Becoming by Michelle Obama

I remember the first time I even remotely let myself believe that Barack and Michelle Obama could take residence in the White House. It was when I saw a photo of them flanked by Malia and Sasha in Ebony magazine. It was a beautiful photo wherein the first family were donning winter coats, their faces lit up with hopeful smiles. Could it happen? Would it happen? Do I dare let myself believe the unthinkable? I recollected being a child and seeing the walls plastered with the presidents of the United States—all white men. Who was this black man who had the audacity to believe he could become the leader of the most powerful nation in the world? Moreover, who was that beautiful black woman standing at his side and how did she get there? I, like many others, had never heard of Barack or Michelle. It seemed like a dream, like they had appeared out of nowhere. Who are these people?

Well, it’s been a decade since I came across that photo in Ebony Magazine and that unfamiliar family as we all know became the first black First Family. Over the years I’ve learned a lot about these people, but it wasn’t until I read Michelle’s memoir BECOMING that I came to truly appreciate this family and all they’ve sacrificed to reach the heights that they have. Michelle, starting with the preface, pulled me right in, capturing my imagination with her eloquent narrative. When I came to the paragraph in the preface where she said she had heard about the swampy parts of the internet that questioned everything about her, right down to whether she’s a woman or a man, I knew this memoir was going to not just be a read, but an experience. I knew in that moment that Michelle had poured her heart and soul into this book and after reading all 429 pages I was right.

BECOMING is a breathtaking, world wind, masterpiece. Michelle takes us back to the South Side of Chicago where she was raised by her devoted parents and protected by her older brother Craig. Michelle wasn’t born with a silver spoon in her mouth, but she was surrounded with immediate and extended family who loved and nurtured her and who stressed the importance of getting an education and who exposed Michelle to arts and culture.

Michelle’s writing is so descriptive and intimate that you feel like you’re sitting across from her while she flawlessly reveals her life story. I laughed out loud and sobbed throughout the book. There are so many poignant and heartfelt moments. When Michelle described Craig’s teenage preventive phase which included him having their father lay on the floor so that he could practice hauling him out of the house in case there was a fire, I couldn’t help but laugh. No, if a fire were to have broken out, it wouldn’t have been a funny matter, but the way Michelle described the incredulous look on their father’s face, it provoked much laughter. Michelle’s father suffered with multiple sclerosis and it grew worst over time. She made me cry at her first recital when she became paralyzed at the sight of the perfect grand piano in front of her. She was used to playing on her Aunt Robbie’s upright with the broken keys. Aunt Robbie came to the rescue and placed Michelle’s finger on the middle C so that she could play.

Michelle keeps you turning the pages as she takes us from her early years into her high school years and on to college, a journey that is fraught with challenges and insecurities. “Am I good enough?” Yes, that was a constant refrain. Like many of us, Michelle had doubts, but she kept forging ahead, even when the counselor at Princeton told her that she didn’t think Michelle was Princeton material. Michelle proved that counselor wrong when she graduated from Princeton and joined a top Chicago law firm where she became Barack’s mentor.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading about their first encounter and subsequent courtship. It was comforting to read that Barack and Michelle weren’t the perfect couple I fantasized they were. And I applauded Michelle for revealing that they had gone to marital counseling where Michelle and Barack came to realize that it was not either of their responsibility to make the other person happy. I was also surprised to learn of their fertility challenges. The more I read, the more I realized that Michelle is so like many of us, with flaws, dreams, struggles and a whole lot of determination. I got so swept up in reading BECOMING I would read until the wee hours of the morning. Yes, it’s that good.

She gives a bird’s-eye view of life in the White House and what a view it is. Being waited on hand and foot, living in opulence. But she also writes about the downsides—living in a bubble, restricted movement, guarded, the dark side of politics and meanspirited politicians, trying to raise and protect her children. Whew! You have to have the nerves of steel to be a first lady and Michelle did it with grace and style. I also loved how she outlined all of Barack and her accomplishments during their time in the White House. I knew the obvious, like The Affordable Care Act and Michelle’s fight against childhood obesity, but they did so much more.

I can go on and on. So many memories and stories, woven together so well that it will inspire you to want to do more, to look outside of yourself, to want to make a difference, to want to make an impact on the world in a positive and tangible way. BECOMING should be required national reading.

