Untamed

By: Glennon Doyle

Narrated by: Glennon Doyle

Length: 8 hrs and 22 mins

Publisher's Summary

Number one New York Times best seller • Over one million copies sold! "Packed with incredible insight about what it means to be a woman today." (Reese Witherspoon, Reese’s Book Club x Hello Sunshine Book Pick)

In her most revealing and powerful memoir yet, the activist, speaker, best-selling author, and "patron saint of female empowerment" (People) explores the joy and peace we discover when we stop striving to meet others’ expectations and start trusting the voice deep within us.

Named one of the Best Books of the Year by O: The Oprah Magazine • The Washington Post • Cosmopolitan • Marie Claire • Bloomberg • Parade • "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.

©2020 Glennon Doyle (P)2020 Random House Audio

Critic Reviews

“Filled with hopeful messages . . . encourag[ing] women to reject the status quo and follow their intuition. This testament to female empowerment and self-love, with an endearing coming-out story at the center, will delight readers.” (Publishers Weekly)

“She is a terrific storyteller.... Whether discussing her children or the world outside, challenging conformity, confronting misogyny, or standing up to religious bigotry, her goal as a memoirist (and as a person) is to defy expectations and to help others break out of their cultural cages so that everyone can find their own version of humanity. A bracing jolt of honesty from someone who knows what she wants to say and isn’t afraid to say it.” (Booklist starred review) 

“An emotional gut punch . . . an in-depth look at a courageous woman eager to share the wealth of her experiences by embracing vulnerability and reclaiming her inner strength and resiliency. Doyle offers another lucid, inspiring chronicle of female empowerment and the rewards of self-awareness and renewal.” (Kirkus Reviews) 

Shockingly shallow and self-centered

Most adults I know, just about all of them in fact, hit a point in life where they shifted focus from seeking approval and acceptance to developing inner validation to pursue their own needs and priorities. Yet somehow Doyle's journey to self-acceptance is somehow novel. It truly isn't, except for the amazing amount of time she spends blaming society, family, friends, co-workers -- but mostly society - for forcing her to conform into a life she never wanted. The tone is sad and helpless, despite her apparent "triumph" today. Her observations are mist-deep, for example reading the different promotional messages on the shampoo/soap bottles of her son and daughter and acting as if SHE alone unlocked the matrix to how advertising reflects and reinforces conventional social and sexual norms. Most of the book goes on like this, young-adult epiphanies made by a 40-ish woman, burdened by small-minded pastors, neighbors, co-workers, and on and on. Her anecdotes are trivial drama that unfold as if the listener is supposed to be aghast at the indignities she suffers. The bad, coercive and toxic forces poisoning her are readily identified by their behavior, and we are to sit back and sympathize with our brave and burdened heroine. There is nothing new in these experiences, it's called life, we all go through it, we all wade in the muck, and figuring it all out is part of the plan. Again, adulthood. I wish Ms. Doyle no ill will, and if she is happy in her new life than good for her. But this is exhaustive navel-gazing at its worst, an inward, solipsistic journey with no real destination other than her shrill discard of her previous self. It makes me a bit sad to know that thousands of readers will lap this up and rave about its "life changing," effect. I don't think we should encourage, let alone praise, what is nothing more than very articulate whining. It's just a bad look, and hardly inspiring. There are volumes of available titles that do a far better job of chronicling this type of personal journey with true dignity, grace, and universal insights that define strength of character. These voices offer more reflection, less accusation, and true inward validation that doesn't need to point fingers of blame. But nothing I say here will influence those that will find their own voice in hers, in all its (still) biting tone. And that's a real shame. So I guess I'll just close by saying welcome to adulthood Ms. Doyle, better late than never.

Total bummer

I was SO excited to read this! I can definitely align with the concept of feeling “overwhelmed and underwhelmed, simultaneously.” I was preparing to be inspired. Turns out, this is just a series of stories explaining why we should blame society for all of our problems. The stories would start out as eye opening, just to end up blaming society for our insecurities. There may be some truth, but it certainly isn’t inspiring. I had to stop when I got to Erika’s story. Instead of using it as an example to encourage women to go after their dreams to be happier, she blames society for trying to “control” women who want to dedicate their lives to support their husbands and children. I think the goal of this book was great. I think it could’ve been done so much better, in a much more effective way. Switching the blame from one area to another, doesn’t solve anything. I really wish I could’ve loved this.

Disappointing not as describe. (& See edit added)

Disappointing and average. Not the feminine powerful enlightening book i thought it’d be. I loved most of Part One of this book. The first chapters of part one are the best ones. Yes, I did hit pause a few times during part one and thought wow. That wow is the reason I kept listening, hoping she would eventually tie it all together and provide the reader with what we are really listening for; how to get our own shine back and overcome the challenges we each face to be the purest, free, and happy version of ourselves. Unfortunately, the book never gets there. It’s just a bunch of her own personal stories that never really have an actual ending.

My interest really fell off in the chapter “Arms”. It’s a beautiful story and I’m happy you’re happy but I don’t care about it at all as a reader who thought she was going to be reading a women’s empowerment book based on the books prologue. As I was listening to that chapter I kept thinking —hm It seems like this book is more about finding love and that’s not what I’m interested in. Is this book going to end up being totally filled with overly descriptive sentences of the love she experienced? And isn’t that a little codependent that she found her happiness as soon as she found someone else?— It took someone else to make her feel alive. I don’t want to be taught that and I certainly don’t want to encourage anyone else to seek out true love in order to bring their shine back. I’m super against codependency and honestly a lot of her stories have codependent linings.

