Book Review: “Untamed” by Glennon Doyle
Untamed by Glennon Doyle Untamed is somewhat of a nonfiction work, somewhat of a memoir, somewhat of a self-help book by Glennon Doyle. Doyle tells us of her experiences as a woman and how she broke through and freed herself from the cages that society and people create for us. She encourages women to be […]
by Mahvash Mossaed
Untamed is somewhat of a nonfiction work, somewhat of a memoir, somewhat of a self-help book by Glennon Doyle. Doyle tells us of her experiences as a woman and how she broke through and freed herself from the cages that society and people create for us. She encourages women to be brave enough to re-examine their own emotionally confused selves so they, too, can manage to free themselves from these cages. In this book, Doyle goes a long way to convince us women that something is quite wrong and not working with our old self. She conveys that we are indeed in dire need, and we are overdue for making a big splash and transform ourselves into new, improved women.
In the book, the author is angry at times, and at times, heart broken and bitter. She teaches women not to be satisfied with being only a sparrow, but to use this book as a manual, so, like her, they can become an eagle too. She plays a victim at times, and at other times, she becomes an aggressive cheetah, newly out of her cage. Whether she is a victim or a cheetah, I don’t think this book is easy to digest for women from a lot of other countries who have a completely different set of values than she. To them, she could pass as overly confident and missing the kind of female strength, which is hidden in a woman’s softness and tolerance. We each have our own reality. Her reality does not match the universal woman.
I never understood why it is that the media and the public mistake being honest and raw with being shocking and to astound your readers or viewers with your most dramatic stories of being raped, molested, hooked on drugs and alcohol, being a victim of abuse. This has become almost the norm and the usual formula to spice up a story. I guess that’s what sells a memoir. In this book, the author is taking us with her on the journey of her struggles with depression, alcohol, a bad marriage. Okay, we buy it all, even though we have heard this tune many times before. Come to think of it, we women, do we really need a manual to be a woman? To be a strong woman, to be a liberated woman, to be an assertive, independent woman? Don’t get me wrong — I enjoyed reading this book and having Glennon Doyle lecture us. I didn’t so much enjoy the book’s beginning, but I somewhat warmed up to it towards the end.
When I turned the last page and put the book down, I realized that all these memoirs and self-help books more or less are the same. They are all about what we already know but somehow had forgotten. We read them anyway, just as a reminder to ourselves.
About the Author
Glennon Doyle is the author of #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 philanthropy – raising over $25 Million for women, families, and children in crisis. She lives in Florida with her wife and three children.
— Published on September 14, 2020