Thank you, Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama for being enough. For BECOMING!

Eyes welled up at times, and chuckles escaped at other times ... This is a fantastic and incredibly honest and human story about the family, community, upbringing and life thus far, of an extraordinary lady - an extremely self-possessed and very complete woman with great integrity and honor - who just happened to very deservedly, become the historic first black First Lady of the United States. If you were looking for gossip, political score-settling, a hit piece, you certainly won’t find it in this excellent and well-done memoir of a brilliant, wise, witty, principled, disciplined, percipient, upstanding, unassuming, fun, serious, grounded, humble, gracious and incredibly generous and inspiring role model of a woman, who pulled herself up by the proverbial bootstraps - against all odds.

She’s utterly refreshing! Upstanding and unaffected, consistently honorable, wise, percipient, unbeholden ...powerfully human in the most relatable and best of ways... She’s wife, mother, daughter, FLOTUS, woman, human, leader ...The best of the best... An awe-inspiring and completely inspiring and compelling role model who lives and walks her talk.. Wise, fair, honest ...she is the real deal..

This is a woman of great depth and heart .. embodying a consistently lived humanity and caring for the least among us .. an authentic spirit and humanity that isn’t exploitative, self-aggrandizing, contrived .. or tied to self-elevation and scoring political brownie points .. In her memoir, she is gracious and generous - even to those who don’t deserve it.

She in many ways continues to so proudly boost her husband; effusively and generously elevating him above herself, and positively validating and vouching for him in ways nobody else can. Her memoir at times reads like a loving tribute to her husband, her parents, and others who only ever gave her even the most cursory or marginal assistance..

And even where I pegged her husband as a tad selfish/self-absorbed (and not nearly as protective or considerate of her, her needs, as he should and could have been), she instead takes the fall for him, excuses his selfishness away, and provides him cover again and again.. His ‘unusual’ upbringing and ‘ambitions’ seem to absolve him of his rather glaring shortcomings as a not so considerate and not always so protective husband..

A magnificent, double Ivy League educated woman who is at once fun yet serious, down to earth, utterly unassuming, completely self-assured, unaffected and comfortable in her own skin.. In a world full of fickle, hollow, pretentious, contrived, beholden, cowardly, manufactured public figures, she stands out as that rare public figure that is not!

I’ve bought several copies of this book, and will probably buy a few more copies as gifts.. I also listened to her fantastic and emotional Audible narration..

This memoir sets the foundation for Mrs Obama’s life story as a whole, and covers just a sliver of her 8 years in the White House as America’s historic First Lady .. And as an incredibly fulfilling a read as it is, one gets the sense that she has at least 3 great books still left in her! I’d love to read more about her experience at Harvard Law in the 80’s and volunteering for the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau; And I’d love her to write a more detailed first person account of her White House years. I’m dying to read her full and candid White House retrospective when she feels ready ... these must still feel like heady days - even more so than for those of us who don’t have the benefit of lived experience that she does..

This memoir is so honest, offering up her story authentically - and not shying away from sharing honest mistakes that many of us would’ve easily skipped to avoid certain judgement. Even the photographs she includes in the book, and on her book tour, are authentic; They aren’t posed or photo-shopped vanity images or empty faux-glamor shots re-done again and again, or taken from perfect and considered angles for that perfect vanity capture..

Rather, they are unposed images that capture her normal and naturally lived life, her genuine interactions, and pertinent moments, and activities and events supporting some of her many important, substantive and impactful initiatives..

But like the book, the pictures and her reflection on her motivations for her chosen projects and various initiatives as an executive and as First Lady, capture her effortless greatness, her depth of character, palpable humanity, undeniable grace, beautiful and fun spirit, her decency, genuine connection to a diversity of people, and a keen interest in and attentiveness to those without a voice, and that very real sense that not only is she fully engaged, she actually does care, and sees those who usually aren’t seen .. Her grace, powerful presence, natural beauty, dignity and humility is palpable.. as is her fierce sense of fairness and inclusivity ..of everyone, especially the marginalized, voiceless and least among us.. There is absolutely nothing phony or contrived about this rare gem of a marvelous, marvelous woman..

Mrs Obama remains for me the very best thing about the 2-term historic presidency most decent, thinking people now miss..

She’s self-possessed, clear-eyed, genuine, insightful, sincere, compelling, wise, principled, fun, whip-smart, unpretentious, disciplined, fearless, with integrity in spades..

