A review by claudiamacpherson
Becoming by Michelle Obama

emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.5

Wow! I'm finishing Black History Month with this autobiography. I've been meaning to read it for a while, but I'm not typically into nonfiction or memoirs. I wanted to listen to the audiobook, which is read by Michelle Obama herself, and I was surprised both by how much I loved it and how emotional it made me. I found myself in tears nearly every time I listened (I'm often weepy, but usually not this much); from sad parts, like when Obama described the decline of her dad's health to MS, her realization that her traditional path through college and her career wasn't fulfilling, and her descriptions of several difficult events during her time as First Lady, like the Sandy Hook shooting and Donald Trump's election, as well as the happy parts, like when Obama and Malia snuck outside to see the White House lit up in a rainbow to celebrate marriage equality. My favorite thing, which she continued to mention throughout the book, was the importance of female friends and role models throughout her life. I felt like I really got to know Obama through this book, like I'm one of her girlfriends and she's telling me about her life over a glass of wine at one of her all-female retreats.
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