The Book Blog

This week, Brenda and I decided that we wanted to team up and write about J.D. Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye. Why? Well, because I strongly (very strongly) disliked this book and Brenda loved it. So, we thought that we might breakdown why we either loved or hated it.

If you’ve never read the book, here is the synopsis from Goodreads…

“It's Christmas time and Holden Caulfield has just been expelled from yet another school... Fleeing the crooks at Pencey Prep, he pinballs around New York City seeking solace in fleeting encounters—shooting the bull with strangers in dive hotels, wandering alone round Central Park, getting beaten up by pimps and cut down by erstwhile girlfriends. The city is beautiful and terrible, in all its neon loneliness and seedy glamour, its mingled sense of possibility and emptiness. Holden passes through it like a ghost, thinking always of his kid sister Phoebe, the only person who really understands him, and his determination to escape the phonies and find a life of true meaning. The Catcher in the Rye is an all-time classic in coming-of-age literature- an elegy to teenage alienation, capturing the deeply human need for connection and the bewildering sense of loss as we leave childhood behind.”

Kendall (Hated It… Well, strongly disliked):

First, let me say, I read this book when I was sixteen as assigned reading for my 10^th grade English class. I already hated assigned reading because there were very few, if any, books that I actually enjoyed reading. So, when we were told to start reading Catcher in the Rye, I did not have high hopes. I also felt that my teacher really hyped this book up because it was about a rebellious teenager who cussed a lot. At sixteen, that sounded more appealing than Edith Warton’s The House of Mirth, which I also did not enjoy. However, unsurprised to me, Catcher in the Rye was just like all the rest of the ‘classics,’ disappointing and boring.

Holden Caulfield is just an unhappy person. For 277 pages, he complains. He complains about everyone. He uses the word ‘phony’ over and over again to describe those around him. In fact, the word ‘phony’ appears 35 times in this book. But to me, the most infuriating part, is that while he believes that everyone is a phony, he is the biggest phony of all. He is a major hypocrite. Holden is annoyed when his peers try to act more mature than they are, yet the entire story is about him doing the same thing. This book is very much about teenage angst and even reading it as a sixteen-year-old, I was annoyed with Holden. I found him unrelatable and that was why I just couldn’t get into this book. I’ve never read it again, and maybe I should, but I just remember being annoyed and angry with the Holden the entire time I read it, and I don’t know if I want to even try again.

Brenda (Loved It):

My senior year of high school solidified my love of reading. A class entitled “Novel” with Mrs. Aston remains my favorite class of all time. Really, can you believe that? Among the 15 titles assigned, The Great Gatsby and The Catcher in the Rye remain my go-to books to re-read. Kendall has expounded on her reasons for dislike (maybe hate, but I’m hoping to make her a believer in J.D.) of Catcher; however, I’m thinking that her introduction to the teen angst classic was flubbed from the start. Kendall, will you please give J.D. and Holden another try? For me? Does it help to know that Salinger served five years in the U.S. Army where he saw combat with the 12th Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Division, was present at Utah Beach on D-Day, in the Battle of the Bulge and the Battle of Hurtgen Forest? Salinger was a combat veteran who was assigned to a counter-intelligence unit known as the Ritchie Boys where his proficiency in French and German helped him to interrogate prisoners of war. Come on, Kendall, the reclusive writer’s a war hero. And critics are with you claiming that Catcher’s complaining (I say insightful and funny; you say annoying) narrator Holden Caulfield is a result of witnessing the atrocities of war. He was hospitalized for “combat stress reaction” (read: PTSD) following the war and later told his daughter, Margaret that, “You never really get the smell of burning flesh out of your nose entirely, no matter how long you live.”

Will Salinger’s background persuade you to give Holden another read because no less than Hemingway, Ernest that is, said of Salinger: “Jesus, he’s a helluva talent.” The two legendary authors met during WWII at the Hotel Ritz in Paris.

I’ve picked a couple of my favorite lines from Catcher that capture Salinger’s self-deprecating prose, his insightful introspection, and his downright hilarious lines that show the absurdity of humans. Here goes:

1. Opening line hooked me. I never read a first line like this one:

“If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you’ll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don’t feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth.”

Why I like it: Holden opens with a conversation inviting the reader to a chat. And his vocabulary speaks to me. He’s not stuffy. He’s not proper. It’s real.

2. I wanted to sit down and chat with Salinger after reading this line. Alas, Salinger is/was a reclusive man who never granted an interview to the press.

