REVIEWS

UNTAMED

YOU ARE A GODDAMN CHEETAH! GLennon DoyLe 2020, The DiaL Press

Glennon Doyle’s memoir, called Untamed, is a collection of intimate and heartfelt stories of her life which ultimately encourages us reflect on our existence. Doyle is also the author of two best-selling books Love Warrior (The Oprah Book Club Selection) and Carry On, Warrior. Her third book, Untamed was picked for Reese’s Book Club in April 2020. She is also the founder of TogetherRising, a non-profit organization run by women who help those in need.

The book starts with Doyle and her family at the zoo, watching a cheetah named Tabitha chase a stuffed bunny attached to the back of a Jeep. Tabitha is clearly trained and gets rewarded with a steak after the show. At this moment, the author relates to Tabitha.

She explains through her own experiences that women are tamed since birth–trained to be a good girl, a good daughter, a good mother. But what does it really mean to be a “good” woman? All of these societal expectations meant we abandoned ourselves to conform. It is impossible to live up to all of those expectations, as Doyle quotes “when a woman finally learns that pleasing the world is impossible, she becomes free to learn how to please herself.”

Society calls a woman “crazy” if she is living her life with no rules and honoring her ideas, beliefs and emotions, rather than trying to please the crowd. Doyle shares her life experience when she contorted herself to fit into a set of memos on how to become a successful woman and build a strong family, career and faith. “This life is mine alone. So I have stopped asking people for directions to places they've never been,” Doyle says.

I’ve never read an author be so brutally honest with their flaws. Admitting their wrongs in front of the whole world. Awakening us with her words. Just like the singer Adele wrote on her Instagram, “this book will shake your brain and make your soul scream.”

This is a book about finding yourself. It’s about listening to your own voice and actually trusting in it. Reading, I thought you are the only person who knows yourself best and it would be absurd to make important life decisions based on other people’s opinion. “I wasn’t crazy. I was a goddamn cheetah,” Doyle writes.

I hope this book impacts your life in the same way it did mine.

—Solongo Orkhon

RAISED BY WOLVES

aaron Guzikowski 2020, hBo MaX

Created by veteran producer Aaron Guzikowski and supported by legendary Sci-Fi director Ridley Scott, a masterful and unsettling vision of the future unfolds in the HBO series Raised by Wolves. Set one hundred thirty years into the future, Raised by Wolves takes inspiration from real-world science and ancient mythology to create a story whose themes and context feel realistic.

If you are already interested and hate spoilers, stop reading now and go watch it.

For the rest of you, I will keep the spoilers minimal. The show begins on the real planet of Kepler 22b. Two atheist androids, Mother and Father, are sent to the planet to rebuild humanity after a religious war destroys humans' ability to breathe on Earth. Their pacifist colony is disrupted by the arrival of the survivors of humanity who are also part of a religious cult that worships a sun god known as SOL.

Raised by Wolves examines the human spirit, the right to choose, the destruction of a world through conflict, and the needless artificial divides we create between each other. It has a remarkable design, exciting set pieces, a deep and complex plot, and characters you will love or love to hate. It is difficult to describe the plot's brilliance without spoiling too much. It is challenging for viewers to pick a side as all characters alternate between being profoundly sympathetic or intensely horrifying. I watched the show with my girlfriend and can say it is the perfect show for a nerdy couple to watch together. You will continually theorize about what happens next.

This show will keep sci-fi lovers entertained for a rainy weekend with ten hour-long episodes, timely themes, and extraordinary visuals and sound. You can find the series on HBO, HBO MAX, or Crave TV. —Jonah van Driesum