Michelle Obama: "Becoming"

What a wonderful book: Becoming by Michelle Obama. It's received so much attention that I don't feel the need to review it much, so I'll just say that I read all 428 Kindle pages in virtually one sitting.

The story of her life begins with the words "I spent much of my childhood listening to the sound of striving." (p. 6). Her description of her family and life in South Side Chicago, attending a magnet high school that required hours each day on city buses, going to Ivy League college and law school, working in law and in community development, meeting and marrying Barak Obama, beginning to raise her daughters, participating in Barak's political career, and ending (at least as far as this book goes) in the White House was familiar to me, at least in outline. In fact, her story is probably familiar to anyone who has been reading or watching the news for the last 10 years or so. But her detailed retelling of her life and its challenges seemed to me completely engrossing!

Michelle's outstanding discipline, her values, and her insights into American life and American social issues are the basis of the book as they are the basis of her life -- and worth learning about. In the Epilogue she writes: "I’m an ordinary person who found herself on an extraordinary journey." (p. 428). To me, she's anything but ordinary!

Many family photos included in Becoming illustrate the stages of her life. Above: a photo that brings home the history of Michelle Obama's neighborhood. Her caption: "When I began kindergarten in 1969, my neighborhood on the South Side of Chicago was made up of a racially diverse mix of middle-class families. But as many better-off families moved to the suburbs— a phenomenon commonly known as “white flight”— the demographics changed fast. By fifth grade, the diversity was gone. ABOVE: My kindergarten class; I’m third row, second from right. BELOW: My fifth-grade class; I’m third row, center. (pp. 280-283).

Another perfect read for African American History Month.