“What really knocks me out is a book that, when you’re all done reading it, you wish the author that wrote it was a terrific friend of yours and you could call him up on the phone whenever you felt like it. That doesn’t happen much, though.”

Why I like it: I understand and respect his (Salinger here) desire for extreme privacy.

3. Salinger’s (and Holden’s) insight is clear in these lines. The annoying teen is nowhere in these lines:

“Among other things, you’ll find that you’re not the first person who was ever confused and frightened and even sickened by human behavior. You’re by no means alone on that score, you’ll be excited and stimulated to know. Many, many men have been just as troubled morally and spiritually as you are right now. Happily, some of them kept records of their troubles. You’ll learn from them—if you want to. Just as someday, if you have something to offer, someone will learn something from you. It’s a beautiful reciprocal arrangement. And it isn’t education. It’s history. It’s poetry.”

4. Holden isn’t perfect. He knows it. He lets the reader laugh at him here:

“And I have one of those very loud, stupid laughs. I mean if I ever sat behind myself in a movie or something, I’d probably lean over and tell myself to please shut up.”

5. I’ll end on a sentiment that the beloved baseball icon Yogi Berra, who was famous for his contradictory quips, might have said:

“I’m quite illiterate, but I read a lot.”

Kendall, do you still think of Holden as a whining, annoying teen? I hope you’ll give Catcher another try. You might just find out where the ducks go in the winter…

Well, in response to Brenda’s plea to try it again, I might actually do just that. Knowing that J.D. Salinger fought in World War II is interesting and I can see that having an impact on the creation of Holden. Will I be able to get past the complaining and the hypocrisy? I don’t know. Will I appreciate it more as an adult than as a teenager? I don’t know, but maybe I will find out.

The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger

Call Number: PS3537.A426 C3 2010

ISBN: 9780316769532

Publication Date: 1951-07-16

The hero-narrator of "The Catcher in the Rye" is an ancient child of sixteen, a native New Yorker named Holden Caulfield. Through circumstances that tend to preclude adult, secondhand description, he leaves his prep school in Pennsylvania and goes underground in New York City for three days. The boy himself is at once too simple and too complex for us to make any final comment about him or his story. Perhaps the safest thing we can say about Holden is that he was born in the world not just strongly attracted to beauty but, almost, hopelessly impaled on it. There are many voices in this novel: children’s voices, adult voices, underground voices -- but Holden’s voice is the most eloquent of all. Transcending his own vernacular, yet remaining marvelously faithful to it, he issues a perfectly articulated cry of mixed pain and pleasure. However, like most lovers and clowns and poets of the higher orders, he keeps most of the pain to, and for, himself. The pleasure he gives away, or sets aside, with all his heart. It is there for the reader who can handle it to keep.

As a rule, I avoid "mass production authors." You know, those authors pumping out tons of books. Those authors that seemingly have an unrealistic amount of published work. I find their repertoires overwhelming, and I cannot commit to reading that many books by one person or in one genre. Long ago, I placed Nora Roberts in that category, and I've been actively avoiding her ever since! This had nothing to do with her abilities as an author but just pure avoidance for my sanity.

This self-imposed ban on Nora was going well until a few months ago. A friend of my husband was doing a bit of traveling with his family, and they decided to pit stop at my house for a night. I've become friendly with said friend and his family, so his wife and I were chatting in the living room while the husbands caught up in the kitchen. We discussed our love of audiobooks, and she mentioned a "great series" by Nora Roberts. My initial thought was a firm "not going to happen." But I soon learned that series really meant trilogy- which seemed reasonable. My friend insisted it was good, so I gave the trilogy a shot.

The Chronicles of the One trilogy includes three titles: Year One, Of Blood and Bone, and The Rise of Magicks. Here’s a description provided by Goodreads, “From the #1 New York Times bestselling author Nora Roberts comes an epic, post-apocalyptic saga, Chronicles of The One. In a world full of hope and horror, chaos and magick, where everything from electricity to government institutions has crumbled, a group of survivors must embark on a supernatural journey that will unite them in a fight for the battle of their lives. The end has come. The beginning comes next…in Year One.”

Basically, the world falls apart, and most people die. Those left are either as they were or have developed a magical ability- think witches, elves, fairies, and shapeshifters. The leftovers (magical or otherwise) then pick sides (dark or light, good or bad) and fight it out. Book one outlines the "end" and sets up the post-apocalyptic nature of things. Book 2 is mainly about the development of "the one," the lead character. Book 3 is where the fight between good and evil mostly takes place.

