Book Review: Women Who Run With the Wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estés

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Every reader has one book they physically press into other people’s hands — not recommend, press. Mine is Women Who Run With the Wolves. Of everything on my shelf, this is the one I hand over most often, usually with some version of “trust me” and no further explanation. This review is the further explanation.

The spoiler-free setup: Estés, a Jungian psychoanalyst and a keeper of old stories, takes fairy tales and myths — Bluebeard, the Red Shoes, Vasalisa, the Skeleton Woman — and unpacks each one as a map of the instinctive, creative “wild woman” self that polite life trains out of us. Story first, then the decoding. It’s part folklore collection, part psychology, part field guide to your own interior.

What I Loved About Women Who Run With the Wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estés

The stories do work on you that advice never could. I’m a person who uses tarot and astrology as tools for asking better questions, and this book runs on the same engine at a much deeper level: an old tale, told well and then opened up, will surface things in you that a direct question never finds. For writers especially, it doubles as a study in why myths persist — every one of these stories has survived centuries because it’s structurally perfect.

Five stars, and the highest compliment I have: of every book I own, this is the one I give away most.

What I Didn’t Love About Women Who Run With the Wolves

Nothing, truly — but a reading note: this is not a book you binge. It’s 500+ pages of dense, rich material, built to be read a tale at a time and put down between chapters. Read it in seasons, not sittings.

Final Thoughts on Women Who Run With the Wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estés

My final score: 5 out of 5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Do I recommend this book? 👍 Yes — consider this me pressing it into your hands.

It sits beautifully next to The Artist’s Way on the creative-recovery shelf. Everything else I’ve rated is at book reviews.

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