Becoming (Obama) - Book Reviews

Book Reviews
Becoming divulges some details that the Obamas haven't discussed publicly before.… But it's the moments when [Michelle] Obama tries to make sense of what she's seeing now, in the country, that are among the most moving—if only because she's so clearly struggling to reconcile the cleareyed realism of her upbringing, brought about by necessity, with the glamorous, previously unthinkable life she has today.… For all the attempts by conservatives a decade ago to paint her as a radical, Obama seems to be a measured, methodical centrist at heart. But hers isn't a wan faith in expanding the pie and crossing the aisle. Her pragmatism is tougher than that, even if it will come across as especially frustrating to those who believe that centrism and civility are no longer enough. As she writes in Becoming, she long ago learned to recognize the "universal challenge of squaring who you are with where you come from and where you want to go."
Jennifer Szalai - New York Times

Becoming serenely balances gravity and grace, uplift and anecdote, though its high-mindedness does permit a few low blows at Barack Obama’s villainous successor. A single sentence catches the blend of conscientious bass and giggly treble that makes Michelle simultaneously admirable and adorable.… Becoming is frequently funny, sometimes indignant or enraged, and when Michelle describes her father’s early death from multiple sclerosis it turns rawly emotional.
Guardian (UK)


More like a novel than a political memoir, the First Lady’s book reveals its author as utterly, viscerally human.… [It is] beautiful and extraordinary.
Vanity Fair


The former first lady looks back on an unlikely rise to the top while navigating issues of race and gender in this warmhearted memoir.… There are no dramatic revelations and not much overt politics here, but fans of the Obamas will find an interesting, inspiring saga of quiet social revolutions.
Publishers Weekly


From the former First Lady, here's a memoir starting with her childhood on Chicago's South Side and leading to her life at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, where she raised her children gracefully while representing the United States to the world.
Library Journal