A review by samdalefox
Women Who Run with the Wolves: Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype [Abridged] by Clarissa Pinkola Estés

reflective relaxing medium-paced

2.75

I understand why this was so popular during its original release during third wave feminism. I don't think it's stood the test of time; the feminism is dated and binary and the book's structure is meandering. However, I did enjoy listening to it as an audiobook, it was lovely to hear Pinkola Estés telling the fairy tales in her soothing voice (Little match girl, Baba yaga, and La Llorona are three of them).

Favourite quotes:

"So many of us start out in a desert. We feel disenfranchised, we feel alienated, we feel not connected, sometimes even to our families of origin. A desert is a place where small things grow, the life in the desert is often small and brilliant but it's not lush like a forest. It's very small. And many of us have lived lives like that where there's a little cactus with a brilliant red flower on it and then you go 500 miles and there's nothing. Many of us have learned to live like that because we were born into families that to us were like deserts. For whatever reason we were born into families that were not able to sustainable us and make us flourish with a wealth and abundance of ideas and creativity and relationship."

 

“Go out in the woods, go out. If you don't go out in the woods nothing will ever happen and your life will never begin.”

Wcook's review (which I agree with):

"I will say I did find her writing on effective creative environments to be moving, particularly in regards to the merits and dangers of isolation as well as her examination of the importance of healthy creative communities.

I understand why this book is so important to so many people. I am glad I have read it, even if it is not necessarily my cup of tea."