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A review by cat_rector
Untamed by Glennon Doyle
4.0
An interesting listen that I think will help solidify my foundations!
I picked this up on a whim, having never heard of the author before. The audiobook was in my library app and there was a long waiting list for it, so I checked out the synopsis. Plus look at that cover!
I was hoping this book would give me direction to a little more sense of self, for lack of a better way to put it. In some manners, I feel solid in who I am, but as the author discusses, I've definitely been a tamed girl for most of my life. I acted as I was expected to, used the mantra "only calculated risks", and possessed nearly puritanical thought processes over everyday things.
This book is a reminder of how I was programmed that way.
I found a lot of the author's personal stories helpful, as if watching someone else have that kind of courage was permission to develop my own. I think the strongest part of the book is the first chunk, and I personally got the most out of her transition between classic marriage to modern family unit.
The thing that served me the least is the discussions on faith and religion. They'll definitely serve someone else very well, especially since her background is as a Christian writer. Her change of faith from organized religion to personal practice is important, especially in the face of some communities that promote bigoted spiritual practices. For me, it's not what I came to the book for.
As well, some of the back half of the book seemed less related to what I came to the book for and more like personal anecdotes, but I think that's very subjective. Sometimes it reads as a story, sometimes it reads as a series of essays, and not every essay is for everyone.
Either way, I do hope I can take some of the things from this book and use them to shore up the walls of my confidence and inner convictions. I think it'll be on my mind for a while to come. I don't yet entirely know how to turn inward and trust the parts of me that know what I want, but I hope that will come with practice.
I picked this up on a whim, having never heard of the author before. The audiobook was in my library app and there was a long waiting list for it, so I checked out the synopsis. Plus look at that cover!
I was hoping this book would give me direction to a little more sense of self, for lack of a better way to put it. In some manners, I feel solid in who I am, but as the author discusses, I've definitely been a tamed girl for most of my life. I acted as I was expected to, used the mantra "only calculated risks", and possessed nearly puritanical thought processes over everyday things.
This book is a reminder of how I was programmed that way.
I found a lot of the author's personal stories helpful, as if watching someone else have that kind of courage was permission to develop my own. I think the strongest part of the book is the first chunk, and I personally got the most out of her transition between classic marriage to modern family unit.
The thing that served me the least is the discussions on faith and religion. They'll definitely serve someone else very well, especially since her background is as a Christian writer. Her change of faith from organized religion to personal practice is important, especially in the face of some communities that promote bigoted spiritual practices. For me, it's not what I came to the book for.
As well, some of the back half of the book seemed less related to what I came to the book for and more like personal anecdotes, but I think that's very subjective. Sometimes it reads as a story, sometimes it reads as a series of essays, and not every essay is for everyone.
Either way, I do hope I can take some of the things from this book and use them to shore up the walls of my confidence and inner convictions. I think it'll be on my mind for a while to come. I don't yet entirely know how to turn inward and trust the parts of me that know what I want, but I hope that will come with practice.