“Becoming” - Michelle Obama

I don’t normally go for autobiographies because they often feel plainly self-aggrandizing, but I definitely recommend this one!

🔹 She was far more candid than I had expected her to be given the steely composure she maintained throughout her husband’s presidency. Words were not minced.

🔹 While the White House tidbits were intriguing, I most enjoyed learning about the men and women who shaped MOBAMA’s childhood. The portion of the book centering on Euclid Avenue, was my favorite.

🔹 She tells us about her grandfathers, both the grandsons of enslaved people, and describes by proxy, the plight of an entire generation. While America collectively celebrated the demise of Jim Crow segregation and the passage of the Civil Rights Act, insidious forms of employment and housing discrimination continued unabated, denied access to stability and income, limited prospects, evaporated dreams of creating generational wealth, and ultimately bred bitterness and resentment among this generation of intelligent and able Black men. MOBAMA’s dizzying successes were all the more remarkable given this background.

🔹 MOBAMA’s reluctance to “swerve” and her methodical pursuit of a career in law were underpinned by motivations that I found utterly relatable.

🔹 Her girlfriends’ “boot camp” weekends sounded hellish though. It had to be said.