I Read A Book A Week. Why Glennon Doyle’s Is My Favorite.

The book that will define the next decade of my life.

I am not one for book reviews.

I believe they cheapen the book, books are art and for the most part, speak for themselves. I read one a week. Fiction, nonfiction, the in-between. Every once in a while though, there is a book that will dramatically change my perspective on life, both in the past and in the future. Glennon Doyle’s new book, Untamed, does this in three words.

Feel it all.

This is where Glennon starts off her memoir- describing herself as a Christian influencer turned activist. Her journey from forgiveness of an unfaithful husband to falling in love with her now-wife. She felt it all. She encourages us, as the reader, to do the same.

As women, we often shelter our emotions. Downplay them or overemphasize them. We act so the crowd of people deemed to judge our performances are happy. However, we never just, feel. We never just sink into what we are feeling when things happen to us. The ups and downs. The arounds. Reading her words, I was moved at her transparency, and her honesty of her emotions. The book read like it was written for me.

Despite the fact I am probably not in her target audience (I am an unmarried, biracial, nineteen year old who has little life experience in comparison to her 300-page memoir) I found her book to be my guide for the next decade of my life, perhaps everyone’s guides. She poses a question to the reader that is equally as powerful as the previous statement:

What is the truest, most beautiful life you can imagine?

This one hit me hard. It forced me to think about all the decisions I made up to this point, and immediately my imagination ran on how to “beautify” my life. In this question, she forces the reader to disregard the structures society made for us and disavows the notion that we might not even believe we deserve the life we want to have. I make a mental note of this question because I believe I will need it in the next few years, as these societal structures become bigger and I become lost.

Midway through the book, Glennon takes an unusual turn. She redirects her memoir into a question-and-answer format, addressing her readers’ thoughtful questions into her style of metaphors, each chapter ending with a lesson or a viewpoint that leads to her theme: freedom. Whether that be freedom from a relationship, substance abuse, or oneself, Glennon challenges us to think freely.

Freedom is also the theme when she describes her view on God (which differs from the traditional Christian God), sexuality, and love. Her description of love is soulful and spiritual, not physical attachment. This description is fascinating to me, and reals right. It refreshes me. It washes away the years of society and generational z dating and concepts of love, and the many teenage television shows that consumed my brain for the better part of my life. It felt new.

I recently just watched an interview today with Glennon, and while she was not what I expected her to be like, her nuances were strangely comforting. Before the journey that she and I went on together this week, I did not know she had amassed an Instagram following of nearly a million. I did not know she had been a bestselling author previous to this one. I did not even know she was Oprah-approved.

Reading her book was a private conversation, much like the one between a mother and daughter, sister, or friend.

I am so glad I found this book, but it also found me. At this exact moment, at this exact time.

It felt divine.