I am a big fan of what this series embraces, so I decided to try it. I love a good post-apocalyptic storyline. I have a weakness for magic and whimsy. I don't shy away from a fun cheese-fest. These books delivered in all those areas. Will I say that they were the best books I've ever read? No. Is this my new favorite trilogy? Also, no. Was the cheese almost too much for an adult book series? Yes, it was a lot. But, overall, I did enjoy it. There were fun characters, and it was mostly entertaining. This might be an excellent option if you are looking for a fictional trilogy for entertainment. Enjoy!

Ann Patchett’s The Dutch House is my first foray into the author’s seven novels. I’d seen the author’s name on bestseller lists, but I never had the desire to check her out until my sisters urged me to listen to the audiobook narrated in first-person by Tom Hanks. The Dutch House is a small story with a huge lesson (hear me out, it isn’t preachy in the least) in compassion. David Foster Wallace composed perhaps the most compelling reason for practicing putting one’s self in the shoes of another with his famous commencement speech This is Water, while Patchett’s prose encourages compassion as siblings Danny and Maeve struggle to understand why their mother left them at ages three and ten respectively. And Tom Hanks’ Danny provides first-person narration, which lifts this little story to huge heights.

Built in 1922 by a wealthy Dutch couple, the Dutch House is lavishly designed with six bedrooms, a ballroom, an ornate dining room ceiling, and a window-seat coveted by both Maeve and the stepmom’s daughter. Cyril Conroy, the family’s patriarch and real estate mogul, surprise buys the home for wife Elna who hates its gaudiness and opulence, so much so that she hightails it outta there and lands in India where missionary work is her calling. Unrelated foreigners earn Elna’s compassion, while her children remain behind wondering what caused her departure. Most compelling are Danny and Maeve’s parked-outside-the-Dutch-House discussions where nostalgia grabs hold. Philosophically, Danny questions if he can “ever see the past as it actually was.” The “it” I interpret thus: Elna loves her children, but she was an individual person before she birthed two children. Living in the thrust-upon-her Dutch House proved too much for her simple sensibilities. Critics have faulted Patchett’s first-person narrative for its sentimentality, but I see it differently: Sentiment here is compassion. Maeve forgives her mother’s absence, and they forge a relationship that, under typical mother-daughter relationships, might not have transpired. Danny’s hatred (a strong word, yes, but fitting here) for step-monster, Andrea dissipates in an unlikely encounter that’s best left to Hanks’ compelling voice. Whether or not Danny and Maeve return to the Dutch House is beside the point when the point is compassion. I told you at the outset of this blog that Patchett isn’t preachy; in fact, she channels David Foster Wallace’s thesis when he speaks of the difficulty in “choosing to do the work of somehow altering or getting free of [his] natural, hard-wired default-setting, which is to be deeply and literally self-centered, and to see and interpret everything through this lens of self.” Wallace acknowledges that NOT being self-centered is hard. Patchett’s characters do too as Danny and Maeve adjust their “default-setting [s]” by the novel’s end.

The Dutch House by Ann Patchett

ISBN: 9780062963673

Publication Date: 2019-09-24

Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize New York Times Bestseller | A Read with Jenna Today Show Book Club Pick | A New York Times Book Review Notable Book | TIME Magazine's 100 Must-Read Books of 2019 Named one of the Best Books of the Year by NPR, The Washington Post; O: The Oprah Magazine, Real Simple, Good Housekeeping, Vogue, Refinery29, and Buzzfeed Ann Patchett, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Commonwealth, delivers her most powerful novel to date: a richly moving story that explores the indelible bond between two siblings, the house of their childhood, and a past that will not let them go. The Dutch House is the story of a paradise lost, a tour de force that digs deeply into questions of inheritance, love and forgiveness, of how we want to see ourselves and of who we really are. At the end of the Second World War, Cyril Conroy combines luck and a single canny investment to begin an enormous real estate empire, propelling his family from poverty to enormous wealth. His first order of business is to buy the Dutch House, a lavish estate in the suburbs outside of Philadelphia. Meant as a surprise for his wife, the house sets in motion the undoing of everyone he loves. The story is told by Cyril's son Danny, as he and his older sister, the brilliantly acerbic and self-assured Maeve, are exiled from the house where they grew up by their stepmother. The two wealthy siblings are thrown back into the poverty their parents had escaped from and find that all they have to count on is one another. It is this unshakeable bond between them that both saves their lives and thwarts their futures. Set over the course of five decades, The Dutch House is a dark fairy tale about two smart people who cannot overcome their past. Despite every outward sign of success, Danny and Maeve are only truly comfortable when they're together. Throughout their lives they return to the well-worn story of what they've lost with humor and rage. But when at last they're forced to confront the people who left them behind, the relationship between an indulged brother and his ever-protective sister is finally tested.

