Becoming

Becoming Michelle Obama Random House, Nov 2018 429 pages, Kindle, Hardcover, Paperback, Audio book, Audio CD Memoirs/Bios, Women’s Lit, History, Ethnic/Cultural ✮✮✮✮✮ Purchased The cover is perfect with its large, captivating close-up of the former First Lady, Michelle Obama, who is the author and subject of this book. It shows her smiling, as I always think of her, but with her hand on her cheek and her arm across the front of her body as if in protection. Perhaps after all the nation put her through, she learned to protect herself and her family, but she still maintains her sense of fun and humor through it all. The story is of her life from the time she was a young girl growing up on the Southside of Chicago as part of a poor black family. She knew they were poor, but it didn’t seem to be the defining sense in her young life. A sense of family, love, and the ability to be and do whatever she wanted was more the rule. And Michelle liked rules and guidelines. They gave her a path to follow, and follow she did. All the way through school and into college and law school, Princeton and Harvard Law School. She strived to follow the rules, and the rules said to succeed, so she did. All the way to a top law firm where she was successful, too. Then along came a different sort of success story. A young black lawyer who didn’t seem to follow the rules, but who seemed to be seen as super desirable by all the law firms, including hers. She was his mentor for awhile as he tried out the firm. Then he shocked her when he suggested that they go out together as a couple. The rest, as they say, is history. Barack and Michelle became. Michelle Obama shares the story of her relationship with Barack, her parents and friends and then their two daughters, Malia and Sasha, as if we were sitting in her living room drinking lemonade with her on a hot summer day. She shares painful memories and happy memories. She shares the highs and the lows of the journey from successful lawyer to former First Lady. From first date to last looks at the White House and saying goodbye to the staff. She shares it all in a very open way. There is no finger pointing here, just memories of things that took place and the feelings that went with them. A husband in the oval office and the sense of isolation that went with living in the White House…not being able to open windows or got out on the lawn for fear of security breaches. Trying to raise two daughters as normally as possible and still satisfy the security services people without scaring the people around the girls at school. Slipping out with Bo and going to Petsmart to buy him a dog toy without security. The many trials and tribulations, successes and satisfactions that came with the efforts and events planned and carried out during the Obama years. The many friends she made that remained close, life-long friends. No matter your political position, this woman’s story is fascinating and thoroughly enjoyable. I highly recommend it to everyone who enjoys reading about people, especially women, strong women and how they make their way in life. Tears, smiles, and high fives, this is a great book for anyone!

Our former First Lady, Mrs. Obama, has been an enigma for me since arriving on the scene. Someone you think you know in a way, but yet never could know from a distance. She’s the product of life and people and choices and situations, like anyone, but her’s is a story that led to the most powerful role in the land: First Family. So how does a black woman from Chicago end up as First Lady of the US? Who is that person you see on TV, talked about in the news, and both revered and maligned every single day? She’s always seemed intelligent, well spoken, and interesting. But who is she? She was grace, poise, and beauty in a single package, but how in the world did she end up with POTUS? Without question, this is one of the most enjoyable non-fiction reads I’ve encountered. One of the best autobiographies I’ve taken on. Her prose are engaging, fresh, interesting, and bring you in until you realize it’s been an hour or more and you just cannot put it down. Mrs. Obama is one of the most interesting women I’ve “met” - in that I’ve never met her, yet now know more about her than many I have met in person. Her story is not just interesting, but it blew me away. Her ability to tell a story is not just unique, but gripping, holding your attention with a style of interesting prose. She brings you through her stories as a character in story, then brings the lessons, ideas, and thread full circle in a single chapter, or overall arch of the book. I’m not going to give away any of Mrs. Obama’s stories - she is the far better teller of her own story - but within these pages you’ll discover how her family influenced her, her love of family, how she and the future president met, how they developed as a couple, and how they raised their beautiful daughters. She shares behind-the-scenes stories of history in the making and her front row seat and participation. Without question if you enjoy a good autobiography this is a must-read. If you at all admire Mrs. Obama, read it. If you’re. fan of politics, or women, read it. And frankly, anyone who is interested in intelligent, interesting, and powerful women, this book will show you how one got there, earned her way in, and worked with dignity and poise for everyone because she thought it the right thing to do.

