With International Women’s Day just around the corner, it seems fitting that our latest book club title comes from a female force to be reckoned with.
Glennon Doyle is an author, activist, speaker, mother and most recently, a woman who reclaimed her wild. In her third self-help memoir, Untamed, Glennon explores the power and peace we discover when we follow our instincts and start living a free, authentic life.
It’s already been endorsed by Oprah, Reese Witherspoon’s a fan and Adele said it was the book that changed her life, so something tells us we’re going to be roaring all over the place when we’re done here.
Keep scrolling to read the team’s reviews! But first, a reminder of the blurb:
Who were you before the world told you who to be?
Part inspiration, part memoir, Untamed explores the joy and peace we discover when we stop striving to meet the expectations of the world, and instead dare to listen to and trust in the voice deep inside us. From the beloved New York Times bestselling author, speaker and activist Glennon Doyle.
For many years, Glennon Doyle denied her 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 soon she realised they had come to her from within. This was the voice she had buried beneath decades of numbing addictions and social conditioning. Glennon decided to let go of the world’s expectations of her and reclaim her true untamed self.
Soulful and uproarious, forceful and tender, Untamed is both an intimate memoir and a galvanising 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 also the story of how each of us can begin to trust ourselves enough to set boundaries, make peace with our bodies, honour our anger and heartbreak, and unleash our truest, wildest instincts.
Lareese
Admittedly, non-fiction is not in my wheelhouse but Glennon Doyle’s memoir ‘Untamed is definitely the kind of no-nonsense guide to self-discovery everyone should read once. It unpicks everything we’re taught to believe is the right way to live as women and as mothers, and it shows us another – wilder – way to live. In 2021, abandoning other people’s expectations in favour of our truest, most authentic self should be a given but Doyle’s memoir is our literary kick up the butt to stop pleasing and start living. I wasn’t a huge fan of the short entries and vignettes as it felt a little like mammoth subjects didn’t always get the page-time they needed nor deserved but I can see why the structure needed to be as untamed as the very story it held. It’s a beautifully human, intimate and empowering read that’ll feed the fire in your belly from the very first metaphor.
Rating: 3/5
Would you recommend it? It’s worth a read!
Holly
I know they say don’t judge a book by it’s cover but this just isn’t one I’d ever reach for. I’m not a huge fan of non-fiction and find them quite hard to read. The main theme of the book is motherhood, and how motherhood saved Glennon Doyle. But I am not a mother, nor do I plan on being any time soon. So a lot of it felt a bit irrelevant to me. It did have some more relevant sub-themes, like learning not to care what other people think of you. But I’m not someone that particularly cares about that anyway. Any book that includes the representation of different families and the LGBTQIA+ community is always a winner for me.
I’d like to read this again when I have a daughter, who’s maybe around 5 years old and be interesting to see if it makes more of a profound effect on me then.
Rating: 3/5
Would you recommend it? To certain people
Charlotte
I’m not normally a non-fiction lover so I wasn’t sure what to expect when reading Untamed but I was so pleasantly surprised! I’d heard from friends and on a couple of podcasts, I listen to that this was a must-read and I totally get the hype. I’m going through a bit of a self-love/discovery journey and this book gave me so much food for thought in this sense. The permission to feel all the feels was so needed right now in a world in which we’re encouraged to carry on through unsettling times and Untamed acted as a real tonic in moments of self-doubt or worry. I must admit I had a couple of eye-roll moments at some of the anecdotes shared but overall I think I gained a lot from reading this book!
Rating: 4/5
Would recommend it? To the right person, yes!
Danielle
I’ll preface my review by saying I don’t read a lot of non-fiction books, I just love stories being told and that’s exactly what Glennon Doyle does. We get to learn about her experience whilst applying it to our personal lives. I think it’s incredibly eye-opening however it didn’t always feel that cohesive and the end got quite repetitive towards the end. I always find it hard to write a review for a memoir because that is someone’s personal story, it’s not like they could have written it differently it’s their life! If you’ve never read much feminist literature you’d could definitely learn a lot from Untamed, I’d be selective about who I recommended this to but overall it was poignant and smart.
Rating: 3/5
Would recommend it? Yes!
