#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Over two 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, bestselling author, and “patron saint of female empowerment” (People) explores the joy and peace we discover when we stop striving … 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.
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Untamed will liberate women u2060— emotionally, spiritually, and physically. It is phenomenal.
I truly loved this book. A raw, honest look at not only the author’s life, but how women are caged early on, and become brave enough to find ourselves along the way. Full of stories and inspiration and beautiful words that will haunt me long after I finish the last page. This one is on my forever keeper – to be re-read shelf.
I know there’s been a lot of coverage for Glennon’s new book already, but I just wanted to add my voice (and wholesale recommendation)! to the chorus of praise An amazing, powerful, empowering, liberating, and courageous account of what it takes to live life on your own terms, even if it means hurting those you love. This idea – of living an authentic life and making choices that might not be accepted by those around you – is one I revisit in my novels again and again, and Glennon has done a beautiful job of capturing it in the scope of her personal story.
Some books shake you by the shoulders while others steal your heart. in Untamed, Glennon does both at the exact same time.
This memoir is so packed with incredible insight about what it means to be a woman today, what it means to be ‘good,’ and what women will do in order to be loved. I swear I highlighted something in EVERY chapter.
Read this book.I know you’ve heard about it. The hype is real. It’s a beautifully written, blisteringly honest, unflinching examination of a woman’s journey to herself.
Great read for the next time you want to do some self- and life-reflection!
I wrote and published an advice book for women in 2020, the same year Untamed came out. I’d been avoiding reading Doyle’s book for numerous reasons. Well, I finally read it and what surprised me was how similar our thoughts were on many topics, but how completely different we are as people and as writers.
I love what Glennon Doyle tells women, in how to be true to themselves, no matter what. I highly recommend this book for young women, moms, and in general, most women. I have not read her other books, so I didn’t know what to expect. Does she have all the answers, NO! Does she know what works for her, at this moment, YES! Is it mostly good advice, YES! I feel there are some topics she glosses over and some important details she leaves out. I also don’t really agree with her constant advice to embrace the pain (I’m afraid this could be misinterpreted). I believe she means don’t self-medicate with alcohol and drugs to avoid pain, but some people tend to suffer in pain needlessly, for years, who aren’t using drugs or alcohol. These people need relief from their pain! I’m glad she at least recommends medication for clinical depression.
She also seems to give her story a “happily ever after” Hollywood ending, when her story is not over yet — she’s still relatively young! She wraps it all up perfectly and puts a pretty bow on top, which is just not real life. But Ms. Doyle has a huge heart and there are plenty of important life lessons here. It’s definitely worth the read!
Glowing recommendations by Oprah and Reese Witherspoon led me to this book, and now I’m lending it to friends. Raw, inspirational and challenging. The hallmark of all my favourite non fiction memoirs. Try it.
Glennon Doyle opens our hearts and minds to releasing ourselves from the cages society asks us to reside in .The author writes how evangelicals became the most powerful voting bloc in the United States and fuel the white supremacy movement.That’s how evangelical leaders get away with the stunning hypocrisy of keeping their money, racism,misogyny,classism,nationalism ,weapons ,war and corruption while purporting to lead in the name of Jesus who dedicated his life to ending war ,serving orphans and widows ,healing the sick ,welcoming immigrants,valuing woman and children and giving money and power away.All a potential candidate must do is be anti-abortion and anti-gay. Even if the candidate abuses woman ,stockpiles money ,rejects immigrants ,incites riots and bigotry ,who in every way lives the opposite of the teachings of Jesus,he is chosen to lead.The writer and her partner Abby have started Together Risings which helps people suffering with resources that can connect them .to people that can offer healing The author quotes Archbishop Desmond Tutu who writes There comes a time we need to stop pulling people out of the river.We need to find out why they are falling in !The writer also shares her recovery from an eating disorder,alcohol and drug addiction which she discovered was masking her depression and anxiety with Lexapro she was able to heal and whenever she is tempted to stop her medication she writes a note telling herself how awful she felt The author provides us with valuable insights to grow and find inner acceptance and peace She offers a key for us to unlock our cages What are we waiting for ?