 

 

Considered one of the best science fiction novels ever written and a classic, H.G. Wells’ War of the Worlds is a first-person account of an alien invasion from Mars. Wells wrote this story in 1898 when the British Empire spanned nearly a quarter of the globe and was at its apex. After reading about the impact British expansion had on Tasmanian Aboriginals, Wells wondered how the British would react if a technologically superior force invaded their country. War of the Worlds is the result of this musing. When aliens begin attacking towns throughout the British countryside, the British are outmatched and outgunned. The Martians quickly dominate the forces sent against them and all seems hopeless for humanity until a surprise twist occurs at the end of the story.  

Other than being one of the first alien invasion stories in print, War of the Worlds is a fascinating look into how people at the turn of the century viewed Mars and space at large. In the late 1890s, many people believed they saw canals on Mars through their telescopes which they considered obvious evidence of a civilization on the red planet. The idea of space travel was not taken seriously considering humans had not yet mastered flight – the Wright brothers first flight happened several years after the first printing of War of the Worlds, in 1903. Reading the War of the Worlds with these past assumptions in mind provides a fascinating context on the story.

The story itself is essential reading, but the 1938 radio broadcast adaptation done by actor and director Orson Welles is required listening. Welles adapted, directed, and performed War of the Worlds in a radio drama on Halloween night in 1938 which used live bulletins to describe an alien invasion happening in real time. The one-hour broadcast was so convincing that many people who tuned to the program without hearing the disclaimer at the beginning thought the alien invasion was real. It caused widespread hysteria throughout the country and solidified Orson Welles’ fame (and infamy directly following the broadcast).

Thankfully, the War of the Worlds radio drama is available on YouTube. Regardless of the medium, I highly recommend checking out this timeless classic.

The War of the Worlds by Coralie Bickford-Smith (Illustrator); H. G. Wells; Patrick Parrinder (Editor); Brian Aldiss (Introduction by); Andy Sawyer (Notes by)

ISBN: 9780241382707

Publication Date: 2019-09-17

The first modern tale of alien invasion, H.G. Wells's The War of the Worlds remains one of the most influential science fiction novels ever published. The night after a shooting star is seen streaking through the sky from Mars, a cylinder is discovered on Horsell Common in London. At first, naïve locals approach the cylinder armed just with a white flag - only to be quickly killed by an all-destroying heat-ray, as terrifying tentacled invaders emerge. Soon the whole of human civilisation is under threat, as powerful Martians build gigantic killing machines, destroy all in their path with black gas and burning rays, and feast on the warm blood of trapped, still-living human prey. The forces of the Earth, however, may prove harder to beat than they at first appear. The War of the Worlds has been the subject of countless adaptations, including an Orson Welles radio drama which caused mass panic when it was broadcast, with listeners confusing it for a news broadcast heralding alien invasion; a musical version by Jeff Way≠ and, most recently, Steven Spielberg's 2005 film version, starring Tom Cruise. This Penguin Classics edition includes a full biographical essay on Wells, a further reading list and detailed notes. The introduction, by Brian Aldiss, considers the novel's view of religion and society.  For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

 

Broadcast Hysteria by A. Brad Schwartz

ISBN: 9780809031610

Publication Date: 2015-05-05

On the evening of October 30, 1938, radio listeners across the United States heard a startling report of a meteor strike in the New Jersey countryside. With sirens blaring in the background, announcers in the field described mysterious creatures, terrifying war machines, and thick clouds of poison gas moving toward New York City. As the invading force approached Manhattan, some listeners sat transfixed, while others ran to alert neighbors or to call the police. Some even fled their homes. Butthe hair-raising broadcast was not a real news bulletin-it was Orson Welles's adaptation of the H. G. Wells classicThe War of the Worlds. InBroadcast Hysteria, A. Brad Schwartz boldly retells the story of Welles's famed radio play and its impact. Did it really spawn a "wave of mass hysteria," asThe New York Timesreported? Schwartz is the first to examine the hundreds of letters sent to Orson Welles himself in the days after the broadcast, and his findings challenge the conventional wisdom. Few listeners believed an actual attack was under way. But even so, Schwartz shows that Welles's broadcast became a major scandal, prompting a different kind of mass panic as Americans debated the bewitching power of the radio and the country's vulnerability in a time of crisis. When the debate was over, Americanbroadcasting had changed for good, but not for the better. As Schwartz tells this story, we observe how an atmosphere of natural disaster and impending war permitted broadcasters to create shared live national experiences for the first time. We follow Orson Welles's rise to fame and watch his manic energy and artistic genius at work in the play's hurried yet innovative production. And we trace the present-day popularity of "fake news" back to its source in Welles's show and its many imitators. Schwartz's original research, gifted storytelling,and thoughtful analysis makeBroadcast Hysteriaa groundbreaking new look at a crucial but little-understood episode in American history.

