Author: Glennon Doyle
Length: 352 pages
Untamed
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Description
“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.”
Janet Dore –
“I am a sensitive, introverted woman, which means that I love humanity but actual human beings are tricky for me. I love people but not in person.”
This part self-help/part memoir challenges societal expectations and encourages readers to trust themselves, reclaim their voice, and live authentically. The book traces Doyle’s personal journey from a seemingly perfect personal life—a married Christian woman with children—to falling in love with soccer star Abby Wambach, ending her marriage, and rediscovering herself in the process. Through a collection of essays, Doyle speaks about embracing inner truth, the struggles of womanhood, and the importance of shedding external expectations to become “untamed.”
As I’m fresh out of an 11-year relationship, I thought it was time to finally read this book, which I’ve owned for a while. I’m on a mission to de-center men in my life, and while this book isn’t specifically about being single (in fact, Glennon moves into another relationship quickly after her marriage), it still helped me. I found it intriguing—and lovely—that her new partner is a woman.
I’m not typically a fan of self-help-style books, so I didn’t expect to love this one as much as I did. But Glennon’s honesty about her own messiness makes her incredibly relatable. She’s not trying to present a perfect image—she’s real, raw, and human, which is so refreshing. It’s empowering to witness someone drastically change so openly.
Each chapter is an essay that focuses on a relevant topic—whether it’s a serious social issue, an experience of womanhood, or a personal anecdote. Every page is filled with heart and common sense. Doyle’s writing had me laughing, sniffling, and cheering throughout. Definitely a highly impactful read.
I must admit, I developed a bit of a platonic crush on Glennon. She’s been added to the very short list of people I’d love to have dinner with—joining Tupac Shakur. What a blast it would be!