“Becoming” by former First Lady, Michelle Obama is my book for the month of February. It tells the story of a young black girl born and raised on the south side of Chicago, by struggling but hard working parents who gave her and her brother, Craig the gift of love, security and education. The parents spared no expense when it came to education so as to give Michelle and Craig leverages in life and open them to opportunities the parents never had. Obama chronicled her experience growing up in a poor neighborhood, attending public schools where students were not expected to be Ivy-league bound, yet she persevered, worked hard and disregarded the negative remark of a guidance counselor who told her that she was not suited for Princeton University. She ended up attending Princeton University for her undergraduate degree, then to Harvard Law School for her law degree. “Inspiration on its own was shallow; you had to back it up with hard work,” she writes. While she was a junior associate at a prestigious law firm in Chicago, she was assigned to mentor a second year law student, who was interning at the firm that year. That intern was Barack Obama. Their professional relationship, blossomed into friendship, then they fell in love and eventually got married, creating a formidable union of Ivy League educated intellectuals with shared values of hard work, altruism, self-respect, respect for others and the vision to make the world a better place. “Becoming” reveals both the strength and vulnerabilities of Obama’s marriage, she recounts their inability to initially conceive and miscarriages they experienced , and their resort to in vitro fertilization (IVF) to create their two daughters. It tells of the couple’s marital issues brought on by the changing dynamics of parenting, professional life and politics and the solution they found through marriage counseling. “Becoming” gives insight into the marriage of the former first couple, the political rise of Barack Obama, the eight years of the historical presidency, the challenges and accomplishments. “Becoming” is inspirational, it engenders faith to strive for more in spite of the negative factors. In the writer’s own words, “becoming isn’t about arriving somewhere or achieving a certain aim. I see it instead as forward motion, a means of evolving, a way to reach continuously toward a better self. The journey doesn’t end...Becoming requires equal parts patience and rigor. Becoming is never giving up on the idea that there’s more growing to be done.” This best seller is a must read with fluid writing style that arrests the reader from the first page to the last.

really enjoyed reading this book. I miss the hopefulness that came with having MIchelle Obama as FLOTUS. With her it wasn't about the clothes or how she looked- it was and is about what is in her heart. The US was better for having her in the White House. A great American story here.

‘Becoming’ is an incredibly inspirational book written by former First Lady of the United States (FLOTUS), Michelle Obama. The aptly titled autobiography details how Michelle grew up from modest beginnings in the Southside of Chicago to becoming one of the more influential women to reside in the White House. She openly and honestly reveals her insecurities, shortcomings and attitudes with each transition in her life. Michelle neatly weaves into the tapestry of her story, the long term effects of slavery, as well as, the discrimination of African-Americans and women. She points out the repercussions these have had on the attitudes of the people around her and how it affected her life at each point. Her book ends with a reminder to be open to listening to one another and that hearing each other’s stories and sharing our own bridges the divide between us. I loved this book, not just for being able to see a different side of Michelle Obama but for how much it inspired me to be a go-getter of my goals and advocate for myself. I think Michelle did a wonderful job describing how each experience she wrote about highlighted how it changed her or affected her thinking. How she learned to be stubborn in some situations but quick to adapt in others, how she came to have compassion on people from different walks of life and how she recognized the opportunities given to her and wanted to extend that benefit to others. I found her honest and unapologetic as she related her inner thoughts regarding different events in her life like Barack being in politics, her view of life in the White House and some of the more controversial decisions she made. The romantic in me was very curious about the beginnings of her relationship with Barack and she dedicated page space to show how they evolved from friends to lovers and the different (sometimes negative) elements of their relationship going forward. I was incredibly happy to read her touching on the subjects of marriage counseling and fertility treatments, something that is usually only brought up in secret today. Despite our lives being very different, this honesty and her personal revelations made the book very relatable and made you feel connected with the author. But perhaps my favorite aspect of the book is reading about Michelle’s passion for people, especially underprivileged groups, and how she championed her policies was downright exciting! Her defense of Barack and why he made certain decisions was confusing at first, but as I was reading, I came to realize how fervently she felt about the issues and how to begin correcting them and, of course, she believed in her husband and theirs stories are interwoven. Overall, this was a great read, I felt inspired to go after the goals I had been pushing off and to be unafraid to fight for myself.

