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Untamed

Glennon Doyle (Goodreads Author)

4.10 · Rating details · 162,874 ratings · 15,841 reviews

In her most revealing and powerful memoir yet, the beloved activist, speaker, and bestselling author of Love Warrior and Carry On, Warrior explores the joy and peace we discover when we stop striving to meet the expectations of the world, and start trusting the voice deep within us.

"Untamed will liberate women--emotionally, spiritually, and physically. It is phenomenal."- In her most revealing and powerful memoir yet, the beloved activist, speaker, and bestselling author of Love Warrior and Carry On, Warrior explores the joy and peace we discover when we stop striving to meet the expectations of the world, and start trusting the voice deep within us.

"Untamed will liberate women--emotionally, spiritually, and physically. It is phenomenal."--Elizabeth Gilbert, author of City of Girls and Eat Pray Love

This is how you find yourself.

There is a voice of longing inside each woman. We strive so mightily to be good: good partners, daughters, mothers, employees, and friends. We hope all this striving will make us feel alive. Instead, it leaves us feeling weary, stuck, overwhelmed, and underwhelmed. We look at our lives and wonder: Wasn't it all supposed to be more beautiful than this? We quickly silence that question, telling ourselves to be grateful, hiding our discontent--even from ourselves.

For many years, Glennon Doyle denied her own discontent. Then, while speaking at a conference, she looked at a woman across the room 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. But she soon realized they had come to her from within. This was her own voice--the one she had buried beneath decades of numbing addictions, cultural conditioning, and institutional allegiances. This was the voice of the girl she had been before the world told her who to be. Glennon decided to quit abandoning herself and to instead abandon the world's expectations of her. She quit being good so she could be free. She quit pleasing and started living.

Soulful and uproarious, forceful and tender, Untamed is both an intimate memoir and a galvanizing wake-up call. It is the story of how one woman learned that a responsible mother is not one who slowly dies for her children, but one who shows them how to fully live. It is the story of navigating divorce, forming a new blended family, and discovering that the brokenness or wholeness of a family depends not on its structure but on each member's ability to bring her full self to the table. And it is the story of how each of us can begin to trust ourselves enough to set boundaries, make peace with our bodies, honor our anger and heartbreak, and unleash our truest, wildest instincts so that we become women who can finally look at ourselves and say: There She Is.

Untamed shows us how to be brave. As Glennon insists: The braver we are, the luckier we get. ...more

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ebook, 302 pages

Published March 10th 2020 by Dial Press

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· 162,874 ratings · 15,841 reviews

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Jul 19, 2020 Val ⚓️ Shameless Non-Snowflake ⚓️ rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: book-of-the-month, memoir, 1-stars

Elitist Drivel

For those looking for an old school ~~rant~~ review, today is your lucky day.

I have so many thoughts and words floating through my head right now that I am struggling to formulate a review - which almost never happens.

description

In fact, speaking of "struggle..."

This book was a struggle to get through. And I have a feeling it matches the struggle of being Glennon Doyle and living inside Glennon's Doyle's head - ALL of which is created and meticulously curated by Glennon Doyle.

Seriously though ...more

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Oct 14, 2019 Glennon rated it it was amazing · (Review from the author) · review of another edition

This is a sacred day to me. The most important thing I’ve ever written–my new book UNTAMED–is available for the first time TODAY.

I’m often asked why I don’t publish books more often. My answer is this: I never write a new book until I’ve become a new woman. Over the past few years, I became a new woman. UNTAMED tells that story.

At an event for LOVE WARRIOR, a woman walked into the room and the moment I saw her, three words filled my entire being: There She Is. I knew, from my roots, that she was ...more

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Mar 23, 2020 Skyler Autumn rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: not-worth-the-hype

2 Stars

Did anyone else find this book to basically be the author patting herself on the back about how she is just nailing life at the moment?

The author should have just made a prologue that read: Listen up masses I have figured it all out because I'm more sensitive than you and thus for just can understand the world better. Also I know what you're thinking will I as a white woman address racism within this memoir? And yes, of course, I have a whole chapter dedicated to it and I think I get ...more

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Nov 09, 2020 Roxane rated it liked it · review of another edition

I'm not the target audience for this book, but I am glad she found her path and a loving partner. ...more

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Apr 08, 2020 Elyse Walters rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Audiobook... read by Glennon Doyle

My thoughts and feelings changed ‘several’ times - from positive to negative - back to positive- back to negative!!!
By the end.... I was just glad to be DONE!

