Becoming book review

Becoming by Michelle Obama
Published by Crown on November 13, 2018
Pages: 426
Goodreads

In a life filled with meaning and accomplishment, Michelle Obama has emerged as one of the most iconic and compelling women of our era. As First Lady of the United States of America—the first African American to serve in that role—she helped create the most welcoming and inclusive White House in history, while also establishing herself as a powerful advocate for women and girls in the U.S. and around the world, dramatically changing the ways that families pursue healthier and more active lives, and standing with her husband as he led America through some of its most harrowing moments. Along the way, she showed us a few dance moves, crushed Carpool Karaoke, and raised two down-to-earth daughters under an unforgiving media glare.
In her memoir, a work of deep reflection and mesmerizing storytelling, Michelle Obama invites readers into her world, chronicling the experiences that have shaped her—from her childhood on the South Side of Chicago to her years as an executive balancing the demands of motherhood and work, to her time spent at the world’s most famous address. With unerring honesty and lively wit, she describes her triumphs and her disappointments, both public and private, telling her full story as she has lived it—in her own words and on her own terms. Warm, wise, and revelatory, Becoming is the deeply personal reckoning of a woman of soul and substance who has steadily defied expectations—and whose story inspires us to do the same.

I am a huge fan of the Obamas and I was devastated when his final term was up. But although I had held Michelle in the same regard I didn’t really know all that much about her and I wanted to know what it was like to be married to one of the most powerful men in the world. This book is phenomenal, I feel as though not only did I learn a lot about her as a whole I also learnt a lot about the American political system. There was so much information to be found all the way through this book and it was all at an accessible level so that I who have never been a part of the political system could understand what was going on at certain parts of the book. I am so glad I picked this book up.

I was wondering whether I should omit this section just for this review, purely because there is obviously a complete lack of characters in Becoming but I thought I would talk about how I thought Michelle presented herself. Now there can be no mistaking on where she sits on the political spectrum but I thought the way that she talked about not only the good times but the bad times with certain people was astounding. I don’t know whether I could have written something so composed when it came to talking about people who were not only on the opposite end of politics to me but were also personally awful about my family. I think that is the strength of this book at no point does it feel like she is ranting about anything, or trying to justify anything and I loved that.

For me the best part of this book apart from learning all about American politics was definitely how honest Michelle was all the way through this book. I don’t feel as though any of Becoming has been sugarcoated, she never apologises for the way she was feeling in the moment and that was refreshing. I loved reading about the doubts she had about her and Barack and how hard she found to balance everything and how she questioned whether this was what was right. I loved seeing the glamourous facade being stripped away and being left with the truth, ugly or not. It was a really good eye-opener about their family and how hard it actually was.

I don’t think there were any “worst bits” if I’m truly honest, I do think there was a lot of focus on her early life and I would have liked the same amount of focus on the later years but other than that. Nothing.

I don’t think this is going to be a surprise, when I say you should go and pick up Becoming now. It’s a really great book, there’s a lot of information packed all the way through and I adored learning more about the different people that all played a part in the Obama story.

Would this be something that you would be interested in? Let me know in the comments!