Becoming! Michelle Obama...The First Lady from her perspective

Title: Becoming!
Author: Michelle Obama
ISBN: 978-0-241-33414-0
Rating: 6/10
Genre: Autobiography, Life, Fact
Type: Hardcover

"More intriguing was my early discovery that there was such a thing as an African Amerian elite. Most of my new high school friends were plack, but that didn't necessarily translate, it turned out, to any sort of uniformity in our experience. A number of them had parents who were lawyers or doctors and seemed to know one another through an African American social club called Jack and Jill. They'd been on ski vacations and trips that required passport. They talked about things that were foreign to me, like summer internships and historically black colleges. One of my black classmates, a nerdy boy who was always kind to everyone, had parents who'd founded a big beauty-supply company and lived in one of the ritziest high-rises downtown.
This was my new world. It's not to say that everyone at the school was rich or overly sophisticated, because that wasn't the case. There were plenty of kids who came from neighbourhoods just like mine, who struggled with far more than I ever would. But my first months at Whitney Young gave me a glimpse of something that had previously been invisible - the apparatus of privilege and connection, what seemed like a network of half-hidden ladders and guide ropes that lay suspended overhead, ready to connect some but not all of us to the sky."

Michelle Obama was born in Chicago in 1964 and I think I can confidently say has become one of the most influential women ever. She is an inspiration and a dream for millions of people around the world. I was first made aware of her influence during her husband's presidential campaign. I remember watching her and Barack on the news making his speech about his candidacy for being president. I remember watching his speech and seeing his family in the background and thinking how smiley and kind they looked. Straight away I felt like I wanted him to be the president of America. There was just no question. My first experience of presidency in America was Bill Clinton and then George W Bush, two presidents I don't feel did their country justice. I finally wanted a change with Barack.

Not only did we get that change in president we got a change in the influence the first lady has. I am sure previous first ladies have tried to create their own campaigns and to change things for the better themselves but I haven't personally seen this until I saw Michelle Obama. Look at the present First Lady, without getting overly political, don't really see her having much influence on anything.

So when I heard that Michelle was creating her own autobiography I knew it would go on my list of things to read. It was only when my boyfriend came home with the book as a present that I started reading it as soon as I finished whatever I was reading at the time. I am not going to lie, it took me a while to actually read all of it. I was expecting a gripping read which I couldn't put down and wanted to get through chapter to chapter, unfortunately this is not what I found all the way through the book.

I started reading it in May 2019 and it took me until being on holiday in August 2019 to finish it. Which for me for one book, is a long time. The beginning part of the book about Michelle's upbringing I didn't feel was written in the best way. I didn't feel like she had given enough information and what she did talk about was mostly her school experiences. Perhaps this was the most accurate account of her life, but I felt she missed out information and sections at the beginning part of her life. This may be because she didn't want people to know the nitty-gritty of her life which is completely her choice, however, if you are to write an autobiography then I would think you are comfortable with the reader wanting to know as much information about you as possible.

However, as the book went on I felt she became more open and more honest with her recounts. Whether that was following the section where she met Barack whilst working as a solicitor or whether I just got more interested in the book, I don't know. I just got more and more interested in the book as the book went on rather than the first part about her younger life. I really enjoyed her life once she became First Lady, especially the influence she had on healthy eating in the education system. The fantastic job she did of creating vegetable patches in the grounds of the White House and promoting growing your own produce no matter your circumstances. But I still believe my absolute favourite is the experience she recounts of meeting the Queen. I absolutely love the Queen and reading her recount of that meeting just enhanced my love for them both.

It was also interesting to read how she dealt with the cross over to the new President and First Lady. How she remained so politically neutral about the change of Government when she clearly did not agree with it and more than likely did not want to leave her home for 8 years and to be moved back to a smaller, quieter house. I did feel for her through this experience as that can not have been easy for her to have to partly give up what she loved because of a change in circumstances that no one has control over.

I am however really looking forward to listening to her new Podcast and I am sure I will watch the TV adaption of this book on Netflix, I hope both of these are going to enhance my love for Michelle and to help me understand the book more, they may even lead to me going back to the book in years to come and reading it again in a different light, I don't know.

I would recommend this to other people to read as I have friends who absolutely loved it. They read it as an audiobook which is Michelle herself narrating the book which may influence my opinion of the first part of the book, I don't know, but it is definitely a book people need to read to understand the person she became and the magnificent life she has lead coming from an underprivileged background and to achieve the magnificent things she has purely for being such a determined and ambitious person. Even without Barack being who he became she was always going to achieve amazing things.

Rating: 6/10

10-Word-Review: Not the best book going but definitely a must-read.

I am hoping you are enjoying my posts recently and I am going to continue to have them published as time goes along and hopefully will create a regular post like I used to do...Steph xx