Becoming

Michelle Obama’s debut book, a memoir of her life up to leaving the White House, is by far the best written non-fiction book I’ve read all year. Mrs. Obama’s diction, sentence structure/flow, and imagery are superb. I had previously known that she was a Harvard graduate and a lawyer, but that alone does not mean that one can be an effective communicator.

Becoming, is extremely comfortable and enjoyable to read. It does not surprise me at all that as of writing this review her book has sold over 3 million copies.

Here’s a memory, which like most memories is imperfect and subjective—collected long ago like a beach pebble and slipped into the pocket of my mind.

The tenderness of this sentence plays into the tender memory which she later expounds upon. This is just one such example of her prose, and while not every sentence in a book is perfect, it shows that she carefully considered each word.

I was not a supporter of the Obama presidency, and while I am becoming more liberal as the years pass me by, what was the most important part of this book for me, was how it really humanized the Obama’s in a way that modern media never could. The importance of family was focused on throughout most of the memoir, but also in what we leave our children as well.

Now that I’m an adult, I realize that kids know at a very young age when they’re being devalued, when adults aren’t invested enough to help them learn. Their anger over it can manifest itself as unruliness. It’s hardly their fault. They aren’t ‘bad kids’. They’re just trying to survive bad circumstances.

A lot of attention is spent on her desire to help improve education not only for children, but especially for young girls. She not only started the Let’s Move program, but also a mentor program that connected young people with professionals, and this wasn’t just for those who are intellectually gifted. She strove to find opportunities for all children regardless of their report card.

Michelle Obama isn’t perfect, and she admits to some of her failings in the book. She faced many struggles, not just racial, but also societal and political. She didn’t come away unmarred, but she did come through it stronger and with grace.

This is one book that I would recommend that everyone read, regardless of their political orientation. Don’t read it for the politics (if any are brought up, it is sparse compared to the memoir in total), for Mrs. Obama is not a politician. Rather she is a passionate woman who is eager to reach out to support those who need it, and this comes through in waves.

I am eagerly hoping that she will write again, just so that I can once more enjoy the flow of her sentence structures.