Review: Untamed

Untamed by Glennon Doyle
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

Glennon Doyle is a deep thinker. She is an incredibly gifted writer. This book is the most serious by far. It is weighty and difficult to read at times. It's almost too much thought and word over something that doesn't need that much thought. There are many nuggets of wisdom within the pages but also a lot of pretty writing and descriptions that exhaust me. I found the book exhausting, actually.

I also found too many contradictions for my soul to find peace. For instance and I know I don't have the full picture but, Glennon and her husband were having serious issues. She called her marriage broken and was on the precipice of making a decision to stay or go. The underlying issue was that her husband had a long line of infidelities. Then G. goes to a conference to promote her book, ironically about putting the broken pieces back together to make a whole family, and Abby walks in and G. thinks, "There she is." The issue that Craig was unfaithful is a big issue. Something that any spouse should sit with and decide what to do, taking into account the needs of the cheated upon as well as the children. That's a whole process of its own. Rather than exploring that, G. starts a relationship with Abby. So she is then guilty of the same thing as her husband; being unfaithful. That just didn't sit right with me.

There are other inconsistencies that, taken only on the emotional level, the reader nods her head and says, "Yes! That's it!" Yet if the reader sits with the essay, pares it down from the pretty words, the essay becomes more of a justification for Glennon doing something that goes against her conscience. She often refers to herself as finally being free to be the cheetah that she was always meant to be, but it often sounds more like excuses for doing whatever she wants, hurting the people that count on her, then wrapping it up in pretty words and true nuggets of wisdom and presenting it to the world. Be who you want to be. Do what you want to do. But don't wrap it cheetah crap in a pretty box, put a bow on it, spray perfume on it, and call it a gift.

Beautiful words, beautiful essays, contradicting messages, lots of words that seem to want to justify that she betrayed her own beliefs by starting a relationship before she was divorced, shook the foundation of her family and herself, tearing down the building blocks of two marriages; her own and Abby's, and upended her children's reality just so she could do whatever she wants to do and calls it Being True to Herself. I found a lot of mental gymnastics and words that didn't quite equate to what she claimed to be saying so I have my doubts about her being True to Herself.

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Six Weeks to Live by Catherine McKenzie

Six Weeks to Live: A Novel by Catherine McKenzie
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

So I would read Catherine McKenzie's shopping list although it probably wouldn't have an interesting storyline. I just love the way this author develops her characters and intertwines subplots. This one is a little darker than her previous books but contains the common theme of exploring relationships. As the blurb on the book explains, Jennifer finds she has 6-8 weeks to live due to an aggressive cancer in the brain. The book explores the complexity of relationships between Jennifer, her cheating husband, Jake, and each of her triplets which is incredibly intriguing. Jennifer also believes that her cancer was caused by purposeful lead poisoning which adds an air of mystery.

I loved the way each relationship is so well explored and the voices stay true throughout the book. There is definitely growth in some of the characters but, like real life, all are flawed and self-protecting. I personally felt a little raw and exposed as some of the relationships were laid bare and mimicked my own life.

This would be a great Book Club book.

*This book was provided to me by the publisher for an honest review.

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