Untamed Audiobook Review — Glennon Doyle's Battle Cry for Women

Untamed by Glennon Doyle is the memoir that became a movement. It spent over 100 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, sold millions of copies, and sparked conversations about authenticity, freedom, and what it means to live a life that is truly your own. Narrated by Doyle herself with raw honesty, fierce intelligence, and a humour that makes the most difficult passages bearable, the audiobook is one of the most powerful memoir listens of the decade.

You can listen to Untamed using the current Audible offer; any complimentary audiobook benefit depends on your country and account.

What Is Untamed About?

Untamed is the story of Glennon Doyle's awakening — the moment she realised that the life she had built, the person she had become, and the rules she had followed were not truly hers. It begins with her falling in love with Abby Wambach, the US soccer star, while still married to her husband. But it is really about something much larger: the process of learning to trust yourself, to stop performing the life others expect of you, and to become, as Doyle puts it, the cheetah you were always meant to be.

Glennon Doyle Narrating Her Own Story

There is no substitute for hearing Doyle tell her own story. Her voice carries the full weight of everything she has been through — the addiction, the eating disorder, the marriage, the awakening — and her delivery is by turns funny, furious, tender, and electrifying. This is a woman who has nothing left to hide, and that freedom comes through in every sentence.

"Doyle's narration of Untamed is one of the great memoir performances in recent audiobook history. She does not perform the emotions — she lives them, in real time, and you feel every single one."

The Cheetah Parable

Early in Untamed, Doyle describes watching a cheetah at a zoo — a creature bred for speed and wildness, pacing in a small enclosure, having learned to perform tameness for an audience. It is one of the most powerful passages in any memoir of the past decade, and in audio, with Doyle's voice, it is devastating. The cheetah becomes the book's central metaphor: the life we were built for versus the life we have been trained to accept.

This is the kind of passage that people share with friends, that gets underlined and returned to. Hearing it rather than reading it makes it even more visceral — Doyle's voice breaks slightly in exactly the right places, and the effect is unforgettable.

Who Should Listen to Untamed?

Anyone who has ever felt that the life they are living is not quite the life they were meant to live. Anyone who has ever performed a version of themselves for other people's comfort. Anyone who is in the middle of a major life change and needs someone to tell them that the fear they are feeling is not a sign to stop — it is a sign that they are finally heading in the right direction.

Is Untamed Worth Your Audible Credit?

Absolutely. Whether or not you share Doyle's specific experiences, this is a book about the universal human experience of choosing yourself — and it will make you think about your own life in ways you did not expect. At just over 9 hours, it is a listen that will stay with you for years.

You can listen to Untamed using the current Audible offer; any complimentary audiobook benefit depends on your country and account.

Our Verdict

• Story: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ — Raw, honest, and genuinely inspiring
• Narration: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ — Doyle is a natural storyteller
• Emotional impact: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ — One of the most affecting memoirs in years
• Humour: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ — Genuinely funny throughout
• Overall: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ — The memoir that defined a generation of women