She absolutely deserves this long-overdue acknowledgment of her unassuming but positively impactful greatness and public presence - as evidenced by the success of her memoir and book tour. It is heartening that she’s being deservedly recognized as brilliant, capable, formidable and fantastic in her own right, and celebrated and well-received not just in America, but the world over - And all in spite of the Alt-Right and other vicious naysayers who’ve viciously maligned and mercilessly dehumanized her for 10 years and counting, and continue to obsess over her, looking to thwart her and her success - and the fact that she’s still standing and soaring, despite their best and continued malevolent efforts to break her, tear her down.

I am glad that this wonderful memoir, her first documentation of her life story, begins the introduction for so many, into understanding the true historic and cultural importance of this phenomenal woman and historic first black FLOTUS ..A worthy introductory documentation for posterity, of an unassumingly great woman and historic FLOTUS..

Despite my waning eyesight and the horrific pain that is part and parcel of living with a terminal illness, I couldnt put this book down. For 2 straight days, every moment I was awake was spent with Michelle Obamas written voice, reminding me of better times when Id dared to feel emotions such as hope. The Obamas have only been retired for 2 years, but it feels like 20 lifetimes have passed. If there is anything even quasi-positive that can be said of the current, hideous presidency, its that trump has managed to make whatever time Ive got left feel excruciatingly longer.

"Becoming" is a bittersweet read, but excellent nonetheless. After finishing it (I even read the acknowledgments!) I closed the book and cried for a bit, allowing myself to wonder for the first time how different my illness might have turned out if the GOP cared even 1/100th as much as the Obamas did and do about the wellbeing of ALL Americans. Put bluntly, had the Republicans not put an axe to Obamacare, I might have stood a chance. I might have lived long enough to welcome my first grandchild into the world or travel to all the places Ive only dreamt of experiencing. At the very least, were it not for a vestige of slavery known as the electoral college Id be able to afford medical care and medicinal relief from the all-consuming pain.

Beyond how the book personally affected me, there is so much to be learned from it. From little bits of trivia (I had no idea the 1st family has to pay for their own food and highly doubt the current occupants do) to the Obamas relationship with Queen Elizabeth II, "Becoming" was utterly absorbing. It was heartwarming and at times heart-wrenching to watch President Obamas ascent through his wifes loving eyes. You could tell how much it affected the 1st Lady to see her husband grieve over the death of his mother, a doting mom who--had she been able to hold on just a couple months more--would have seen her son elected to the US Senate. And then to watch the very same thing happen all over again to his grandmother directly prior to being elected President of the United States... lets just say you really feel for all affected parties when reading the story through Mrs. Obamas eyes.

What was especially refreshing was the candor with which the book was written. She didnt gloss over her personal imperfections in the hopes of coming across as saint-like nor did she whine about the unfairness of things Republicans and the media did to her even though it would be understandable if she had. (Shes definitely a stronger woman than I am!) All in all, the beauty of the book was in the realization that Michelle Obama unfiltered is just as inspiring, hopeful, and dignified as the Michelle Obama whod been constrained by the office of 1st Lady for 8 years.

Its impossible to finish this book without remembering how truly lucky we were as a nation to live under the loving, devoted leadership of a man wholly dedicated to serving our country with every fiber of his being. He gave 110% of himself even to those whod made up their minds to despise him. I have to say it broke my heart reading about all the Obamas did with and for the military when that same military all too often talks of him like something they stepped in. ONeill, for instance, the Seal who happened to fire the kill shot at bin laden, frequently disparages President Obama on Twitter. (He also makes sickening references to the way he killed 1 of bin ladens sons.) ONeill looooves trump of course--a treasonist, KGB loving coward--but disparages the very man who gave that Seal his opportunity to go from an unknown soldier to a recognized somebody. Unfortunately, ONeill is neither the 1st nor last seal Ive heard discuss President Obama in a negative light. That newly elected congressman with the eyepatch who got into it with SNL recently said on "New Day" that seal morale is high under trump, but was low under Obama. I dont know what the hell is being taught to the seals, but the vast majority of the ones Ive heard speak have been blatant racists. What has trump done for them other than be white? He doesnt visit combat zones, he disparages gold star families, and he couldnt be further up Putins ass if he tried to be, but morale is high? Ooookay.

