Book Club December 2020- Becoming
By: Michelle Obama
Published Year: 2018
Publisher: Crown
Pages: 426
Summary (Provided by Goodreads): In a life filled with meaning and accomplishment, Michelle Obama has emerged as one of the most iconic and compelling women of our era. As First Lady of the United States of America—the first African American to serve in that role—she helped create the most welcoming and inclusive White House in history, while also establishing herself as a powerful advocate for women and girls in the U.S. and around the world, dramatically changing the ways that families pursue healthier and more active lives, and standing with her husband as he led America through some of its most harrowing moments. Along the way, she showed us a few dance moves, crushed Carpool Karaoke, and raised two down-to-earth daughters under an unforgiving media glare.
In her memoir, a work of deep reflection and mesmerizing storytelling, Michelle Obama invites readers into her world, chronicling the experiences that have shaped her—from her childhood on the South Side of Chicago to her years as an executive balancing the demands of motherhood and work, to her time spent at the world’s most famous address. With unerring honesty and lively wit, she describes her triumphs and her disappointments, both public and private, telling her full story as she has lived it—in her own words and on her own terms. Warm, wise, and revelatory, Becoming is the deeply personal reckoning of a woman of soul and substance who has steadily defied expectations—and whose story inspires us to do the same.
What I thought
I have been meaning to read this book ever since my mom read it and enjoyed it. Because it’s an autobiography, it always got pushed to the bottom of my list. I enjoy memoirs/autobiographies but know that they tend to take a little more time and I need to be in the right mood for them. I was thankful that Logan picked it as a book club book because it forced me to finally sit down and read it.
The book is split into three parts. The first part is Michelle’s live before meeting Barack, the second part is their relationship and marriage before he became President, and the third is after. This makes it sound like her life is defined by meeting Barack, but it definitely isn’t. It’s more so that these events in her life caused big changes in hers.
Honestly, because I’m not huge into politics, I didn’t know much about Michelle prior to reading this book. I really only knew the very public information about her and what her causes were as First Lady. I always respected her and thought she was classy and smart, but this book has made me respect her even more.
I appreciated that she and I have a lot of similar thought processes and personality traits. A lot of what she said I found myself thinking “that’s how I would have reacted” or “I’ve thought the same thing.” That made reading this a lot more interesting. I also learned a lot during this book in regards to her relationship with Barack and found it fascinating. They always came off as a perfect and strong couple so it was interesting to read about their struggles and how they overcame them.
What Book Club Thought
Unfortunately, only one person had finished the book before book club. While I do find it a fascinating read, it has been slow. I got close to finishing, but didn’t make the deadline. I do intend on finishing it, but may take a break with another book before I pick it back up again.
It seems as though everyone else felt the same way. We are all enjoying it and intend to finish it, but are finding it to be a little slower of a read than we originally thought. I think if we had all finished it, there would have been even more of a good discussion since I did have some good discussions about the story with my mom since she has read it. There are a lot of very interesting points that come up in her story and I think a lot of women can learn from it.