Book review: Becoming, by Michelle Obama

Becoming by Michelle Obama

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Where does Michelle Obama The Person end and Michelle The Brand become? That’s the big question I took away from this memoir, which I listened to via the audio version, expertly narrated by Michelle herself.

I wish I had liked this memoir more. I wish I were one of the 10 million people who bought it, turning it into the best-selling memoir of all time, and found it a life inspiration. In some ways I did, I was inspired by Michelle the role model, Michelle the champion for education and political engagement.

At first I loved the book. I wanted to learn about her upbringing in Chicago, the challenges her family faced, then herself as she went to Yale and was part of a small minority of black students (which I found shocking – including the moment when her roommate moved out became the mother had found out she shared a room with a black student.)

It’s when she goes into her career as a lawyer and then her meeting with Obama that Michelle The Brand kicks in - something completely out of her control (I imagine a few lawyers read through this memoir before it was published). There is no way Michelle could have been 100% honest about her marriage, Obama’s presidency, or the important people she met. Her first visit to the Queen of England, for example, is described like a fairy tale. Hillary Clinton is the capable secretary of state, and Obama is prince charming. Maybe she felt this way about them but it read to me like a glossy interpretation to match the narrative of “America the Great”.

Michelle is so ingrained in American culture it’s impossible for her to see the American Dream for the myth that it is. She gets close to the truth when she talks about the experience of black Americans, and when Ogre Trump comes along to steal the castle from Prince Charming, then she asks herself: “how low can we sink?” That’s when she gets close to the truth about what America really is.

“Becoming” is about the many changes Michelle went through to become who she is today – and who she is still becoming. A biography on her, from someone with a lot of access but little allegiance, might show more contrast and insight, especially on Obama’s presidency (which, to be fair, she never said she had any interest in talking about.)

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