If this book was ‘clearly’ a memoir... I wouldn’t have felt annoyed.

I often didn’t buy her strategies in achieving emotional balance—-because ‘she’ lacked balance in important areas of life: true empathy for others.

Glennon will ALWAYS put her needs and desires ‘before’ others. She demonstrated several tim ...more

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Mar 13, 2020 Katie rated it did not like it · review of another edition

I wanted to like this book and I am sure for most this book is inspirational and empowering. I agree with her core message, I just found the whole book annoying. I can’t put my finger on it.

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Jun 11, 2020 Nilufer Ozmekik rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Did you hear choo choo sound of disappointment train! Yes, I heard it, I’ve been there, done that! And can you feel the approaching steps of “unpopular review”: yes, it’s coming right now…One step, two step, three step: And here we are: I’m about to give two stars one of the books inspired and got so many great reviews from the readers. I wish I could be one of them. I wish I could carry a happy smile after reading this memoir and clap my hands to show my devotion and respect to the author. Nope Did you hear choo choo sound of disappointment train! Yes, I heard it, I’ve been there, done that! And can you feel the approaching steps of “unpopular review”: yes, it’s coming right now…One step, two step, three step: And here we are: I’m about to give two stars one of the books inspired and got so many great reviews from the readers. I wish I could be one of them. I wish I could carry a happy smile after reading this memoir and clap my hands to show my devotion and respect to the author. Nope, it’s not gonna happen!

Firstly: I felt like I turned myself into a Foucault Pendulum because my feelings kept swinging between love and hate. I didn’t have so many negative and positive reactions to a book at the same time. But unfortunately negativity defeated the power of positive thoughts.
The beginning of the book was so promising: Glennon is strong woman: recovered alcoholic, bulimic, humanitarian, activist, wife and mother of three falls in love. At the first time in her life she knows the other person is the one: somebody truly stole her heart and finding your soulmate is just a start for her self-discovery and the beginning of self-journey.

I don’t have any problem about Glennon’s life choices and thoughts because I always show respect people’s decisions about their own lives even though I don't like those decisions. But sometimes putting someone’s needs before your own doesn’t mean you’re sacrificing yourself or you’re martyr of your damned path you chose for yourself. It means GIVING and SHARING. There is thin line between respecting yourself by choosing your own needs and being shellfish by always putting your own needs before someone else’s. In this book: I didn’t like the way of Glennon’s treatment to her loved ones and I found her tone harsh, self-righteous and close to be narcissist. When I’m reading the pages I feel like Taylor Swift’s “Me! Me! Me!” was playing over and over in my head.

At some parts way of telling her evolving life story was irritating. I just visualized her as a religious leader who thinks her devoted fans, worshippers may start to scream “Amen” for each word comes out her mouth because she just drew a portrait of herself similar to this vision At that part 80’s Madonna’s popular song started playing in my head with my alternated version; “ Glennon, don’t preach, I’m in trouble deep, Glennon, don’t preach I’ve been losing sleep.”

I am so happy her journey resulted well for her and she finally found her true happiness but her ways to earn that freedom in expanse to hurt the loved ones around her and the way of justifying her actions like “Her way or high way” kind of know-it-all communication style didn’t work well for me. Sorry that’s not the inspirational story I’ve been looking for maybe that’s about my character and the way of looking to the matters are quite opposite. I can accept the opposite opinions but that doesn’t mean they’re the right ones. There are so many different approaches and so many different angles of the reality.

I know Glennon doesn’t give any shit my opinion and anyone disagrees her meaningful, full of wisdom thoughts of hers. But I still write, express and tell how I feel. Sorry, it seems like I’m not the right reader for this journey!

blog
instagram
facebook
twitter ...more

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Mar 21, 2020 Katie Hilen rated it it was ok · review of another edition

According to my kindle, I made it 71% of the way through this book before I called the time of death. The themes of honoring yourself, busting societal boundaries, and fighting inequality were appealing and honorable. But they didn’t feel honest. Glennon uses direct quotes to express exchanges that happened years prior. The quotes are too perfect. It’s the phrasing we’d use if we had years to reframe conversations and an editor to clean up the narrative. She’s lead a remarkable life. I’m sure th ...more

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Apr 04, 2020 Heather F rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: mln, dnf, internet, lgbt, feminism, non-fiction

Bland White feminism, paired with self-fan fiction.