If you are married, getting a divorce, or have children, then maybe you’ll relate to this book and like it. I think this book may be better for a targeted audience of women who have or are married or have kids. Those are all responsibilities I do not personally have and am not seeking to add to my life for at least the next 6 years, so it was really hard for me to relate to her and her stories. I have been married and divorced and I did it all in my own, it was hard but I never let it break me, so when I hear her stories about her tough divorce and how it nearly broke her, Im sorry but I just can’t relate, and I roll my eyes and think you’re not the only one, suck it up and do it! It’s not as hard as you build it up in your head to be! I kept waiting for the marriage and love stuff to move on but it never does.

For me personally, I am on a self-love independent journey trying to live as peacefully as possible. I thought this book was going to be more about her as an individual finding her shine Again and influencing women to do the same, but it’s not like that. I tried looking between the lines to see what message she was trying to get out with each chapter. Sometimes I found one but if I did it was a little eye-rolling and mediocre. I thought maybe the stories would tie together at some point, maybe a huge epiphany at the end, but no. A lot of the stories don’t even have purpose, it’s just a story nothing meaningful was learned.

I think anyone, who like myself, enjoys reading self-help or inspirational books will think this book is really novice compared to many other authors that deliver a much more eye-opening, new-found-motivation, life is full of possibilities and I can create the life I want message. When I read about this book and sampled it, I thought it was going to be great and deliver the encouragement I was seeking, but it did not.

It’s almost as if this is more of a coming out and self discovery story. There’s nothing wrong with that and I’m sure a lot of women will enjoy it and relate to it, but that’s not what the books description or prologue made it out to be. Very deceiving. Overall I would not recommend to anyone.

Edit: I still stand by my first review, but I wanted to add something.

This is not a bad book. It is a good book And I like the author. It’s just not for me. I didn’t gain much NEW knowledge and tools about loving myself and being the truest version of me, but that’s because I’ve practiced mindfulness for years and have a long history with Thich Nhat Hahn books.

I am no expert, but because of my personal learning experiences and life style choices, I felt the majority of the book was BELOW my learning level. If are someone like me who is already well-versed in and practices a self-loving, mindfulness lifestyle than this book won’t be able to teach you much more than you already know.

However, there are still parts of the book that made a me say wow and write them down in my journal. It’s a memoir so it’s all her personal stories. The author explains all things meditation, self-love and discovery in a simple real-life manner, that may be HELPFUL and suitable for readers who are not attracted to traditional self-help books.

Rantings on everything from art to politics.

I wanted to like this book but after a few hours of the author ranting it became impossible to listen. Doyle has something negative to say about so much. At the beginning of the book she states that her daughter is a prophet and I should have stopped listening then but wanted to see what the hype was about. What gives Doyle the authority to make unequivocal statements about life and marriage, politics, religion and even art? The statements in this book are simply her opinion and while articulate are based on nothing more than her ideas on life. To assume anything more from this book is ridiculous. Buyer beware.

Awful

I hated this book. I thought it was self serving tripe. I will not read this author again.

Thank you isn’t enough...

Untamed is essentially the book that teaches exactly how to undo and replace the misogynistic and racist and multifaceted discriminations we’ve all had crammed down our throats that keeps us from love and keeps us miserable in expectations-bondage. It educates you about burning them and replacing them with what is true, whole, and healthy. How we can learn and teach compassion by taking time to imagine. This book is a myth buster of epic proportions. It’s the manual on what love really looks like free of shame, stereotypes, etc etc. Thank you for Glennon Doyle — Your books free me, free others, and shows us how to set about doing the next right thing for each of us. Choose you. My next task is to set the rules for those that have permission to be on my island. (Audible review)

Wow!

This is my first Glennon book so I have nothing to compare as far as her work, but this book is really thought provoking. A lot of people won't like this book. People will say she hates men. What I see when I read this book is she's loving herself and she's trying to help and teach others to do the same. 5 stars all the way.:)

Wowza-rooni

I couldn't stop listening because my soul needed to soak it all in.

My family design is similar to Glennon's. I walked away from my "supposed to" family toward my heartbeat love about ten years ago.

Similarly I lost everything only to gain so much more. My exhusband lives down the street and we've co-parent like studs and forged life long bonds as intentional loving people wanting love based lives.

It felt validating and like home to read your story.

I also am thankful to hear another voice who struggles with entrenched faith doctrines and real life faith loving.

Most importantly I feel energized to grow in areas of sitting still ...while a loved one grieves. Letting go of my "suggestions" of how my loving wife should live her life.

Thank you.

I AM. I AM. I AM as well.

Stunning.

I’ve been a fan of Glennon Doyle’s since her Momastery days, and watching her truly come in to her own as an artist and and author and a woman is nothing short of inspiring. This latest work is a true masterpiece. I didn’t want it to end. Her insight into love, and life, and pain, and growth, and mental illness, and addiction- it’s all just so, so good. I already ordered a hard copy of the book to go back through and highlight, but hearing her read her truth is its own kind of powerful.

Already blown away!

I’ve only listened to the first few minutes and I’ve paused it three times overwhelmed with emotion and energized by your writing. Had to leave the first - pre-review. Thank you.