Becoming by Michelle Obama
I’ve always had a soft spot for Michelle Obama. A First Lady with sass and class, I thought. I never voted for her husband, but that’s okay. You don’t have to agree with someone politically to like that person. So when I started hearing about the tremendous buzz that her new memoir, Becoming, was generating, I decided to use my Audible.com credit for the month to get it right away. (As of the very moment I’m writing this post, there are 332 holds on 15 copies of the downloadable audiobook in the Arapahoe Library system.) She reads it herself, so I got an extra layer of exposure to her as I listened.
Here’s the thing: She’s a really good writer. I’m sure she had some help, notably a good editor, but there’s no ghostwriter listed. And when I went online to see what I could find out on this issue I discovered that she’s written an earlier book, American Grown, about the famous garden that she planted on the White House lawn. (From the sound of things, she was a lot more successful with her vegetable gardening than I’ve ever been with mine; I am now officially an “ornamentals only” gardener.) I just put that one on hold at the library; there are only three people ahead of me. Her life story is extremely interesting, starting out on the South Side of Chicago in a small house that she, her parents and her brother shared with her aunt and uncle. Things were pretty crowded. Later the uncle died and the aunt moved out (I think—I’m not going back and fact-checking), so there was more room for the four Robinsons. Her father worked for the Department of Sanitation even though he was crippled with (I believe) multiple sclerosis. Eventually he had to use a scooter/wheelchair at work, but he kept going. He died at the age of 55.
And on it goes from there. I’d really encourage you to read or listen to this book for the following reasons:
1. It’s a fascinating story.
2. It’s a way of getting the real scoop on various events, at least from her perspective. (I’ve read both of Barack Obama’s books, by the way, something I got into because of a misleading quotation passed to me by one of those notorious forwarded e-mails and which I was determined to check out. In the process I was hooked on the book—I think that one was Dreams From My Father. There have been criticisms of his books in that they put a different slant on his legal career and how much credit he should get for various accomplishments, but on the whole I found them to be just as fascinating as this one.)
3. It’s a means of seeing the person behind the hype. No matter your political persuasion, I think you’ll end up liking Michelle very much.
4. It’s a great love story. In fact, if I were to list the best thing about the book, I’d say that her commitment, love and respect for her husband is a shining example to the rest of us (yes, us) wives. I’m sure there were a lot more tense moments and disagreements than she lets on, and she certainly had her doubts about this whole political thing, but man! She was a pretty good sport. Barack was going places, and she was going with him, while all the time developing her own career—and dealing with two children. (Both girls were born with the help of in vitro fertilization, by the way—one of the many personal revelations in the book.)
So I’d highly, highly recommend that you absorb this book via the platform of your choice. I found it to be a great shot in the arm. (Also, I got inspired to work on my own, literal arms—Michelle’s are famously fit. Mine aren’t too bad, but I need to get some weights and banish the batwings.) Always a great idea to find out about who the real people are who live in the glare of the spotlights, and the Obamas stayed there for a decade. Now they’re on to other things, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see another MO book sometime down the pike. Get this one for now!
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