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Apr 01, 2020 Justin Tate rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Love Warrior is one of my all-time favorite memoirs. I’ve never read an author be so honest about their flaws, so completely vulnerable and exposed to the world. With everything out on the table, she delivers stories that are truly gut-wrenching, inspiring, and ultimately uplifting. I recommend it to 100% of my writer friends who are working on memoirs. It’s that good.

Untamed is the follow-up to that book, and a lot has happened since then. Notably, Glennon has divorced her husband and married a Love Warrior is one of my all-time favorite memoirs. I’ve never read an author be so honest about their flaws, so completely vulnerable and exposed to the world. With everything out on the table, she delivers stories that are truly gut-wrenching, inspiring, and ultimately uplifting. I recommend it to 100% of my writer friends who are working on memoirs. It’s that good.

Untamed is the follow-up to that book, and a lot has happened since then. Notably, Glennon has divorced her husband and married a woman. It’s immediately clear that she’s also coming into this book from a much stronger, healthier state of mind. For the most part, Love Warrior is about what it took to rise out of rock bottom. Untamed is about what it’s like to have learned.

A majority of the book--I’d say 60%--are the philosophies of Doyle as a woke feminist. She does a lot of before and after, such as this is what I used to think and this is what I think now. There are still revealing passages of vulnerability, which I find her greatest talent, but she also writes wonderfully from a position of strength. Her metaphor of a caged cheetah is an excellent opening that sets the tone for the book and her philosophies.

As for criticisms, I will say that most of the book is probably preaching to the choir. As a feminist I didn’t really need another rant on the depiction of women in magazines. I agree with everything she says, but there’s a brief stretch where it feels unnecessary to beat that dead horse.

Unlike the gritty truth of Love Warrior, I feel some of the anecdotes in here get cheesy. When describing her parenting strategies, for example, every line of dialogue comes out ‘Leave it to Beaver’ perfect, with her teenage children leaping to disown their cell phones, pick up extra chores, and talk about their deepest feelings in a car full of peers. I don’t doubt she’s a wonderful mother and I’m sure her children are angels, but please. I don’t even have kids and I rolled my eyes.

All in all, I think the book succeeds as a call to action, a form of group therapy, and poignant self-reflection. Women--and men--have bottled these feelings and been “caged” by them for centuries. It’s hard to read Doyle and not feel freed. ...more

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Jan 31, 2020 Deanna Bailey rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Since I am African/MexicanAmerican, I have a hard time reading memoirs sometimes especially when it is from the White Woman perspective, however I really enjoyed the story Glennon Doyle wrote. Doyle is able to write about finding and being true to yourself but is able to drop gems of information even though she comes from a place of privilege- which she acknowledges herself. I want to give this book to every person I know to read with the hopes that they take away from it what I did which is let ...more

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Mar 14, 2020 Lisa rated it did not like it · review of another edition

I guess I was expecting this to be more of a memoir rather than a lecture

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Mar 25, 2020 Kristi rated it did not like it · review of another edition

I wish I could UNREAD this.

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Mar 28, 2020 Kelly rated it did not like it · review of another edition

DNF

I got about 2 hours into the audiobook (18%) and had to stop.

She had me at first, with the cheetah story and being locked in cages created by those around us. How important it is to find our wild again, and let it be what dictates our choices.

But then she got into going into herself to find God, or the thing she no longer refers to as God, and letting that be what guides her decisions and she started to lose me.

I also lost count of how many times she said she was a bestselling author.

It a ...more

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Mar 29, 2020 Rosemary Mac Cabe rated it did not like it · review of another edition

A book written to be turned into Instagram quotes

Did not enjoy. Do not recommend. Lots of it makes no sense but sounds “inspirational”. Complete drudgery. I’d love to hear you argue this with me because I genuinely do not understand the hype at all.

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Mar 25, 2020 Brat rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Only rounded up for Abby. Otherwise, this is too Rachel Hollis-y for me. Not sure where the hype for this book came from but... pretty cover!

