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Becoming

by Michelle Obama, 2018

Review is copyright © 2019 by Wil C. Fry. All Rights Reserved.

Published: 2019.01.01

Home > Book Reviews > Becoming

 

Copyright © 2018 by Wil C. Fry. Some rights reserved.

 

Summary

The second book authored by Michelle Obama, Becoming is an autobiography or “memoir”, covering her personal history from childhood in Chicago through her final days as First Lady of the United States.

Despite not hitting shelves until mid-November, Michelle Obama’s autiobiography Becoming quickly became 2018’s best-selling book, more than 2 million copies getting into readers’ hands in the first 15 days. More than 3 million were sold within a month. It was the number one seller in the U.S., Canada, Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Holland, Spain, Denmark, Norway, Finland, and Greece.

I bought it in hardcover, something I almost never do, but only because I found an online deal; otherwise I would have waited for the paperback.

But sales, of course, indicate what people anticipate a book will be, not what they actually think after they read it. While I enjoy biographies and histories and memoirs, I anticipated this one would be different. Tired of reading of history’s horrible people — slave-owners, colonizers, warmongers, war profiteers, monarchists, religionists — I wanted a book about someone fundamentally decent — a person who didn’t find ways to make the world obviously worse. And I wanted that book to inspire me, to encourage me, to warm my heart.

This one did exactly that.

I could tell within the first 15 pages that this book would be all I hoped for, and more.

 

What I Liked Least About It

You’ll think this is silly but some of the grammar editing bugged me. For example, the noun “work sheet” was split into two words, while the noun “backyard” was smushed into one. For all I know, these are modern conventions and I’ll have to get accustomed to it, but I’m entering that phase of life when new and whimsical ways to spell words can be disconcerting. (For me, “backyard” would be one word only if used as an adjective, as in “a backyard barbecue”, while “I have mowed the back yard” requires two words.)

The book was also heavier than I prefer books to be — it’s literally weighty to hold.

 

What I Liked Most About It

Though it made me slightly uncomfortable at first, perhaps the most endearing quality of this book is that it’s intimate. I don’t mean the subject matter is prurient; I refer to the tone, the voice, the phrasing, the casual opening of the front door to a childhood home and inviting me in for a look at what was once considered private moments.

This is only the second autobiography I’ve ever read that was written by a woman (the first was A Fighting Chance by Elizabeth Warren) and I strongly suspect this had something to do with why I enjoyed it so much. (It’s better than Warren’s, which I also liked.) I have never really enjoyed hearing men talk about themselves. Also, haven’t we read about nearly every man in history by now? I can name a hundred historical men if given five minutes, but maybe only a dozen women. And it’s not only about evening the score, but also about what they have to say, which is often different than what contemporary men have to say — and just as worthy of being heard.

The book reads like Obama is sitting in a nearby comfy chair with a cup of coffee, talking to me. This is why I said it made me a bit uncomfortable at first, almost like I was being inappropriately familiar with another woman. But it was nice nonetheless to see her guard drop, to listen to her stories, which she tells well. This feeling dropped away a bit during the second half of the book; I couldn’t determine whether it was because I had grown accustomed to her style, because she changed it subtly as the story moved into the White House, or because events seemed to be rushing past her.

I have read other first-hand accounts by people who’ve lived in the White House; none of them made me feel like I’ve been there like this one did.

 

The Ending

Though she attempted to end the book on a happy, optimistic note, it was clear that she was barely feeling it. Her astute, careful, literate husband had just been replaced as president by a brutish, brash, dishonest pillow of a man — and the new guy had repeatedly promised to undo all the progress made during the Obama years.

“Since childhood, I’d believed it was important to speak out against bullies while also not stooping to their level. And to be clear, we were now up against a bully, a man who among other things demeaned minorities and expressed contempt for prisoners of war, challenging the dignity of our country with practically his every utterance.”

— pg. 407

I tried to take her admonintion at the end to heart, when she tried to force herself to remain hopeful for our country’s future:

“What I won’t allow myself to do, though, is to become cynical. In my most worried moments, I take a breath and remind myself of the dignity and decency I’ve seen in people throughout my life, the many obstacles that have already been overcome. I hope others will do the same. We all play a role in this democracy. We need to remember the power of every vote. I continue, too, to keep myself connected to a force that’s larger and more potent than any one election, or leader, or news story — and that’s optimism. For me, this is a form of faith, an antidote to fear...

“Kids wake up each day believing in the goodness of things, in the magic of what might be. They’re uncynical, believers at their core. We owe it to them to stay strong and keep working to create a more fair and humane world. For them, we need to remain both tough and hopeful, to acknowledge that there’s more growing to be done.”

— pg. 419-420

 

Conclusion

Note: I wrote much of the above after reading only 15 pages of this book. After finishing it, I haven’t changed my opinion. (It should be obvious which parts I added later.)

I think anyone could enjoy this book, except perhaps a close-minded hardline conservative. Or a bigot. It reads well, and left me with a feeling of being a better person for having read it.

 

Note: A shorter version of this review is available on Goodreads, here.

 

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