Glennon Doyle: Untamed
I had no idea who Glennon Doyle was. I picked up her latest book based on the cover. I can’t even figured out what the heck the artwork is supposed to be, but I spotted on R.E. Hawley’s essay, “Behold, the Book Blob.” Untamed is a collection of personal short essays covering many grounds including marriage, infidelity, feminist, religion, politics, parenting, and love. Glennon found her true love when she met Abby. Yes, the soccer star Abby Wambach. Glennon divorced her husband and married Abby. They raise three kids together. On giving kids their own phone, she writes:
There is so much about phones and children that parents worry about. We worry that we are raising children with commodified views of sex, lack of real connection, filtered concepts of what it means to be human. But I find myself worrying most that when we hand our children phones we steal their boredom from them. As a result, we are raising a generation of writers who will never start writing, artists who will never start doodling, chefs who will never make a mess of the kitchen, athletes who will never kick a ball against a wall, musicians who will never pick up their aunt’s guitar and start strumming.
What I like about this book is Glennon’s untamed honesty. Although the book is 330 pages, it is a quick read. Her prose is short and sweet. Each essay could be a blog post. What I fear is that my wife would fall in love with another woman and would leave me. Then again, it would be less hurtful than another guy.