Glennon Doyle

I am not sure I've ever read a book that has stirred more contradictory feelings in me than this one. It makes it very hard to give it a rating.

On one hand, I really liked Glennon's writing style. She drew me in with her anecdotes, her self revelation, and her sense of humor. I whipped through the book in no time, and I was definitely motivated to turn the page to see what (fill in a word here - outrageous, ridiculous, narcissistic, selfish, woke) thing she was going to say next. I actually show more really want to read her other two books now, so I give her kudos for being a great marketeer and an intriguing writer.

On the flip side, I am hard pressed to agree with much of Glennon's philosophy of life, and make no mistake, this book is more philosophy/self-help than it is a memoir. Her ideas seem to conflict. She a lot about paying attention to your "Knowing" which is some kind of inner compass (gut feeling?), but at the same time, she struggled with bulimia, alcoholism, and ended up leaving her husband for a soccer star after making three kids with him. I'm not a big believer in using your feelings to steer your every action . . .we have intellect and the capacity for rational thought for a reason. Honestly, if I go through all of the areas where I disagreed with her propositions, I'd be revealing the entire book to you, but at the end of the day, I think she's pretty narcissistic and anxious to signal what a brave, generous, free-spirited person she is now . . .I think her lens is just warped. She's the type of person who is willing to surrender any values because she has "evolved", and now her "Knowing" is steering her in a new direction. And she looks into the rear view mirror, and admits that her desires steered her wrong in the past, but somehow the readers are supposed to discern between "knowing" and some less productive internal feelings (the ones that lead to say, addiction). Okay. I think a lot of people do what they feel like doing, but they don't write a whole book devoted to getting other people to do the same . . .if feelings were a great guide to life, we wouldn't need therapists.

At any rate, individual readers will need to see where they come out on Doyle's messaging; she definitely has a gift for writing and persuasion, I will give her that. Somehow, I had fun hate reading this book so I'm giving it three stars even though I honestly see Doyle as mostly a hypocritical narcissist. show less

"I am a sensitive, introverted woman, which means that I love humanity but actual human beings are tricky for me. I love people but not in person."

This part self-help/part memoir challenges societal expectations and encourages readers to trust themselves, reclaim their voice, and live authentically. The book traces Doyle's personal journey from a seemingly perfect personal life—a married Christian woman with children—to falling in love with soccer star Abby Wambach, ending her marriage, show more and rediscovering herself in the process. Through a collection of essays, Doyle speaks about embracing inner truth, the struggles of womanhood, and the importance of shedding external expectations to become "untamed."

As I'm fresh out of an 11-year relationship, I thought it was time to finally read this book, which I've owned for a while. I’m on a mission to de-center men in my life, and while this book isn’t specifically about being single (in fact, Glennon moves into another relationship quickly after her marriage), it still helped me. I found it intriguing—and lovely—that her new partner is a woman.

I'm not typically a fan of self-help-style books, so I didn’t expect to love this one as much as I did. But Glennon’s honesty about her own messiness makes her incredibly relatable. She’s not trying to present a perfect image—she’s real, raw, and human, which is so refreshing. It’s empowering to witness someone drastically change so openly.

Each chapter is an essay that focuses on a relevant topic—whether it’s a serious social issue, an experience of womanhood, or a personal anecdote. Every page is filled with heart and common sense. Doyle’s writing had me laughing, sniffling, and cheering throughout. Definitely a highly impactful read.

I must admit, I developed a bit of a platonic crush on Glennon. She’s been added to the very short list of people I’d love to have dinner with—joining Tupac Shakur. What a blast it would be! show less

I will start by saying I have no idea who this author is or what this book was about before I read it. The beginning of this book was fantastic and I loved all her ideas about breaking out of society's perceived rules and norms. The rest of the book was more uneven and I could see how people felt it was preachy and privileged. I was not as bothered by this as I usually am - maybe I was in a forgiving mood? lol! - but I felt like she was still cognizant of her issues and shortcomings. She show more hasn't figured it all out but was at least trying so I gave her points for that. This was not at all the type of book I usually read but it fit one of my prompts and I couldn't remember which one. I finally looked it up after I was done and saw it was self-help - this baffled me because how is this a self-help book? Who was this helping? Does she reflect an average life that people relate to? Who is her target audience? I just thought it was a weirdly written memoir and didn't think any of it was actual advice so that could also be why I didn't get as annoyed with her as others did. I will also say that I REALLY dislike self-help books so it was probably better that I didn't go into knowing that because it would prefer tainted my perception of it from the start so it allowed me to see her position without trying to relate it to me. So, I'll stick with my 4 stars because I read it as a compilation of quirky essays and she had some good points that I agreed with, especially regarding sexism and religion, but I doubt I will be looking for more "self-help" books from her. show less

Doyle gives you a lot to chew on. I went into this book knowing nothing about her. While reading the first few chapters I realized "she's a poet" simply from her metaphors and the flow of her words. There were a few phrases and moments that caught me off guard while reading that I had to pause and sit with for a moment, marking them with a sticky note. I'm eager and scared to follow the advice Doyle gives, partially because I wonder if, as a 20-something, I have enough life experience to show more even attempt find my Knowing the way she describes. There's also lots in this book that makes me want to have deep conversations with my mother.

There have been times when I read a book that many people are recommending and going wild over where I find the book isn't as good as everyone says. This is not one of those times. I cannot even count the number of times I thought "so'n'so should totally read this!" show less