Despite 8 years of watching Michelle Obama be called everything from an ape to a "tranny" she still believes in going high when others go low. Pat Robertson was scandalized when she dared to wear sleeveless dresses, but claims melania trumps nude lesbian photos are "art." This alleged Christian man saw neither grace nor beauty in Michelle and her daughters, but insists that the KGB plant living in the white house (aka Svetlana "I Dont Really Care Do You?" trump) has both of those attributes. Umm... really?! The woman has had so much plastic surgery that she barely has eye sockets left. But melania is a white, racist, unapologetic birther so the "good" pastor apparently finds grace and beauty in her anyway. (Come to think of it, Pat Robertson is probably the seals official spiritual advisor.)

I dont give a damn what the racists say; Michelle and her daughters are gorgeous inside and out. Their beauty isnt bought in stores or under a plastic surgeons scalpel. Their toned physiques and radiant skin pay testament to lives lived healthy, happy, and well. Their regal features are striking in their elegance and beauty. And come on now, Michelle Obamas ever so slight overbite is downright adorable!

Michelle Obama remains my 1st Lady just as President Obama remains my president. I genuinely admire their ability to go high, but I dont think Im capable of becoming that person again. Every day I grow a little weaker, every day the pain becomes a little less tolerable, and every night I go to sleep knowing the odds of waking back up become less favorable each time. This book took me back to a better time and place, to the person Id been the whole of my life prior to 2016. I thank Mrs. Obama for that parting gift. Ill sleep tonight feeling more at peace.

*****UPDATE 9/24/19*****

I’m happy to say I’m still ticking (knock on wood!) After almost dying in the hospital, I was able to get an in-state waiver which—long story short—allowed me to receive Medicaid. Medicaid doesn’t pay for as much as one would hope so I still struggle to get the care & meds I need, but at least I have some level of care and some meds now. A big thank you to those of you who reached out to me with your uplifting words filled with genuine kindness :)

She let us in. Decade by decade, she lays it out. She’s just like all of us. You will get to know her better than you know even your closest friends. It’s captivating and enlightening. Her childhood in Chicago and young adult life at Princeton and Harvard were filled with family, friendship, loss, love, community, dignity, ambition, laughter, and great memories for us all to enjoy. She painted the pictures so well. I loved her stories about Barack Obama and her mother. I learned quite a bit about POTUS. What a well-written, first-class memoir!

Going doing in history as the best FLOTUS ever, mainly because she had a full 8 years to engineer so many initiatives and touch so many lives and also because she is still young and motivated. She has many more years of impact, including her initiatives—Let’s Move!, Reach Higher, Let Girls Learn, and Joining Forces. The day she and President Obama left the White House, forty-five million kids were eating healthier breakfasts and lunches; eleven million students were getting sixty minutes of physical activity every day through our Let’s Move! Active Schools program. Through Joining Forces, they’d helped persuade businesses to hire or train more than 1.5 million veterans and military spouses. On education, she and Barack had leveraged billions of dollars to help girls around the world get the schooling they deserve. More than twenty-eight hundred Peace Corps volunteers were now trained to implement programs for girls internationally. And in the United States, she had helped more young people sign up for federal student aid, supported school counselors, and elevated College Signing Day to a national level.

All this and they managed two terms in office without a major scandal. They held themselves and the people who worked with them to the highest standards of ethics and decency.

I must add that I was a tad set back regarding her comments regarding her speech stating ‘she was proud of her country for the first time as an adult’ and of comments about Rev. Jeremiah Wright. Obama seems to not take accountability for this statement, seemingly backpedaling and blaming the media. I was hoping she would own up to it. When your great-grandparents come to America greeted with ease, new opportunities and wealth creation, you are very proud of America. However, when your great-grandparents come to America greeted with chattel slavery, family separation, and murder, well, the proudness is a "stretch goal". This should be understandable for all those who know true American history. It adds context of the shameful history of black people in this country. Juxtapose this with the Rev. Wright headlines and its like crying foul on one move and chastising someone else (Rev. Wright) for a similar move. She wrote that, “Barack and I were dismayed to see this, a reflection of the worst and most paranoid parts of the man who’d married us…”. Obamas extreme judgment on Rev Wrights "spitfire" preaching, and "narrow-mindedness" seamed very dismissive. She recognizes that this is the mindset of those whod come of age in a time of segregation, yet used language such as "absurd" and vitriol" to him. When her senior thesis was discovered as to be a black power manifesto, however, she called it "small-minded" and "ludicrous" of the media. She said she was young and naïve. They listened to scores of his sermons throughout the 1990s, yet its not until 2008 that they are appalled. They distanced themselves for political reasons in 2008 from the man and continue the same narrative and direction. This was, as I believe, to pave the path for their standards of decency. I concluded that her perspective has evolved at a level that none of us will fully understand. She’s sat in kitchens of Iowans, had adorable conversations with the Queen of England and has heard stories of tens of thousands of everyday people. I put this all in perspective...no doubt, and love her like a big sister nonetheless.

