"Becoming" is a book written by Michelle Obama, the former First Lady of the USA. This book is a recommendation from a girl boss slash CEO that I look up to, Angely Dub. She mentioned that it is one of her favorite books and so, last year, I gave it a go and read it.
What is it all about?
"Becoming" is the memoir of former First Lady of the United States, Michelle Obama, published in 2018. Described by the author as a deeply personal experience, the book talks about her roots and how she found her voice, as well as her time in the White House, her public health campaign, and her role as a mother.
The book walks me through the wonderful journey of Michelle Obama. It has 3 sections: Becoming Me, Becoming Us, Becoming More.
Becoming Me is about becoming herself from being a child who grew up on the South Side of Chicago, having her first kiss as a teenager, entering Princeton University and Harvard Law School, and getting started with her early career where she met her man.
Becoming Us tells about her romantic relationship with her loving husband, the former USA president Barack Obama. It also departs when Barack Obama "swerve" from corporate law to the non-profit organization and to entering politics. Michelle Obama showed how she juggled her responsibilities on being a mother, a wife, and also speaking at political events.
Becoming More notes the presidency of Barack Obama, the campaigns of Michelle Obama, and the aspect of the Obamas as first family.
My Book Review
In the first section, Becoming Me, she has a great childhood experience, mostly because of having great parents. Their parents are wise when it comes to their housing as they prefer to just rent rather than buying a house because it is what they can afford. Basically, their parents weren't pressured to buy one just because others do it. I am not a parent but I have learned so much about parenting through this book. Highly recommended for parents!) I just wanna share these lines from the book, which can be helpful for parents.
She loved us consistently, Craig and me, but we were not overmanaged. Her goal was to push us out into the world. “I’m not raising babies,” she’d tell us. “I’m raising adults.” She and my dad offered guidelines rather than rules. It meant that as teenagers we’d never have a curfew. Instead, they’d ask, “What’s a reasonable time for you to be home?” and then trust us to stick to our word.
The way their parents raised them is more on advice rather than rules that need to be strictly followed all the time. It is like readying them for the real world, letting their children decide on their own because after all, it's the children's life so they make their own decisions. As she and her brother grew up, their parents just basically trusted them with their life-choices as they had confidence that they raised their children well.
In Becoming Us, I overall love the love story of Barack and Michelle. I honestly knew so little about the Obamas before I read this book. Through this book, you will somehow fall in love with Barack because of how Michelle tells the story. On how she tells it, it is evident that Barack is really an intelligent man and has an empathy with people which makes him a great leader. Here's a quote from the book that I want to share that made me laugh hard, and is proof that he really is a person with empathy...
I woke one night to find him staring at the ceiling, his profile lit by the glow of streetlights outside. He looked vaguely troubled, as if he were pondering something deeply personal. Was it our relationship? The loss of his father?
“Hey, what’re you thinking about over there?” I whispered.
He turned to look at me, his smile a little sheepish. “Oh,” he said. “I was just thinking about income inequality.” (LOL! 🤣)
Another quotable quote that makes me really adore Barack...
“Do we settle for the world as it is, or do we work for the world as it should be?”
I mean, come on... Through this book, how I just hope that leaders are more like him.
As a Filipino, I don't have much idea on how politics are in the USA. But this book gave me a glimpse on how it is, and what it's like to live inside the White House. I don't know with anyone, but I am really fascinated and shocked with almost everything related to it, additionally because the story-telling is kinda very detailed to the point like you will feel like you are one of the first family. LOL.
I wanna share another fun quote from this book. (Sasha is her daughter.)
Sasha’s agents, including Beth Celestini and Lawrence Tucker—whom everyone called L.T.—had become beloved fixtures at Sidwell. Kids begged L.T. to push them on the swing set during recess. (I this part funny and cute haha)
If you read this, from a perspective of a normal person simply living, you will discover more fascinating things that really happened to the privileged first family. Like they can't go on a simple date at a restaurant because the President needs a LOT of chaperone, meeting Queen Elizabeth, and so on. You will also despise Donald Trump through this book.
Closing thoughts
In conclusion, this book made me look up to Michelle Obama who is a classy, witty, and kind-hearted woman. She is the very first First Lady of the USA that I knew and I loved. Also, this book made me fall in love with Barack Obama's personality. How I hope Barack would be the world's president (impossible, I know). This book is also good for parenting purposes and has a lot of life learnings.
After reading this book, I straight up added it to one of my favorites! It is my first time to read a memoir and I didn't know that it is this amazing to read a journey of someone who's well-known. I actually want to read more memoirs and the books that I wanna read if ever are The Promised Land by Barack Obama and Shoe Dog by the Creator of Nike (I have the physical book but haven't finished it yet haha). Hopefully, I can stop making excuses and just read them.
If you have read this already, please let me know. If you haven't yet, do you have plans to read it anytime soon?
Anyways, I have an e-book of this and just tell me if you want a copy. 😉
As always, thank you for reading! 🥰
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Date Published: August 29, 2021
I love how the book was divided, and I particularly love the Becoming Me. She has practical parents and that is something she have to thank them.