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Apr 28, 2020 Jazmin rated it it was ok · review of another edition

I think this book is more self-help than it is memoir, and the memoir parts were way more interesting.
First off: I have a real problem with the author describing herself as “caged.” I think middle-class, college educated white women really overestimate and catastrophise the kind of disadvantages they face from being women. We are all certainly confined by cultural and social values that are arbitrary. I would not call being in an unhappy marriage “caged.” There are actual people in cages in Ame I think this book is more self-help than it is memoir, and the memoir parts were way more interesting.
First off: I have a real problem with the author describing herself as “caged.” I think middle-class, college educated white women really overestimate and catastrophise the kind of disadvantages they face from being women. We are all certainly confined by cultural and social values that are arbitrary. I would not call being in an unhappy marriage “caged.” There are actual people in cages in America, they’re called prisons and detention centres. Some people can’t afford to feed themselves and their families. Some people are worried about getting shot by the authorities, or when they go to school. Some people have had their land stolen off them, and she’s living on it in her nice waterfront house she mentions. Just some perspective, middle class white women, would be GREAT.
The jargon. Omg the the metaphors and the jargon. It was all too twee and relentless. This woman sounds insufferable. She’s constantly proselytising to her friends these amazing sermons where she uses all these metaphors, and quite frankly, I do not buy that this author is that well spoken and articulate and enlightening at all times. It’s very “and then everyone clapped” tumblr story for me.
The peak sanctimoniousness of this book had to be where she mentioned that all her friends were activists and artists and therefore they just ~cared~ more deeply than us normie philistines. Or more than the people actually affected by the problems she and her friends are so nobly trying to solve. Also, it’s a weird policy to only be friends with people with mental illnesses. I didn’t find that funny, just a really reductive assessment of mental illness as something that makes someone inherently more interesting.
I don’t want to sound really curmudgeon-y about this book, because I certainly did take some valuable insights from it, but I was largely rolling my eyes at the incessant metaphors and anecdotes where the author always says perfect things to people that encapsulated both their problems and solution. Permission slips. Your knowing. You could actually play a drinking game for every time she mentions that she wants to make a true, beautiful life. Good luck to anyone uncynical enough to find this shit helpful and revelatory, that means you’re definitely the kind of person that does hot yoga and has some “nevertheless she persisted” merch and i feel entirely comfortable judging those kinds of people *shrug emoji* ...more

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Oct 16, 2019 Glennon Doyle rated it it was amazing · (Review from the author) · review of another edition

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Apr 19, 2020 Katharine rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

There aren't enough words for how much I loved this book. It was exactly what I needed during this strange time. It grounded me, brought me back to myself, and made me feel a little calmer. I hope to return to this often (something I'm not very good at doing). It was hard not to underline almost everything, and I used about a million book darts to mark passages I loved and want to remember or read again. If you're a fan of Elizabeth Gilbert, Cheryl Strayed, and Brene Brown, I think this one will ...more

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Mar 16, 2020 Nadia rated it liked it · review of another edition

Firstly, the format of the book feels a bit disjointed, as if I was simply reading a bound collection of blog posts rather than a cohesive book. After reading Love Warrior, I was interested in her story of what took place afterwards, how she was able to reconcile her faith and move forward with her life. Readers looking for this will be left wanting and personally, I felt as though instead of reconciling her faith, she has traded it for a brand of moralistic therapeutic deism.

Much like Love Warr ...more

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Mar 30, 2020 Jenna Polan rated it did not like it · review of another edition

I was really disappointed by this book, especially after seeing such great reviews everywhere. The overview seemed promising, but I found so much of it repetitive. A lot of the shorter essays, focusing generally on injustices or world observations, ended right as they got interesting. The broad claims about gender inequality or cultural expectations are not new or groundbreaking; I don't mean that they shouldn't be written about (actually I think the exact opposite), but Doyle isn't adding any s ...more

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Mar 17, 2020 Pocket Watch Purveyor rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Abysmal, smug and sanctimonious. I'm confident we'll be reading about her next divorce soon. ...more

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Apr 17, 2020 Danielle rated it did not like it · review of another edition

It has been a while since I have loathed a book so fully as I did that wash your face book. I suppose it was time to find one that I wasn't just bored by, or indifferent about. I detested every page of this nonsensical, self-indulgent, inauthentic word salad. The bold, beautiful cover is as much of a deception as she admits her last two memoirs were. ...more

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Apr 07, 2020 Jessie Bartholomew rated it did not like it · review of another edition

The whole thing felt like an overcompensation. For what? I don’t know exactly. It was like during the whole book she was just trying to convince us, and herself, that she got it right this time. Her little revelations weren’t exactly groundbreaking. Trite sayings. This book is way overblown

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Jan 12, 2021 Danielle rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: reese-witherspoon-bookclub

I had no idea who Glennon Doyal was, prior to reading this book. 🤷🏼‍♀️ To be honest, I likely wouldn’t have picked this one up, had it not been on Reese Witherspoon’s book picks. 😬 This self-help style book is simply not my jam. While a lot of what she had to say was poignant and smart, it still had the self help preach feel for me.