Her experiences at 54 are incredibly rich, like none other, and we should all be wholly inspired by this memoir.

Before reading “Becoming”, I only knew Michelle Obama as the First Lady of The United States (FLOTUS), that she is the first black woman in this position, that she looked elegant – smiling every time I saw her in a photo, and she made eloquent speeches in Presidential Campaigns and in Democratic National Conventions.

After reading “Becoming”, I felt as if a neighbor and friend had just shared the details of her remarkable life story with me, in down-to-earth prose, with occasional wit and humor. Her narratives include deeply moving passages about tragedies, interesting personal traits and amusing episodes, words of wisdom, as well as personal reflections. Even though her life is unique, some of her reflections may find resonance in many readers’ own experiences. Several examples are given below as inducements for reading the book. (Skip the examples if you have already read the book.)

A. Moving passages about tragedies:

1. When Michelle was only in fifth grade, one of her classmates, a boy named Lester McCullom, who lived nearby, had died in a fire that also killed his brother and sister.
2. Her fun-loving friend and roommate from her Princeton days, Suzanne, was diagnosed with cancer and died at the age of 26. When Michelle got to her hospital bedside, it was too late, missing the chance to say good-bye. On her trip back from Maryland to Chicago, Michelle wondered: “How the world just carried on. How everyone was still here, except for my Suzanne.”
3. The good-bye scene at the deathbed of her father, who suffered from the debilitating disease of MS for decades, steadily impairing his mobility. Over the years, her father never complained, never gave up and did not miss a day of work, giving his all to the family.
4. Hadiya Pendleton, a 15 year old girl from South Side of Chicago, who came with the King College Prep marching band to perform in President Barack Obama’s inauguration parade in January 2013, was shot and killed in a public park in Chicago, not far from her school, eight days after the inauguration. This was around the time of the Sandy Hook School shooting, during which twenty first graders and six educators were killed by a gunman firing a semiautomatic rifle. President Obama went to the Memorial for Sandy Hook, while Michelle went to the funeral of Hadiya Pendleton. The pages describing these two events were painful to read but extremely moving.

B. Interesting Personal Traits and Amusing Episodes:

1. Barack Obama stored his belongings in heaps and felt no compunction to fold his clothes.
2. Barack was always late, starting with the first time he reported for work as a summer associate at the Chicago law firm of Sidley Austin. This caused Michelle, already a lawyer in the firm and assigned as Barack’s mentor, to wonder about the audacity of this young man. Later, during political campaigns, Michelle learned that, when Barack telephoned to say he was “almost home”, it was not a geo-locator but rather a state of mind. He may still want to talk to a colleague for some 40 minutes or to go to a workout in the gym.
3. In Barack and Michelle Obama’s visit to Windsor Castle in April 2016, Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip came to pick them up when their helicopter landed, with Prince Philip driving. The protocol folks had told Michelle that she was to sit in the front of the car, and her husband in the back with the Queen. On arrival, The Queen gestured Michelle to sit with her at the back, telling her that the rule the protocol folks made up was rubbish.

C. Words of Wisdom:

1. “I think it’s one of the most useless questions an adult can ask a child – What do you want to be when you grow up?” (To find out why the author says so, read the preface of the book.)
2. “You may live in the world as it is, but you can still work to create the world as it should be.” - Barack Obama
3. “Kids care about fame, it turns out, for only a few minutes. After that, they just want to have fun."
4. For politicians: “The more popular you became, the more haters you acquired.”