• Greenlights- Matthew McConaughey

I must start by saying that I looovvvveeeddd this audiobook. The audio version is narrated by the author, and he does a fantastic job. He’s an interesting guy with great stories to tell. And boy, does he tell a good story. In fact, I would like to start a petition to have Matthew take on audiobook narrating full-time. He’s that good at it!

A few of the tales are about McConaughey’s life as an actor. I particularly loved hearing about how he landed his role in Dazed and Confused. He also talks about the journey to create The Dallas Buyers Club. This was a film he pushed for that didn’t seem to have a chance but ended in great acclaim for those involved.

But while hearing about the exploits of a famous actor is cool, what’s even better are McConaughey’s stories about his life outside of work. His family and upbringing- fascinating. His travels around the world- captivating. His thoughts on life and spirituality- intriguing. I wholeheartedly recommend this book. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed whether you listen to or read it!

• What my Bones Know- Stephanie Foo

Oh, man- this is good! This memoir details Foo’s quest to understand and manage her diagnosis of Complex-PTSD. It has been a long time since a book made me feel complicated emotions like this one did. Her work has the potential to make many people suffering the effects of C-PTSD feel seen and hopeful. It may also give everyone else a better understanding of the struggles that accompany this diagnosis. I have recommended this book several times since finishing it. It would appeal to various readers, especially the memoir and non-fiction crowds and people curious about Complex-PTSD. 

• Untamed- Glennon Doyle

I blame #booktok for this pick. Before Untamed, Glennon made a name for herself as a Christian-Mommy-Blogger and then as the author of Love Warrior. I wasn’t a huge fan of her debut title but read it due to the hype. If you know me, you know “Christian-Mommy-Blogger” falls well outside of my interests. BookTok reviewers swore up and down that this was different. After a little Google searching, I found out what was so different and decided to give this memoir a shot despite my reluctance. I appreciate Doyle’s honesty about her weaknesses and failures. She recounts times she was wrong or mistaken. She talks about learning and changing. I welcome the vulnerability. The online reviews for this one are mixed, so you might want to do more research before committing to it. It won’t be an enjoyable read for everyone, I’m sure.

Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey

ISBN: 9780593139134

Publication Date: 2020-10-20

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * From the Academy Award®-winning actor, an unconventional memoir filled with raucous stories, outlaw wisdom, and lessons learned the hard way about living with greater satisfaction NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE GUARDIAN "Unflinchingly honest and remarkably candid, Matthew McConaughey's book invites us to grapple with the lessons of his life as he did--and to see that the point was never to win, but to understand."--Mark Manson, author of The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck I've been in this life for fifty years, been trying to work out its riddle for forty-two, and been keeping diaries of clues to that riddle for the last thirty-five. Notes about successes and failures, joys and sorrows, things that made me marvel, and things that made me laugh out loud. How to be fair. How to have less stress. How to have fun. How to hurt people less. How to get hurt less. How to be a good man. How to have meaning in life. How to be more me.   Recently, I worked up the courage to sit down with those diaries. I found stories I experienced, lessons I learned and forgot, poems, prayers, prescriptions, beliefs about what matters, some great photographs, and a whole bunch of bumper stickers. I found a reliable theme, an approach to living that gave me more satisfaction, at the time, and still: If you know how, and when, to deal with life's challenges--how to get relative with the inevitable--you can enjoy a state of success I call "catching greenlights."   So I took a one-way ticket to the desert and wrote this book: an album, a record, a story of my life so far. This is fifty years of my sights and seens, felts and figured-outs, cools and shamefuls. Graces, truths, and beauties of brutality. Getting away withs, getting caughts, and getting wets while trying to dance between the raindrops.   Hopefully, it's medicine that tastes good, a couple of aspirin instead of the infirmary, a spaceship to Mars without needing your pilot's license, going to church without having to be born again, and laughing through the tears.   It's a love letter. To life.   It's also a guide to catching more greenlights--and to realizing that the yellows and reds eventually turn green too.   Good luck. The short dust jacket included with this hardcover edition is an intentional design choice.

