetitive, as no topic was given enough space within a single chapter to reach any depth.
The author should have put all the stories in chronological order. This would have helped clearly describe who she used to be, provide us a chance to root for her in her non-linear journey, and then display a character arc. Alternatively, she could have given a brief overview of her story in the introduction, then organized all the chapters (in chronological order!!) into sections organized by large themes, such as inner self, love, parenting, god/ religious institutions, community/activism. I think the messages could have been so much more powerful if she started describing her internal journey, and then how it changed her relationships with those of various proximity to her.
Overall, I think the book was fine. Perhaps I'm just not the target audience... This book might be written for women who are white, christian, politically moderate, mothers (who she used to be). To be fair, if she can reach those kinds of women and engage them on issues related to race, gender, sexual misogyny, etc., then that's a win in my book. That said, I have the feeling she's mostly preaching to the choir.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia, Biphobia, and Religious bigotry
Minor: Gaslighting, Death of parent, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Sexism, Religious bigotry, Racism, Pregnancy, Chronic illness, Colonisation, Abortion, Toxic relationship, Addiction, Alcohol, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual content, Rape, Infidelity, Drug use, Drug abuse, Alcoholism, Biphobia, Classism, Death, Fatphobia, Grief, and Gun violence
belladonnashrike's review against another edition
emotional
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
2.75
would be 3 stars if it weren’t for the pacing for parts 1 & 2 of this book - they were so disorganized that I couldn’t enjoy the writing until part 3 (which was the longest and definitely the most well-written of the 3 sections).
it’s a nice easy read and a good break from all the depressing books I always have my nose in, but it wasn’t super profound to me. there are definitely some gems in there, though. the ending was a little flat and weirdly abrupt.
ultimately I don’t understand the praise this gets, it was okay. not bad, but not the best piece of writing either.
not trying to rain on her parade at all. despite my critiques i am very happy she was able to flourish and now lives the life she wants to live without the societal & religious constraints that are bestowed upon us from such a young age.
it’s a nice easy read and a good break from all the depressing books I always have my nose in, but it wasn’t super profound to me. there are definitely some gems in there, though. the ending was a little flat and weirdly abrupt.
ultimately I don’t understand the praise this gets, it was okay. not bad, but not the best piece of writing either.
not trying to rain on her parade at all. despite my critiques i am very happy she was able to flourish and now lives the life she wants to live without the societal & religious constraints that are bestowed upon us from such a young age.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Eating disorder, Mental illness, Misogyny, Alcoholism, Sexism, Addiction, and Infidelity
Minor: Racism, Mass/school shootings, Homophobia, Religious bigotry, Police brutality, and Drug abuse
neni's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.0
I enjoyed this. I liked the writing when the author was talking about specific life experiences, in particular about her relationships with her kids and her wife. You can really tell she loves them deeply, and she has a lovely way to describe her feelings. In each section, her narrative style is strong, emotional and compelling, which is just what you need in this type of book.
However, a few things I didn’t quite like as much were:
- the fact she didn’t fully explore/deepen any of the topics she talked about. There were lots of important topics she touched upon with plenty of useful insights, but somehow she managed to make most reflections quite surface level. I would have liked to see some of the nitty gritty explored in more detail.
- the fact she didn’t fully explore/deepen any of the topics she talked about. There were lots of important topics she touched upon with plenty of useful insights, but somehow she managed to make most reflections quite surface level. I would have liked to see some of the nitty gritty explored in more detail.
-there were quite a few sections in the book where she was touching on more spiritual/religious/philosophical ideas where the writing came off as a bit too cringey and cheesy for me. Not that there weren’t some interesting insights, but I could definitely tell she used to be from a religious backround just from the way she phrased certain things. She wasn’t literally preaching any religion per se, but the style was similar to a lot of religious speech which made me a bit uncomfortable to be honest and took a little of the relatability away for me.
Still, overall I found this to be engaging and it definitely tugged at my heart strings
Content Warnings
Moderate: Eating disorder
Minor: Sexism, Violence, and Racism
sunnivab's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
5.0
I loved this book. There were so many lessons I learned, things I resonated with that I didn’t even realize I would have before reading and digesting it. I already know I will want to reread this book often to remind myself of the lessons in this book, to refocus on myself, who I am and what I’m doing.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Misogyny, Homophobia, Sexism, Racism, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Body shaming, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Addiction, and Alcoholism
Minor: Miscarriage and Panic attacks/disorders
lg_02's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
2.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Eating disorder, Addiction, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, and Sexism
ekmook's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
3.25
Content Warnings
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Eating disorder, Misogyny, Racism, Religious bigotry, Sexism, and Mental illness
biblizo's review against another edition
1.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Religious bigotry, and Sexism
whylal's review against another edition
2.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Eating disorder, Addiction, and Mental illness
Moderate: Racism, Sexual content, Sexism, Religious bigotry, Death, and Homophobia
Minor: Miscarriage
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