My plan is to gift this book to every woman I know and love. This is required reading, Ladies. I can’t love it more.
I’d been excited to read this book since first hearing about it sometimes last year and it was just as wonderful as I hoped. Glennon Doyle is so gentle and kind and wise, while also being very funny. Untamed is inspiring and warm and made me cry on more than one occasion. I loved it.
I had such a love-hate relationship with this book. There were times when it drove me crazy, coming across as breathlessly self-centered and over-the-top. The countless references to “Let it burn” and “we can do hard things” were among the moments that just made me want to scream.
Other times, it was profound and poignant, sending me scrambling to capture a wise insight that I never want to forget. Her insight that “fine is another word for half-dead” was pretty spot on. I could also relate to the moment she “stopped being a quiet peacekeeper and started being a loud peacemaker.”
Ultimately, I think it’s worth a read. As almost every woman I’ve discussed this book with has said, there’s a takeaway in Untamed for everyone.
My takeaway: I hope to always carry Doyle’s insistent reminder to trust myself with me.
I also appreciated her concept of family as the people who both hold and free you.
I loved the raw authenticity of this book and the honest portrayal of her life. Wonderful words of wisdom. I really enjoyed
Definitely a book for our times!
This might be one of my new favorite self help books, and not just because its full of useful insight on how to change around your life and pull yourself out of funks, but because it’s all about being true to yourself no mater what box you happen to fit in… or NOT fit in, for that matter.
Glennon braids her personal experience and life story in such a way that she’s able to pass out advice as if it’s endless. Picture a super rich woman with a stack of cash ‘making it rain’, like they do in the movies – you know with a flat hand on top of the stack, pushing out one bill at a time at supper speed so the dollars are falling to their feet like the weather.
I think of Glennon all light and airy, and the stack of cash being advice, and she’s laughing along with the way with her ex husband and her now wife at her side cheering her on. “Give those words, Woman, make it rain.” lol… okay, my imagination just got the best of me… but seriously, that how it felt. She’s a waterfall of umph, a spewer of life lessons, a sharer of learning experiences. No shame in the growth game. I think that’s how you can really tell when someone has grown above their traumas and broken cycles, is when they can openly talk about their once shameful secrets as easily and openly as it was last nights dinner.
Glennon openly talks about how she’s written self help books in the past, all the while she was in the middle of very hard times in her life with her divorce and husband’s infidelity, and trying to sort her feelings for women. She had to give speeches on her ‘wonderful life’ all the while she was suffering inside. She talk about the changes she made, and the struggles she’s went through since she was a kid. She tells about her parenting experiences and outlooks which is great! And she tells about her transition into her new life with Abby her now wife.
Of everything that Glennon covers in this book, what I love the most is her drive and energy. The way she looks at people in general with all of the conditioned rules and boxes and ways to lump types of people is really quite impressive. Her outlook is an inspiration all around and I very much enjoyed the entire book from cover to cover.
I loved it so much – I read it twice. In a row. It’s one of those books that lives nearby and I still pick up when I need a reminder – I’m not crazy, I’m a goddamn cheetah.
I would not recommend this book. I didn’t know so many women needed to be liberated. It was fine when she was talking about herself but she had no training in personal behaviors. Couldn’t finish it.
This book started off strong for me; loved the writing style, author’s use of words and funny anecdotes….then mid-book, it fell off and veered into current events, and it 100% lost me.
I like the stories and personal information, but I didn’t need a lecture on what’s going on in the USA, and I really almost stopped reading it entirely because of the author’s attitude.
Finished it for book club, but went from 5 stars to about 1.5 really quickly.
I did not like this book at all. It was one of the worst books I have ever read. I thought the author was a very selfish person. I would not recommend this book.