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Untamed by Glennon Doyle Review: A #1 Bestselling Memoir of Self-Reclamation
Untamed is the #1 New York Times bestselling memoir by Glennon Doyle — a Reese's Book Club selection that has sold over two million copies — tracing Doyle's journey from a life shaped by societal expectations to one built on her own desire, intuition, and identity, anchored by her falling in love with retired soccer player and activist Abby Wambach.
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Best for
Readers — particularly women — who are ready to interrogate whether the life they are living reflects their own values or an identity handed to them by family, religion, or culture, and who are drawn to memoir that blends confessional personal narrative with spiritual and cultural argument.
Worth it if
You are open to an unapologetically subjective, emotionally direct account of rupture and self-reclamation, and value the kind of memoir that is designed as a catalyst for conversation — especially in a book-club setting — rather than a work of journalistic inquiry.
Skip if
You expect balanced perspective or journalistic distance from memoir, or find that a universalising message drawn from one writer's very specific experience of faith, marriage, and public identity stretches further than you feel the personal evidence supports.
What readers & critics say
Kirkus Reviews called it "a lucid, inspiring chronicle of female empowerment and the rewards of self-awareness and renewal," awarding it their "Get It" verdict, while Publishers Weekly — as recorded by the Wikipedia article on the memoir — described it as "a testament to female empowerment and self-love, with an endearing coming-out story at the center" that "will delight readers."
“A lucid, inspiring chronicle of female empowerment and the rewards of self-awareness and renewal.”
— kirkusreviews.com4.5from 15,149 Amazon ratings— reader ratings, not a LuvemBooks score
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Untamed is Glennon Doyle's #1 New York Times bestselling memoir tracing her path from a life shaped by societal expectation to one built on her own desire and identity — anchored by the dramatic, named moment of falling in love with retired soccer player and activist Abby Wambach while still married. With its clear three-part structure ("Caged," "Keys," "Free") and over two million copies sold, it has earned its place as a defining cultural artifact of personal liberation narrative. Readers who embrace unapologetically subjective, spiritually inflected memoir will find it galvanizing; those who prefer journalistic balance or whose lives differ substantially from Doyle's particular experience of faith, marriage, and public identity may find the universalizing message reaches further than the evidence strictly supports.
- Is it worth reading?
- Untamed has resonated with an extraordinary number of readers — over two million copies sold and a #1 New York Times bestseller debut speak to a documented cultural reach that is difficult to dismiss. Its three-part structure, specific personal stakes (Doyle's marriage, her children, her relationship with Abby Wambach), and the framing question — "Who Were You Before the World Told You Who to Be?" — give readers something concrete and actionable. The key caveat is that Doyle writes with conviction rather than qualification, and readers who want journalistic balance or who find their own lives differ markedly from her particular experience of faith and public identity may find the universalizing message uneven. For readers hungry to examine whether the life they are living reflects their own values, it is one of the most significant memoirs of its decade.
- Similar books
- Readers drawn to Untamed's blend of personal rupture and cultural argument will find strong companions in the curated shelf below. Tara Westover's Educated shares the theme of breaking free from a constraining upbringing to forge an independent identity, while Cheryl Strayed's Wild offers a similarly solo journey of radical self-reclamation. Brené Brown's The Gifts of Imperfection overlaps thematically with Doyle's argument about abandoning externally imposed expectations in favour of one's own worth. For memoirs grounded in dramatic, specific personal stakes, Yeonmi Park's In Order to Live and Lisa-Marie Presley and Riley Keough's From Here to the Great Unknown both offer powerful accounts of navigating identity under extraordinary pressure. Glennon Doyle's own Carry On, Warrior also belongs on this list for readers who want to follow her voice from the beginning.
- Who should read this?
- Untamed is, by design and documented reception, for readers who are willing — or hungry — to examine whether the life they are living reflects their own values or someone else's. Readers drawn to memoir that blends personal narrative with spiritual and cultural argument will find it structurally clear and emotionally direct. It was selected for Reese's Book Club, signalling its primary audience as women seeking emotionally resonant nonfiction — though its themes of identity, self-determination, and the cost of societal conditioning are not exclusive to any gender. Readers whose own experience of faith, marriage, or public identity differs substantially from Doyle's may find the universalizing ambitions of the text uneven.