D. Reflections that resonate with this reader:

1. Her family (parents, brother and herself) lived on the second floor of a bungalow in the Southside of Chicago. It reminded me of the 300 or so square feet room my family of four lived from 1950-1955, in Hong Kong. The room had just enough space for a double bed, a bunk bed (for my brother and me), and a couple of small desks. There was a common kitchen, toilet and bath facility nearby, shared with several families.
2. Their uprooting from Chicago to the White House reminded me of our uprooting from the U.S. to Hong Kong in 1973 (with a baby) and again from Hong Kong back to the U.S. in 1985 (with three school-age children).
3. “You’ve got to be twice as good to get half as far”.
This is intended as advice for African Americans. However, it resonates with me, an Asian American.
4. “Hard work didn’t always assure positive outcomes”. Probably many readers had experienced this.

While the book covers almost all periods of the author’s life before she became First Lady, from her childhood to the various stages of schooling, through her professional careers as a lawyer, vice president at a hospital and the director of a nonprofit, there appeared to be a gap. Detailed accounts were given of her experiences in elementary school, high school, and Princeton. However, not a word about her life as a student at Harvard Law School. On p. 355, when she listed all the people who had helped build her confidence, there was no one associated with Harvard. Makes the reader wonder why.

In conclusion, in reading “Becoming”, I experienced again the recent history of this country through the eyes of a former First Lady, learning about the power and limitation of the presidency, and the good and ugliness of politics. I learned the agonizing balance of her career plans and those of her husband, the intensity of Presidential Campaigns, the pros and cons of living in the White House, the challenge of raising two teenage girls when their father was the President of the United States, the projects she initiated for improving the health and education of children, the dismay she felt when Hilary Clinton was not elected President in 2016 but maintaining her optimism about our country nonetheless. After learning her story, I have the feeling that Michelle Obama is someone who, if a reader has the opportunity to meet her, she would also be interested in listening to his/her story. For this reader, it is the story of an immigrant who grew up in the countryside of Hong Kong, somehow managed to obtain a degree from an Ivy League University, led a career in higher education in Universities in the East and West Coasts, the Mid-West, as well as the Deep South of the United States of America - nothing glamorous, but in the spirit of the American Dream nonetheless.

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.

There arent enough stars to say how amazing this book truly is. Its fabulous.

Every minute I spent reading Michelle Obamas thoughtful, hopeful, and powerful words took me back to the positive mindset of "yes, we can." She may have single-handedly saved my sanity. It was good for my soul to be reminded that there are decent, hard-working people who do their best to serve our country...that there are people who actually care, and not just those there to enrich and empower themselves.

The book covers the entirety of Michelle (Robinson) Obamas life, from her childhood through the hand-off to the current occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. So often I was reminded, on a personal level, how we are alike, despite our skin color which many would see first, despite me being raised in a small town and her in a big city, despite our journeys being very different. Often during her telling, the author would meet someone, hear their story, and be reminded of something in her own past. That people are more alike than different, was a recurring theme but not pushed on the reader, just shared as a matter of her observations. Making personal connections is clearly Michelles super power.

The details are richly woven into this story of a down-to-earth, hard-working woman. Michelle Obama is an achiever, supported fervently by her parents and, later, reluctantly thrust into the spotlight because of Baracks big heart. She is determined to do as much good as possible while there. I found some of the specifics intriguing, such as the presidential motorcade carries pints of blood in the presidents blood type, the presidential family buys their own food (although all of it is cooked for them), etc. I admire that Michelle Obama kept the narrative of the book about her, not straying into a biography of her husband. I did gain even more respect for the intelligence, strength and class displayed by President Obama, but I appreciated hearing her thoughts, from her experience.

Overall, I loved this portrait of the eloquent, strong, caring woman that we knew as First Lady. Her efforts were always to unite and raise up those that needed a hand. She did a lot of work with military families and injured soldiers. Perhaps what impressed me most is that, even after all the horrible things that were said about her and Barack, she did not use her story to bad-mouth anyone. She is an example of class and intellect that is as rare as a unicorn in todays Washington, D.C.

I highly recommend this terrific memoir. I loved it so much I bought it for my mother. She doesnt usually read memoirs but is enjoying this one.

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.

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.

This book is one of the most encouraging books I have ever read. The idea that education is essential for women to succeed in the world that we have today is primary. I wish that we all saw the importance of education to our success as individuals and our success as a nation. Becoming was a great book for me to read.