First of all, I’m happy to report that I’m writing this review AFTER I read the book, and it’s not completely based on my past and present political views. With that being said, I didn’t completely love the book. I was expecting Michelle Obama to be a little less guarded in it, and go a little deeper into her personal thoughts and struggles; to be a little bit more candid. I also wanted to find out more about how life is in the White House. On all of those fronts, this book mostly doesn’t deliver. Mrs. Obama is an incredibly intelligent woman, and on top of that, she is a lawyer with an Ivy League education. That background has largely influenced this book, which feels like it’s been edited for any possibility of risky statements or disclosures. It feels too safe, too guarded to really be authentic. She focuses a lot on presenting a very clean version of her life (her family was perfect; it was loving and supportive, her mom was without any faults, her father was equally perfect and he handled his disability with pride and no complaints). Is that realistic…? While her family sure must’ve been quite amazing, and I’m sure she loved it very much, nothing and no one is really perfect. I just couldn’t buy it. For some reason she barely mentions Harvard. She goes into quite a bit of detail about being a black woman at Princeton, but she dedicates maybe a half of a page in the book to her time at Harvard mostly talking about how she didn’t have time to reflect on what she wanted to do in life during the intense studies to obtain her law degree. That’s it. It made me very curious about what happened at Harvard and why she or Harvard itself didn’t want that to be in the book. She is clear about not liking politics and not really wanting to be in politics, but provides very little insight into how she transformed from that stage to seeming to really enjoy being the First Lady (she was terrified Barack Obama wouldn’t be elected for the second term). She mentions very little about her marital struggles. She does say at some point they went to counseling, but again, it’s a brief mention, and ends at that. She seems to describe nothing but only marital bliss after that. I did appreciate that she mentioned having a miscarriage, having to go through IVF to conceive, failing her bar exam at the first try and getting into Harvard from a waiting list. But I did notice one thing about the tone of the book; Michelle Obama is determined not to focus on anything negative. She mentions her miscarriage very briefly and almost dismissingly by saying that they’re very common and happen to more women than we all think. That again, takes about a half a page to a full page. Her IVF is mentioned, but again quite briefly. She describes her life almost with a sense of distance at times. Focusing on events not feelings or emotions. There were few passages of the book that felt more personal, and I enjoyed them. The part where she says she skipped the final ball of the inauguration night (the one she was most looking forward too), because she was simply too exhausted to go. There is a part where she writes about Sasha thinking that nobody came to see Barack Obama’s acceptance speech the night of the first election because the streets were empty, and that in that moment she realized that they were emptied because now they were traveling with the President Elect. She describes how it felt like to see for the first time the heavy security surrounding her husband when he became the president with the massive helicopters, motorcade, snipers, secret agents, etc. That gave me goosebumps. I enjoyed reading about that tender moment when Malia got an ear infection on vacation in Hawaii, and when Barack Obama had to choose between leaving her and Michelle Obama alone to travel back home to cast a vote (an important one) in the senate or staying with his family (which did need him). I was disappointed that she didn’t write about how life has been after leaving the White House. Yes, there is that one toast she made, but other than that, it’s mostly undisclosed in the book. Do they miss it? Do they get to enjoy their lives now more? What’s next for them (other than creating a foundation in Chicago)? The book doesn’t talk about that. In summary, I do recommend the book. Michelle Obama is a good writer, and she is likable. She writes about race, and family life, and being a working mother, and friendships, and politics. It’s still an interesting read, if not a little bit too safe.

Wonderful book. Great inspiration read.