- About Glennon Doyle
- Glennon Doyle is an American author and queer activist known for her books Untamed, Love Warrior, We Can Do Hard Things, and Carry On, Warrior.
- Why is this book trending?
- Untamed is currently receiving fresh attention due to a newly highlighted audio collection of Glennon Doyle's earlier essays, which is being pitched as a companion listen for fans of her voice and style. That audio release is drawing readers back to Untamed and keeping her work active in the conversation. For a memoir first published in 2020, its sustained visibility — now reinforced by this new audio context — is a testament to both its original cultural momentum and its ongoing relevance.
- What are the main themes?
- The central argument of Untamed is that women are conditioned by family, religion, and culture to abandon their own instincts and desires in favour of an identity handed to them by the world — and that reclaiming those instincts is both possible and necessary. Doyle grounds this thesis in concrete personal stakes: her marriage, her children, and the dramatic moment of falling in love with Abby Wambach. Themes of faith, self-determination, the cost of societal expectation, and the tension between personal truth and external authority run throughout. The cheetah-in-captivity metaphor, introduced early, provides an accessible through-line that unifies these ideas across the memoir's three parts.
- Where to start with Glennon Doyle?
- Untamed is self-contained and widely considered Doyle's most fully realised statement of her central themes — making it a sound starting point for new readers. Those who want to understand the full arc of her personal story may prefer to begin with Carry On, Warrior and then Love Warrior, both of which document the earlier chapters that Untamed transforms. Her previous memoir Love Warrior was itself a #1 New York Times bestseller and an Oprah's Book Club selection, so readers arriving via Untamed have a well-regarded back catalogue to explore.
Summarize this book
Is it worth reading?
Who should read this?
About Glennon Doyle
Why is this book trending?
What are the main themes?
Where to start with Glennon Doyle?
Summarize this book
Untamed is structured in three parts — "Caged," "Keys," and "Free" — mapping Glennon Doyle's emotional arc from constraint to liberation. The book opens with a central metaphor of women as cheetahs confined in a zoo: adapted to captivity, yet born for something wilder. The inciting event is concrete and dramatic — while still married, Doyle was speaking at a conference when Abby Wambach walked into the room, and three words arrived in her mind: "There She Is." From that moment, the memoir traces what her vow to never again abandon herself costs, and what it makes possible.
Follow up
What's the three-part structure about?
Who is Abby Wambach?
Is there a companion workbook?
Synthesized from verified book data & published reviews · How we review
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Age & Reading Level
Recommended age
Adult
Reading level
Adult
2 content notes · who it suits
Content to know about
discussion of infidelity and marriage dissolution
faith deconstruction and religious identity
Skip if you want memoir that interrogates its narrator or presents multiple, balanced perspectives on its central argument.
Our Review
A memoir of rupture and redefinition, Untamed by Glennon Doyle arrives as one of the most widely read personal narratives of the past decade, and its commercial and cultural reach is genuinely documented.
What the Book Is and What It Argues
Back cover with synopsis, endorsement quote from Adele, publisher details, and barcode.
Untamed is a memoir structured in three named parts — "Caged," "Keys," and "Free" — that map Doyle's emotional arc from constraint to liberation. The book opens with a central metaphor: women as cheetahs confined in a zoo, adapted to captivity yet born for something wilder. From that premise, Doyle builds a broader argument — that women are conditioned by family, religion, and culture to abandon their own instincts and desires in favor of an identity handed to them by the world. The inciting event is concrete and dramatic: while still married, Doyle was speaking at a conference when Abby Wambach, the retired professional soccer player, speaker, and activist, walked into the room. Three words arrived in Doyle's mind — There She Is — and, as the Book of the Month synopsis records, she recognized in that moment the voice of the girl she had been before the world told her who to be. She vowed, the record states, to never again abandon herself. The book traces what that vow costs, and what it makes possible.
Cultural Reach and Recognition
Few memoirs published in 2020 achieved the sustained visibility of Untamed. It debuted as a #1 New York Times bestseller — a status confirmed by Doyle's own publisher materials — and went on to sell over two million copies. It was selected for Reese's Book Club, bringing it to an enormous readership of women seeking emotionally resonant nonfiction. Doyle herself had already established a significant platform: her previous memoir, Love Warrior, was also a #1 New York Times bestseller and an Oprah's Book Club selection, and Doyle has been recognized by OWN Network as part of its SuperSoul100 group of leaders using their voices to, in the network's description, "elevate humanity." Untamed arrived, then, not as a debut but as the work of a writer whose audience was already primed and waiting — which helps explain both its velocity and its longevity.