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Mar 21, 2020 Kait F. rated it it was ok · review of another edition

I know authors who write books like this polish up conversations that they recount in order to make them more coherent and meaningful in the rear view mirror. But oh my god. The conversations with the authors kids, ex husband, wife, therapist, friends and family were so incredibly self aggrandizing. Pretty much half this book for me was filed under “oh I’m SURE that’s exactly how it happened” *eye roll*. I’m also definitely not the target audience— none of the narrative about finding myself real ...more

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Apr 18, 2020 Mk rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Everyone was talking about this book and so I got it. Now all these people need to give the two days back to me that I spent reading this crap.
The tone is so self righteous, like I have figured everything out and you’re weak and you don’t listen to yourself nonsense.
Also, who the hell has conversations like the ones written in this book? And that too for very general everyday things. And when someone asked her to repeat what she had said, she was like oh I can’t say it again but here it is in ...more

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Mar 06, 2020 Emma rated it did not like it · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Aug 18, 2020 Kalyn Nicholson rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: self-development, favorites, feminism

Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow.
This cracked open so many internal and emotional doors! It's both beautiful and cathartic while remaining grounded and graceful fuzed with so much empowerment.
This is by far one of the most inspirational and relatable books I've read in a while (and that is saying a lot).
I'll be returning to this one all the way into my late womanhood. ...more

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Apr 16, 2020 Judy Harper rated it it was ok · review of another edition

I wrote a review when I was 3/4 of the way done with the book, talking about how hollow and untrue it felt. And now, I've finished the book (finished it several days ago), and I can't stop thinking about how much I still don't like it, how the author comes off as self-absorbed and sanctimonious.

I wonder if I would have a different reaction to the book if I'd read it in the world we lived in before this awful pandemic, and I have no way of knowing the answer.

So, all I can do is write my review fr I wrote a review when I was 3/4 of the way done with the book, talking about how hollow and untrue it felt. And now, I've finished the book (finished it several days ago), and I can't stop thinking about how much I still don't like it, how the author comes off as self-absorbed and sanctimonious.

I wonder if I would have a different reaction to the book if I'd read it in the world we lived in before this awful pandemic, and I have no way of knowing the answer.

So, all I can do is write my review from this moment in time, and to say that I truly disliked this book. Truly. I had never read anything by her before, but I heard her on a podcast with Brene Brown, and I decided to buy the book.

There is something so self-congratulatory about her tone and so smug that I couldn't feel inspired, no matter how much I wanted to. I also felt that she was presenting her life not so much with authenticity and vulnerability but with "hey, look at me and be like me...and if you can't, you'll never know what the good life is." The message I got from this book is that unless I'm willing to give up everything, I'll never know what life really can be.

Many other reviewers have commented on the dialogue in the book, which is awful. Nobody talks that way, not even characters in an Aaron Sorkin script. No one remembers conversations with that type of recall. And that, combined with the purposefully "wild" structure of the book left me feeling irritated, and it's been a long time since I've been irritated by a book.

I am alarmed that Glennon Doyle is lauded as the voice of feminine empowerment because her book comes across as steeped in privilege and arrogance. You can only be happy, she seems to say, if you're BFF's with Liz (Elizabeth Gilbert, of course, famous writer) and if you sit with Oprah at her kitchen table and if you have thousands and thousands of people who will drop everything to listen to you adoringly, and if you are willing to risk everything...

This is neither a memoir, nor a self-help book, nor a coming-out tale. It is simply the self-congratulatory, curated, filtered writings of someone who knows she's adored and wants us to know she knows.

...more

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Club V Book Club: January Non-Fiction: Untamed by Glennon Doyle	4	14	Jan 12, 2021 06:15AM
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About Glennon Doyle

Glennon Doyle

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Glennon Doyle is the author of the #1 New York Times bestsellers UNTAMED (a Reese’s Book Club selection) and LOVE WARRIOR ( an Oprah's Book Club selection), as well as the New York Times bestseller CARRY ON, WARRIOR. An activist and thought leader, Glennon is the founder and president of Together Rising, an all-women led nonprofit organization that has revolutionized grassroots philanthr ...more