Book Review: Becoming, by Michelle Obama (2018)

Cover of Becoming by Michelle Obama (2018)

Michelle and Barack Obama, definitely the coolest First Couple ever.

Former First Lady Michelle Obama’s memoir, Becoming, is surely the most personal book ever written by a First Lady. On every page Obama’s voice rings out with authenticity, and she writes with appealing candor about her life story. 

Becoming is split into three parts, the first covering her life before she met Barack Obama, the second covering their lives before he became President, and the third covering their eight years in the White House. All three sections are fascinating. Obama paints a vivid picture of her childhood and upbringing on the South Side of Chicago. Her parents, Fraser and Marian Robinson, gave her stability and a strong moral compass. They worked hard to provide her with as many opportunities as they could. And Michelle took full advantage of those opportunities, as she excelled at school and attended Princeton University and then Harvard Law School. 

Obama then chronicles her relationship with a hotshot young lawyer who was a summer associate at the firm she was working at. Michelle was assigned to mentor this guy with the unlikely name of Barack Hussein Obama, who showed up late to his very first day at the firm. It was fascinating for me to read about the Obamas’ courtship, and to imagine them as two young lawyers, from very different backgrounds and upbringings, but both striving to make a difference in the world. These chapters made both Barack and Michelle feel more human and relatable to me.

While reading Becoming I was struck again at how rapid Barack Obama’s political rise was. He went from winning his first election to the Illinois State Senate in 1996 to winning the presidency twelve years later. Reading Becoming gives you a sense for how challenging every new step was for Michelle, as she adjusted to having Barack gone so much of the time. 

Barack Obama’s political rise always leaves me with a little feeling of “what might have been.” Not for his own political career, but for mine. In the spring of 2003 I was a senior at Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois. I was a Political Science major, and the President of the Knox College Democrats. I had volunteered and interned for several local political campaigns and I knew the chair of the county Democratic Party. I would periodically get emails about this guy who was running for the U.S. Senate. He had a really odd name. I don’t think he ever came to Galesburg, but he would campaign in the Quad Cities and Peoria, both about 45 minutes away from Galesburg. I never went to any of his campaign events. Of course, that guy running for the U.S. Senate was Barack Obama. In an alternate universe, where I wasn’t as fed up with politics, I would have met him at one of these events, stayed in Illinois after graduation to work for him, and then become his Chief of Staff or something when he became President. Then I would have written my memoir and would now be a talking head on CNN. 

It didn’t happen that way. I didn’t attend any of Barack Obama’s campaign events, so I never met this up and coming politician. I moved back to Minneapolis after I graduated in June of 2003, and my public introduction to Barack Obama was the same one that many Americans had: his stirring keynote address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention. I was on a road trip with my Dad, and I remember watching that speech with him and thinking, “Wow, this guy could be President someday.” At some point after Obama’s speech, I remembered that he was the guy with the odd name who had been running for the U.S. Senate in 2003. But I digress. 

Becoming gets a little rushed during the Obama’s eight years in the White House, but that’s understandable, since Michelle could have written an entire book that only focused on those eight years. One thing that comes through strongly in Becoming is Barack and Michelle’s devotion to making sure their daughters Malia and Sasha had as normal a childhood as possible while living inside the fishbowl of the White House. 

Becoming is a fascinating look at Michelle Obama’s life, and the memories it brings of the Obama administration serve as a welcome antidote to the current administration.