What the Book Does Well
The architecture of Untamed is one of its clearest strengths: the three-part structure of "Caged," "Keys," and "Free" gives readers a navigable emotional journey rather than a shapeless collection of essays. Doyle's use of the cheetah-in-captivity metaphor, introduced early, provides an accessible through-line that readers and commentators have repeatedly cited as a point of immediate engagement. The book is also unusually specific in its personal stakes — it does not deal in abstraction. Doyle names the marriage, the children, the moment of falling in love, and the precise internal reckoning that followed. That specificity, combined with a central question the publisher frames as "Who Were You Before the World Told You Who to Be?", gives readers something concrete to bring to their own lives. The book's design intent is participatory: Doyle has invited book clubs to reach out directly, and a companion workbook, Get Untamed: The Journal, was later developed as a structured extension of the memoir's themes.
Genuine Limitations and Who May Struggle With It
Untamed is written from a firmly personal vantage point, and readers who approach memoir expecting balanced perspective or journalistic distance will find instead an unapologetically subjective account. Doyle's argument — that societal expectations cage women and that the path forward is trusting one's own instincts over external authority — is stated with conviction rather than qualification. Some readers, depending on their own values and life circumstances, will find this framework galvanizing; others may find the prescriptive edge of the message sits uneasily alongside the memoir's personal specificity. The book's origins in Doyle's particular experience of marriage, faith, and public identity means that readers whose lives differ substantially in those dimensions may feel the universalizing ambitions of the text reach further than the evidence strictly supports.
Who This Book Is For and How It Reads
Untamed is, by design and by documented reception, a book for readers who are willing — or hungry — to examine whether the life they are living reflects their own values or someone else's. Readers drawn to memoir that blends personal narrative with spiritual and cultural argument will find it structurally familiar but emotionally direct. The book's enormous readership, its book-club infrastructure, and the development of a companion journal all signal that its publisher and author conceived it as a catalyst for conversation as much as a text to be read alone. Readers who have encountered Doyle's earlier work will find Untamed operating in the same register of confessional honesty, while those new to her voice will find the memoir self-contained. Its reach across two million readers and its place in documented popular culture make it, whatever one's individual response, a significant artifact of its cultural moment.
Sources & Further Reading
The key facts and claims in this review are grounded in the retrieved, verified sources listed below.
- Cited in this review
- 1
booksaremagic.net
- 2
wildhopetherapy.com
- Further reading
- 3
Glennon Doyle, Wikipedia
- 4
untamedbook.com
- 5
bookofthemonth.com
- 6
badassbooksandbesties.com
- 7
the-bibliofile.com
- 8
christinaallday.com
- 9
booksinterrupted.com
- 10
gissellereads.com
- 11
bookclubchat.com
- 12
littlerbooks.com
- 13
studypool.com
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Why It’s Trending
Sarah Paulson Set to Play Glennon Doyle in Untamed TV Adaptation
A TV series based on Glennon Doyle's memoir Untamed is in development, with Sarah Paulson announced to star as Doyle. That news has readers going back to the book — or picking it up for the first time before the adaptation arrives.
If you've been seeing Untamed pop up again lately, the TV adaptation has a lot to do with it. Sarah Paulson was announced to portray Glennon Doyle in a series based on the memoir, and that kind of casting news has a way of sending readers straight to the source material. People want to know the real story before Hollywood puts its spin on it.
On top of that, Untamed has been having a genuine moment on TikTok, with creators — and plenty of debate — circling the book again. Videos asking 'are you ready for what this book might reveal?' and stories about how it changed readers' lives are racking up views, which keeps pulling new readers in. Glennon Doyle herself has also been making podcast appearances, including one where she responded publicly to Ivanka Trump's comments about the book, which sparked a fresh round of conversation.
If you haven't read it yet, now's actually a great time to get ahead of the adaptation. The memoir covers Doyle's break from a life built around other people's expectations — and her relationship with soccer star Abby Wambach — and it's the kind of story that tends to hit differently when you've read it yourself first.