A review by honeybeatslibrary
Untamed by Glennon Doyle

challenging emotional slow-paced

2.0

I wanted to read this book in large part because of Reese Witherspoon and because I had several friends that loved it. I did not love it and in fact I would dare say I hated it. This is a book written by a white woman that has had all the privilege in the world to figure herself out over and over and live her best life. I think this book is supposed to help women have the same realizations as she did, but it absolutely misses the mark. If this was just a memoir about Glennon's life then it's fine, but it is a bit self indulgent and it makes a point highlight all the work she did to get where she. If it is meant to be self help it does not acknowledge that Women of Color rarely get the chance to start over after mess ups, that they have the space to be "their true selves" because white people don't like that, and at its core it just comes off as Glennon bragging about all the cool stuff she gets to do because she's white and people gave her the grace to start over. The chapter that really sent me was her chapter about racism. I believe Glennon is trying her best to be a good person and advocate for everyone. But that chapter was truly garbage. Talking about her feelings and how hard it is to be a white woman trying to fight racism is literally the problem. I don't deny that it's probably a difficult position to be in when you're used to being yes'd all the time. HOWEVER imagine being a Black person that has to live with the systematic oppression everyday-- Frankly Glennon I don't care about your feelings, your failure to acknowledge the difficulty WOC experience in that chapter is egregious to me. I don't enjoy not liking a book especially when it's popular but this one really deeply bothered and angered me. If you garnered something good from the book I think that is phenomenal I'm glad it did some good for some people---but for me I'm mad I wasted the time reading it.