Becoming by Michelle Obama fulfills the “Book about a World Leader” prompt
for the PopSugar 2020 Reading Challenge. Some may question my choice on this prompt.
As First Lady of the United States, Mrs. Obama labored to create new programs
for healthy living for children. She worked very hard to be a mother, wife, and
world leader in her eight years at the White House. She’s a leader.
Believe
me.
I listened to the book on audio over the past week. Being
home for social distancing gave me the time to work through the narrative
faster than I normally would have. I also wanted to make sure I finished the
book for March, which is Women in History Month. I planned to use it in
February for Black History Month, but I believe as a world leader, it fits
better here in March.
I’m
getting political and wanted to warn my conservative readers first. Today March
20, 2020, we are in the middle of a pandemic because of the widespread outbreak
of Covid-19. I’m home from work because the library closed and am socially distancing
myself because of health issues. I’m doing the best I can given the
situation—two teens home and eating ALL the food and Husband ready to be
sequestered at work due to his job. I’m okay. My family is okay. The country is
not okay.
So, here’s
the political. Listening to Mrs. Obama speak about how she and her husband worked
for health care for all. Obama Care, as it was named, helped so many people throughout
the country. Yes, it wasn’t perfect. But it existed. It was a step forward our country
needed to take. Many other First-World countries have already instituted free health
care. We needed it. And now that it’s dismantled and we are in a health crisis,
we need it. Under other leadership, we would not be seeing the devastation of Covid-19.
I have little hope for the near future about the disease. Unless state
governments get going (I’m looking at you, Florida), we will see millions of
deaths. I’m glad to live in New York, where our Governor has done some good
things to help stop the spread.
End
of political rant.
So the actual book.
I’m
not a lover of biographies or autobiographies, but I felt this was a book I
needed to read. (I try to do a few non-fiction and popular books every year to
keep myself grounded in reality.) I enjoyed it for the most part. Mrs. Obama
had a great speaking voice for the book. Honestly, the sections that bored me
were in the White House. I wasn’t into the details of her programs and as I
hoped, she did not make the book about her husband. It was a great glimpse into
the political machine of the United States. How did it the woman all?
My favorite part of the book was during Barack Obama’s stint in the Illinois
State Congress. Mrs. Obama had two small children and her husband was away for
much of the week in Springfield. (They lived in Chicago at the time.) She
struggled to raise her girls, get them to all their sports and programs, work,
and still have time with her husband.
I
felt that hard. Early in our marriage, well hell, our whole marriage, my husband
has worked rotating shift work. He’d do twelve-hour shifts, four or five a
week, usually shifting between days and nights within those sets. So two days
of days, two days off, three days of nights, ad nauseam. Raising two little
girls that way wasn’t easy. We discovered early, and he agreed: don’t wait for
Daddy. We got through; we still get through. But it was nice to hear that I wasn’t
alone. That even women who seem perfect on the outside struggle with these
things. I got all the feels in that section.
Long and short, I recommend the autobiography, if
only to glimpse into an amazing woman.
I give Becoming by Michelle Obama
Five American Flags.
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