Love Warrior

Love Warrior by Glennon Doyle Melton
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I started this book because on the same day, Brene Brown, author of the amazing "The Gifts of Imperfection", and my good friend, Anna, posted that they were reading and loving Melton's latest book. Since I implicitly trust their taste and their ideas, I was in - no questions asked. I downloaded "Love Warrior" on Audible, and I was off.

I maybe should have asked some questions. I had no idea that Melton was a recovering bulimic and alcoholic. I didn't know that she would spend a large portion of the book grappling with her husband's pornography addiction and infidelity. Basically, I didn't know how raw this book would be, and on fertility hormones, sad things can push me to more extreme emotions.

That said, I am not sorry that I read "Love Warrior" - I really appreciate Melton's candor and her overwhelming desire to tell her story without glossing over the hard things. I think we do ourselves a disservice for not telling our "whole" story. So often, we talk about the success we have after a "struggle" - never detailing why we struggled or what we struggled with. This makes us feel alone when things are hard, and Melton and so many others constantly remind us that our struggles are part of life's beauty. There is no shame in needing to relearn how to love ourselves and others. It's the disconnect between the front we present or "representative" (as Melton calls it) that we send in place of our true selves, that gets in the way of fully experiencing life and fully sharing who we are. We can't love fully if we don't share fully - if we don't put ourselves on the line and stop apologizing for our feelings, our mistakes, and our successes.

I can't say that this is a book for everyone. Melton's explicit detail might be too much for some, but I would recommend it overall. If you enjoyed Cheryl Strayed's "Wild", Melton is a good writer for you. If you thought Elizabeth Gilbert in any of her books was self-indulgent or over the top, don't start here. Either way, happy reading and happy fall--