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Writer's pictureLisa Rodeheaver

Book Review: Untamed

I heard a lot of hype about this book and saw on Goodreads some other people were reading it so I decided to see what it's all about. Glennon Doyle is an excellent writer - portraying her thoughts and stories with interest, intrigue, and just the right wording. Her book is not chronological - it jumps from times with her husband to times with her wife and throughout the book you learn the whole story but in pieces where the author choose to fit it.


She covers a wide range of topics from right before her divorce thinking she needed to

do everything possible to stay in her marriage to realizing that she didn't have to stay to falling in love for the first time to feminism to racism to parenting. It sometimes made topics and the story feel a little choppy, but by the end, it's not really noticeable. I really feel like it could have been 2 separate books: uncaging yourself and feminism and impact on our children.


Overall, the book seemed to be about empowerment in several different directions, living a life built of freedom, love, and activism. A part of the book I really loved is when Glennon is describing her interactions encouraging women to write their most beautiful life. The stories that she shares about what these women view as their most beautiful life is inspiring and reaches out to the dreamer in all of us.


The only thing that was ever wrong with me was my belief that there was something wrong with me. -Glennon Doyle

Important things to note: This is not a self help book. It isn't about how to do certain things or even an educational book in the stance of how society has gotten to the point of putting our citizens in boxes or cages. It is a memoir and tells the author's own story of how she eliminates her cages and why. It's encouragement to others to be able to do the same.


As I was reading it, I could tell there were parts that would offend some people and turn them off from the book as a whole. There are powerful messages in the book, and my own philosophy for every book is to take what is meaningful to me and leave the rest behind. Some people may devour the whole book and love it; others may find messages throughout the book that they hold onto while discarding the rest or maybe leaving it to come back to later.


Her biggest message is basically to not let others write our own stories; to not live the stories others have or are writing for us. To push through the boundaries society has put us in and make our own life and story. That seems to be why she aptly titled it 'Untamed.'

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