Becoming

Very inspiring. Wish girls everywhere can learn from here

Merci d'avoir m'inscris ici

Scam do not use! Took my money and I can't get any books.

It took me over four months to read through Michelle Obama’s Becoming. I ploughed into 448 pager at the end of the last year, managing two of the three parts titled Becoming Me, Becoming Us and Becoming More.

There are many reasons why a lot of people found this book interesting. Michelle herself deals with the ideas that people had of the first black family in the White House. