Becoming

Becoming
by Michelle Obama

Wow, has this book been popular.  I have seen it set records and hearing about how people are on long waiting lists at their library.  I was personally on hold at a couple libraries, but I was able to get my hands on one of the library's quick picks.  These have a shorter checkout period and you are unable to renew them or put them on hold.  

Michelle starts her story as a young girl living in the city of Chicago.  She was taking two buses to get to school.  She described her life living in an urban setting, her loving parents, and learning to play the piano from her aunt.  I liked that she started her book out as a little girl, as it sets the tone for how she is just like anyone of us, except for obviously she is very smart as most of us would never be able to get into Harvard or Princeton.  She did go on to become the First Lady, but she's still human just like any one of us.

She goes on to school at Princeton, graduates from Harvard and is working as a lawyer, which she discovers while she is good at it, she doesn't find it rewarding.  She meets Barack, they fall in love and get married after a couple years. This was interesting reading about the future president and first lady.  

Michelle briefly discusses her troubles with becoming pregnant.  This was one of the reasons I wanted to read this book, to hear about what she went through.  For unknown reasons, her and Barack were unable to become pregnant when they wanted to start a family.  They were however successful with IVF.  This is such a common issue, I think their success with IVF could bring hope to others.  

I liked the behind the scenes as she helped campaign for her husband.  How she was suddenly in the spotlight and had to watch what she said since things could and would be taken out of context.  She did mention the lies and rumors that have surrounded her and her husband.  One of these was that Barack was secretly a Muslim and that is why they very rarely went to church.  She went on to say that no, it was because going to church was such a hassle with all the needed extra security and that she was afraid if they were to join a church it would be targeted like their church in Chicago was.  To me that makes sense of why they would be hesitant to go to church in Washington, not that they are not Christians or have a secret agenda. 

The behind the scenes in the White House were also interesting.  All the extra security, I realize they have a lot of security but I hadn't thought about it much.  It was interesting how she mentioned if she wanted to just sit outside on the deck, she would have to contact security so they could shut down an area of the road where tourists would be able to see her.  Wow, all she wanted  was to have tea outside, yet she would have to contact security for safety.  

This book was really hyped up and I found it to actually live up that hype, it was quite good and I found it interesting.