Michelle Obama introduces her thoughts by asking a typical question of childhood: “What do you want to be when you grow up?”
Her memoir “Becoming” is the former first lady’s response.
Michelle Obama’s journey is not easy. It is full, not only of successes, but of her fighting spirit in understanding her talents, self-doubts and hidden histories of dear family and friends.
She was seemingly born to cross borders, starting with the shifting demographics of her childhood neighborhood. She notes the effects that racism had on her family and South Side, Chicago.
Through parental sacrifice, she attended Princeton and was immersed in its Ivy League culture.
As she navigates the cultures of home, university, a legal career, a municipal career, she asks, “Am I enough?” Her marriage to Barack Obama, the former Third Culture Kid president, added more cultural texture to her experiences.
With kind forthrightness, Michelle Obama demonstrates how the layering of culture and history nourishes her in this thoroughly engaging read.
“Becoming” is available as a hardcover, paperback and audiobook and has also been adapted for young readers.