Book Review: Becoming by Michelle Obama

June 05, 2020

"For me, becoming isn't about arriving somewhere and achieving a certain aim. I see it instead as forward motion, a means of evolving, a way to reach continuously toward a better self. The journey doesn't end. I became a mother, but I still have a lot to learn from and give to my children. I became a wife, but I continue to adapt to and be humbled by what it means to truly love and make a life with another person. I have become, by certain measures, a person of power, and yet there are moments still when I feel insecure and unheard. It's all a process, steps along a path. Becoming requires equal parts patience and rigor. Becoming is never giving up on the idea that there's more growing to be done." 

........

I've slowly been working my way through Becoming for the past 3-4 months. I've switched back and forth between listening to it on audio and reading the physical book. My good friend gave it to me for Christmas (funnily enough I had given her the exact same gift), but then I heard a therapist say that listening to Michelle read the audio version was a great way to calm your mind before going to bed at night (she was not wrong). So I of course had to get the audio version as well.

Let me start off by saying that I knew very little about Michelle and Barack Obama while they were in office. As I read through Michelle's memoir, I was kicking myself for not taking the time to learn more about them both. Michelle tells her story starting with her childhood in the Chicago South Shore neighborhood and moves all the way through she and Barack's last day at the White House. And wow. Just wow. I don't think you could read this book and not come away realizing what big hearts Michelle and Barack both have. A heart for all peoples and injustices in America and beyond. 

Thank you for your words, Michelle. Thank you for sharing your story with the world and reminding us that becoming is a life long process. 

Share:

Leave a comment

Comments will be approved before showing up.

Name *

Email *

Comment *

---

Also in Blog