Before reading Becoming I literally knew nothing about Michelle except for the fact that she is former first lady of the United States and of course that her husband is Barrack Obama. After reading the book I knew more about her and she seemed like a real person. It was amazing.

Becoming :

Becoming is a memoir written by the former first lady of the United States, Michelle Obama. Michelle was also the first black woman to serve that position.

When reading becoming you really get to know Michelle on a deeper level. Her childhood, her struggles, her first kiss, how she met Barrack and you also get to know that Michelle was just an average human with a dream.

Why did I read the book??

I can be described as what we call an impulse reader. I don’t write a list of all the books I plan to read in a year at the beginning of the year as a new year’s resolution. I just pick up a book and read it if it feels right.

So I didn’t plan to read becoming. My friend told me that she had a copy of the book and I was like great I would love to read it and I was so excited.

See, I’m not really a fan of Michelle or Barrack I just know that they exist. I know that they are amazing people that have done wonderful things but I never took the time to be interested in them or their lives.

When people are extremely popular I don’t tend to be drawn to them. It’s not because I hate insanely popular things or people I really, really I don’t. It’s just that when I am drawn to a person I want to be the one to tell my friends about them. I want that person to be unique to me.

My initial thoughts :

I was super stocked to read becoming. I was like insanely excited. When I started reading the book it didn’t feel relatable it just seemed out there. Michelle was talking about racism and that felt foreign to me. I am an African and I am black but her story was really not relatable to me, thankfully.

I live in South Africa so I haven’t experienced racism in the way that she has experienced and that most people have experienced. The only racism that is present where I live is internalised racism.

So I was kind of bored at first but I continued reading the book until I found that her story was relatable because it was not all about race. It included everything. It is about her life story and that was super relatable to me. Except for the part where she married Barrack, had two beautiful children and went on to become the first African American woman to be the United State’s first lady. Yeah, that part was not relatable.

Other Things I learnt :

When I was reading Becoming I compared the America that Michelle was talking about to the Africa that I live in.

The way they elect their president is so different from the way we do it, at least in South Africa. The publicity that politicians get is just way too much.

The Americans probably know Barrack’s favourite desert and how he likes his coffee meanwhile we as South Africans don’t even know the president’s wife. So that was pretty interesting and I couldn’t shut up about it for days.

My overall thoughts :

I loved becoming. Every time I read it I felt like I was spending time with the Obamas. It was absolutely fantastic.

The main thing I took away from the book was that nothing is impossible and that I can do anything I put my mind to. See, I learnt that Michelle and Barrack were just two ordinary people just like me and you who believed in their dreams, who believed in themselves and who the necessary steps to make their dreams a reality.

I love Michelle’s dedication to everything that she does, I love how hard she is willing to work to make her dreams a reality, I love how big she dreams, I love how much she connects to the people around her, I love how she takes her health seriously, I love how equal she treats everybody, I love how she treats her employees like family, I love how she isn’t afraid to be herself… And I could go on and on and on about all the things I love about her.

I also love how she curious she is and how she never stops evolving. She is constantly becoming.

“For me, becoming isn’t about arriving somewhere or achieving a certain aim. I see it instead as forward motion, a means of evolving, a way to reach continuously toward a better self. The journey doesn’t end.” – Michelle Obama

So, should you read the book?? :

Yeah, sure totally. You absolutely should.