Michelle is not just the wife of Barack! She is so much more than that. At the moment I am writing this review, I notice that there are 11,946 reviews of this book at Amazon. I am joining this lengthy list not because I want to convince people to buy and read this book. As an author, I earn royalties on each book I sell, but I didn’t write this one. So, I don’t get any money from its sales on Amazon. I just want to share some of the glimpses that I got into who this author is. What follows are some of the “Aha!” moments I experienced as I listened to Michelle tell me about her life and the things that really matter. Michelle is bold. She looked back on her experiences in second grade and called her teacher “incompetent.” Wow! That is quite an assertion. Was she? I don’t know. I was not there. As an educator for twenty years, I saw how students behaved in response to a lack of leadership, a lack of organization, lack of discipline and order. Chaos, and little/no learning. I get it. I have seen this first hand in nearby classrooms working with very poor minority children. Michelle was fortunate that she had a proactive mother who did something about it by bringing it to the attention of the administration. Michelle had an advocate as a parent, someone fighting for her. Cool! Michelle notices things. She told a story about visiting the Stewarts, friends who moved out to the suburbs, what her brother did (play sports all day), what she did (follow the older girl around), and what happened to their vehicle while it was parked outside (keyed with a sharp object by someone living nearby). What I noticed in this story, though, is that Michelle recognized the effects that being “light-skinned” could have on an individual. She didn’t get all preachy or angry or cynical, but merely wove a concept into a story and let the reader notice (or not notice). In noticed, and I have seen this in the real world. So, I wonder. How must a dark-skinned person feel, a black person whose skin is chocolate-brown, seeing how television shows and movies and advertisements showcase light-skinned black people as “beautiful” and “desirable” (and villains often as very dark-skinned actors). Hmmm. Something to think about in a world where white people dominate, and black people are valued and trusted if they are “light-skinned.” Michelle asks questions. She talks about having two white roommates in college, yet not spending much time with them. Did she hate them, envy them, or just not have a lot in common with them? I wonder. And when Michelle shares details of the parents and grandparents of a roommate, and how horrified they were that their white daughter/granddaughter was rooming with a black girl (Michelle), wow! This is real. Life. Being different, feeling different and uncomfortable. I can’t help but wonder what effect this had on Michelle’s roommate, and if she ever grew to feel more comfortable with being different and with different people. Have we moved past that? Do kids have to keep things secret from their racist and ignorant parents? And worse, are those kids feeling that distrust and angst toward people who have a different skin color or different experiences or are from a different part of the country? I wonder. Michelle endures. As she spoke about having to endure the frustrations that a structured and organized person does who lives with a slob (sorry, that’s my word), I saw parallels to my own life and roommates that I have had. You just have to deal with some things, accepting people as they are and not trying to change them into a clone/copy of you. Good advice, though I am still working on that. Michelle is perceptive. When she spoke about her friend that attended a predominately black university (Howard) while she attended one that was predominately white (Princeton), I understood her comment “she didn’t have to feel that everyday drain of being in a deep minority.” I am the majority almost everywhere I go (except when I donate plasma). I rarely feel like I don’t belong there. I fit in. Being a black girl in a class/room full of whiteness? I don’t know how that feels. That was Michelle’s daily life. And the effects that it had on her, the changes that it made in who she was, how she felt, and how she interacted and reacted to others, is real. That she is able to see this and talk about it says something about her depth of intelligence and character. Michelle notices. When she talked about a lack of hope in the black community, with “a cynicism bred from a thousand small disappointments over time,” that woke me up. It’s some-thing that I haven’t had to deal with in my life. I can’t under-stand it, because I haven’t lived it. I haven’t been judged or critiqued or looked at or discriminated against again and again and again, so I don’t know what this means. I try, but it’s all cerebral. I lack real-world experience. Michelle is responsible. When she talked about the days when her father’s health literally crippled him, yet he lived by the mantra that he and Michelle’s mother had taught them, “handle your own business”, I marked that page so that I would remember it. Handle your own business, and let others handle theirs. That’s a good way to live life. Michelle connects. When she talked about the Mary Tyler Moore Show, and how she looked up to this white female character, I wondered who I followed and admired when I was young. Which characters were independent and funny to me? So many female characters have been portrayed as finding meaning and happiness as wives or mothers, instead of being individuals and entrepreneurs, explorers and adventurers. Supporting roles, roles no longer defining women or femaleness in the modern age. What effect does that have on people? I wonder how many young girls looked up to Mary Tyler Moore. Michelle is strong. When she admitted that she and Barack went to counseling, I thought that was smart. And when she set her own limits and expected Barack to meet the expectations, and moved on whether he did or didn’t, that was good parenting. I love that she didn’t teach her kids that “life began when the man of the house arrived home.” So, what shocked me? The cascade of vehicles and support staff that ride along with the President, her husband, whenever he leaves the White House was something I did not know (page 287). So many people and vehicles and just-in-case emergency response units. Wow! What made me laugh? “Yammering.” “Inexpert critiques.” “Loud and reckless innuendos.” Yep, she called out Donald Trump loud and clear, not mincing words. And, it is true. By the way, a funny thing that the news media noticed about the sales of her book were how in a week she had passed decades of the sales of Trump’s book. A week…decades. Ha! We all know who won that contest! One of the saddest parts of this book related to her husband. For the entire time that her husband was President, the opposition party (Republicans) spoke openly and loudly about keeping him from being successful. The successes that he achieved were successes for Americans, so Republican efforts to minimize and eradicate these successes hurt voters all across this great country. I am still sad at the intensity to destroy the steps forward that he took to make America a better and kinder country. It’s just sad! And when citizens whitewash and ignore all this vitriol and vote for candidates who proclaim that they are going to do even more to destroy Obama’s good work, it saddens me. Michelle is his wife, his partner, the person he talks to and listens to. It saddens me that she must endure this hate from the Right. Her husband was/is a good man. I hope that her kids avoided this negativity. Finally, I wonder if there is still hope for America. When I read about how Michelle (and her husband) consoled staff (and the nation) after the election in 2016, letting them know that hope is always alive when it is acted upon by people who want to make the world a better place, I believed her. One election cannot erase the eight years we just had. One person cannot ruin America or my life. I must have hope that the good people of America will elect a thoughtful and kind President again, one who stands up to injustice and who doesn’t tolerate hate and greediness in her/his administration. Yes, I just said that. Her. If you are interested in learning something about Michelle, then read the book. She wrote it (not a ghost-writer). Read her words, her story. You’ll find out how Michelle dealt with life’s challenges and uncertainties, and get to know a very good per-son.