 

 

What My Bones Know: A Memoir of Healing from Complex Trauma by Stephanie Foo

ISBN: 9780593238103

Publication Date: 2022-02-22

A searing memoir of reckoning and healing by acclaimed journalist Stephanie Foo, investigating the little-understood science behind complex PTSD and how it has shaped her life "Achingly exquisite . . . providing real hope for those who long to heal."--Lori Gottlieb, New York Times bestselling author of Maybe You Should Talk to Someone ONE OF THE MOST ANTICIPATED BOOKS OF 2022--She Reads By age thirty, Stephanie Foo was successful on paper: She had her dream job as an award-winning radio producer at This American Life and a loving boyfriend. But behind her office door, she was having panic attacks and sobbing at her desk every morning. After years of questioning what was wrong with herself, she was diagnosed with complex PTSD--a condition that occurs when trauma happens continuously, over the course of years. Both of Foo's parents abandoned her when she was a teenager, after years of physical and verbal abuse and neglect. She thought she'd moved on, but her new diagnosis illuminated the way her past continued to threaten her health, relationships, and career. She found limited resources to help her, so Foo set out to heal herself, and to map her experiences onto the scarce literature about C-PTSD. In this deeply personal and thoroughly researched account, Foo interviews scientists and psychologists and tries a variety of innovative therapies. She returns to her hometown of San Jose, California, to investigate the effects of immigrant trauma on the community, and she uncovers family secrets in the country of her birth, Malaysia, to learn how trauma can be inherited through generations. Ultimately, she discovers that you don't move on from trauma--but you can learn to move with it. Powerful, enlightening, and hopeful, What My Bones Know is a brave narrative that reckons with the hold of the past over the present, the mind over the body--and examines one woman's ability to reclaim agency from her trauma.

 

 

Untamed by Glennon Doyle

ISBN: 9781984801258

Publication Date: 2020-03-10

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * Over two million copies sold! "Packed with incredible insight about what it means to be a woman today."--Reese Witherspoon (Reese's Book Club Pick) In her most revealing and powerful memoir yet, the activist, speaker, bestselling author, and "patron saint of female empowerment" (People) explores the joy and peace we discover when we stop striving to meet others' expectations and start trusting the voice deep within us. NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY O: The Oprah Magazine * The Washington Post * Cosmopolitan * Marie Claire * Bloomberg * Parade * "Untamed will liberate women--emotionally, spiritually, and physically. It is phenomenal."--Elizabeth Gilbert, author of City of Girls and Eat Pray Love This is how you find yourself. There is a voice of longing inside each woman. We strive so mightily to be good: good partners, daughters, mothers, employees, and friends. We hope all this striving will make us feel alive. Instead, it leaves us feeling weary, stuck, overwhelmed, and underwhelmed. We look at our lives and wonder: Wasn't it all supposed to be more beautiful than this? We quickly silence that question, telling ourselves to be grateful, hiding our discontent--even from ourselves. For many years, Glennon Doyle denied her own discontent. Then, while speaking at a conference, she looked at a woman across the room and fell instantly in love. Three words flooded her mind: There She Is. At first, Glennon assumed these words came to her from on high. But she soon realized they had come to her from within. This was her own voice--the one she had buried beneath decades of numbing addictions, cultural conditioning, and institutional allegiances. This was the voice of the girl she had been before the world told her who to be. Glennon decided to quit abandoning herself and to instead abandon the world's expectations of her. She quit being good so she could be free. She quit pleasing and started living. Soulful and uproarious, forceful and tender, Untamed is both an intimate memoir and a galvanizing wake-up call. It is the story of how one woman learned that a responsible mother is not one who slowly dies for her children, but one who shows them how to fully live. It is the story of navigating divorce, forming a new blended family, and discovering that the brokenness or wholeness of a family depends not on its structure but on each member's ability to bring her full self to the table. And it is the story of how each of us can begin to trust ourselves enough to set boundaries, make peace with our bodies, honor our anger and heartbreak, and unleash our truest, wildest instincts so that we become women who can finally look at ourselves and say: There She Is. Untamed shows us how to be brave. As Glennon insists: The braver we are, the luckier we get.