At recommendation of Lily, and after waiting 8 weeks on Libby, I listened to audio version of the book "Becoming" - a memoir by Michele Obama, former first lady of United States. She read the book herself.
This is a book about her life experience that most people can relate to irrespective of political preference or economical status. Politics, is inevitable for a book by the former first lady, but is kept at minimum as background information.
Michele Obama was born to a lower middle class family at southside of Chicago - farther Fraser Robinsons, a city water plant worker, a democratic precinct captain, mother Marian was a stay home mom until Michelle started high school. Despite their humble economic status, her parents instilled invaluable life lessons through daily life, their actions in addition to words: family first, self reliance, set life priority, live within means, education, work hard to get ahead. Michelle and brother both graduated from college - Princeton. She went on to get a law degree from Harvard.
After Harvard, she worked at Chicago office of law firm Sidley & Austin, making heft salary and meeting her future husband Barak. She found law practice not her calling. Her failure to pass her first bar exam hastened her decision to do what she really likes to do: impact community life directly. Despite passing bar exam on second try, she changed job to be a city official at $60K, which was very high for most professionals other than lawyers and physicians at the time (1991), but about half of her law firm salary! She later worked at Public Allies - a non profit organization, as its executive director, and university of Chicago as senior administrator. In addition to her achievements, one salient characteristics she demonstrated in all these job changes: she put her personal interests and family interests first - rightfully so. She negotiated hard to get what she thought she deserved in both salary and work schedule. When she was offered the executive director of Public Allies, the initial salary was the prevailing salary for the type of position ~ 25K which was less than half of her salary at City of Chicago. She did not decline the offer but asked for much higher salary and eventually got it - she did not mention the number but I believe it was about her salary at city government. She made tremendous contribution to the growth of Public Allies during her 4 year tenure.
Her life is a story of success, but dotted with hardship, loss and pain along the way: her humble start, the death of her father at relative young age of 56 before she got married, miscarriage of her first pregnancy, infertility, political rhetoric against her and her husband. She disliked politics at her core but enjoyed the glamour, the impact she made as first lady.
Through this book, I also had a peek into the real life behind the wall in white house. It is a bubble, a confinement and no privacy outside their bedroom. She could not communicate with friends freely, could not have lunch or dinner with a friend impromptu, she could not even walk on to the front yard at will. It is all reasonable but it is kind of suffocating. She managed to break the confinement discretely after a year or two in White House - had lunch/dinner with close fiends outside, running along Potomac river, she later managed to go on to the white house lawn with her daughter at a whim, but from the backdoor. She also realized that the environment could spoil her young daughters - she insisted on that they make their own beds, be respectful to service workers, and tried hard to make their life as normal as possible.
The politics covered are mostly related to Barak Obama's early years in politics - failed run for congress, success runs for state senate, US senate, and US president on first try - the hardship and strain those campaigns and offices caused to their marriage and family life. The main substantive but brief discussions on politics include gun control in relation to Sandy Hook Elementary school shooting, gender in politics in relation to Hillary Clinton's failed run for presidency, and race relation.
Michelle Obama is an independent, successful women, who believes in work hard to get ahead, in self reliance. But when comes to race and gender, she falls into the victimhood trap.
She lamented at homicide rate in her hometown south side of Chicago, blaming it on not enough investment in black community, claiming it was outcome of discrimination. This victimhood public rhetoric from her and other black leaders helped to create a culture of reliance on government, entitlement, blame others for their own failure in personal life and community life. President Obama ran on the theme of hope and change, and envisioned a more racially harmonic society - but because of the victimhood mindset and rhetoric, after his 8 year in office, America had higher racial tension than before he took office.
She was shocked to see Hillary Clinton's loss to Donald Trump in 2016 election, but blamed it on gender discrimination in a brush - the book maybe not a good place to divulge into root cause.
All in all this is a good book to listen: genuine life experience, good reference on parenting and spousal relationship in dual career family, a peek into White House on a private life perspective. Her voice in reading the book was calm and lawyerly. I loved it and recommend it.
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