thepoliblog

Michelle Obama’s ‘Becoming’

Official portrait of First Lady Michelle Obama in the Green Room of the White House, 12 February 2013, Official White House Photo by Chuck Kennedy

We read Michelle Obama’s autobiography aloud in the evenings, and it has become one of our favorite books.

It is illuminating, fascinating, and heart-warming.

Michelle Obama’s Becoming is full of insights and surprises. It changes the way you look at people – at all people. It is utterly clear and is beautifully written, its topics are very important, and it deserves to be a classic.

Not many books make you care deeply about the author’s family. This one does.

Her father, Fraser Robinson III, her mother, Marian Shields Robinson, and her brother, Craig Robinson – each was warm, principled, and an independent and wonderfully clear-sighted thinker.

When her heroic father struggles to continue to do as much as possible despite the worsening ravages of Cushing’s Syndrome and Multiple Sclerosis, you can’t help rooting for him every step of the way. His story is unforgettable.

Becoming has deservedly remained on the non-fiction best-sellers list for many months.