Book Friday: Love Warrior

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I try for no spoilers, but I fail sometimes. It’s an old book. Just read it. 

On a recommendation, I read Love Warrior by Glennon Doyle Melton. I don’t do book reviews. Not my thing. But I do like sharing things I’ve read because sometimes it opens a door for someone else.  

My recommendation friend described the book as a companion to Brene Brown's work. Specifically dealing with vulnerability. That’s something I’ve struggled with this year. Eager, I started the book that night on my kindle.  

Now, I went into this thinking a self-help book. It’s not. It’s so not. Please know that. It’s a memoir. Had I known this when I was reading, I could have saved myself some intense frustration.  

Xian Nguyen

It was an Oprah book pick. Love Warrior speaks to those who might be new to the love versus fear cycle. If you don’t know much about it, pick this one up and let this lady walk you through her house of horror.  

I wonder how it’s being shelved in bookstores? Is it a book about drug and alcohol recovery? The writer is very clear about her flaws in this area. Eating disorders? The writer has bulimia. Marriage saver kind of book? No, if you read the afterword and do a quick goggle search you’ll find out nothing lasts forever.  

If you are religious, many sections may offend you. I hope that makes you want to read it. There is much talk about sex (and if you do that goggle search, you’ll know why she hated sex.)  

There is drinking, drugging and carrying on. I think it’s in there so you can see the phoenix rise from the ashes. Some sections were very difficult to read. In those moments, had the book been a physical one, I’d have thrown it against the wall. I wish I could have given my brain a bath and cleaned it out. But the picture the words paint is powerful.  

She’s such a mess you end up rooting for her. Will she recover? What about her family? Her marriage?

It also gave me a very good view at how vulnerability could have saved her when she was ten. Had any adult probed a bit she may not have carried so much pain that she stuffed herself with food or alcohol. Pain is universal. While I had trouble reading about her party days, I recognized at the end that the story she tells is raw. Painfully raw. Radically raw.  

The facts: 

The book is sixty-eight thousand five hundred words long. There are three parts to the book, each covering a section of time. There are chapters, but there are also a million section breaks. But the book is cohesive. So, all that formatting did its job. The language grabs you. This is a page turner. Maybe that’s because you're watching a train wreck.

Nick Fewings

Also, it's a PSA for misuse of alcohol and drugs. She describes it so well I don’t know why anyone would touch the stuff. It isn’t preachy. It allows you to look over her shoulder as she tries to find her way with almost no help. 

If you are an Amazon Kindle Unlimited member, this is a free read. So, if you’re on the fence about reading it, does it get better than free? 

My recommendation friend was right on the money. It bursts with passages of vulnerability. Love Warrior will make you uncomfortable, but we all need to be challenged. If you’re looking for something to read, give it a whirl. Just have ice cream and a spoon and maybe some Kleenex. It’s a gut puncher.