I always feel like I am into someone’s mind whenever I read an autobiography. Now imagine getting into a first lady’s mind! I should keep my fanatical perspective off this review, but I will have to admit, “Becoming” is well written, with such honesty and integrity, I feel like I was trusted with Michelle Obama’s secrets.
If you have already read Michelle Obama’s “Becoming”, you might feel the same way. If you haven’t, I will give you a sip.
Before I dive into fascinating stories and history recounted in the book, I found Obama’s storytelling skills exquisite. I often read the book during after work hours featuring the whole day fatigue, but as I was reading, I could hear her voice, unfettered and real.
“Becoming” is a 400-page expansion of Michelle Obama’s idyllic youth and her transition from a woman who admits she hates politics to the woman who becomes the First Lady of the United States—FLOTUS.
She narrates her life in details, from growing up in a working class household in Chicago, to getting into and leaving the White House, to the sorrow of miscarriage, down to Malia’s kicks in her womb after running a couple of in-vitro fertilization testes.
Her book is divided into three sections: “Becoming Me”, “Becoming Us”, and “Becoming More”. In these sections, she opens herself and her world to us. In the most private book, we know her in a way we could not have otherwise.
She walks the reader through her childhood in the Southside Chicago. Besides her childhood experience, Michelle Obama shares her views on issues such as bullying, education and racism.
There was a point where “Becoming” felt like a letter from a role model. The way she portrays how a few key people in life can support a young girl and elevate her, so that she, in turn, can elevate others, is a heartfelt, true story of hope in a world gone far too cynical.
The book is Michelle Obama’s memoir but has some little bit of Barack Obama sprinkled in, apparently. Apart from their romantic moments that seemed unfading in almost 30 years together, Michelle talks about how she was thrown into politics by her husband’s career. Her uncertainty on how to approach politics and maintain her working-motherhood status is namely what is narrated in the “Becoming Us” section.
“Becoming” has a gallery section that makes all the stories spectacularly visual. Going through it, if you followed the news in the Obamas’ era, you could now see a debunked version of all the media coverage; feelings and scenes behind curtains.
The book is however criticized to be more of self-hyping and does not give space to views against the Obamas. Which I think is less of an issue since the book is an autobiography.
Notable sections:
On Being an “Angry Black Woman,” 265
On Being a First Lady, 283
On Her Father, 139
On Death, 145
On their Engagement, 157
On Fertility, 187
On her friends, 201
On Meeting the Queen of England, 318
On Moving Forward, 395
On Bullies, 407
You can also read:
“The Hate U Give” by Angie Thomas
“The 50th Law” by John Greene and 50 Cent,
“City of Girls” by Elizabeth Gilb
“An American Marriage” by Tayari Jones
“Educated” by Tara Westover
Ange ILIZA is a third-year student in Journalism and Communication. She is currently the Kaminuza Star Editor in Chief and a reporter at The New Times, a print and online English newspaper.
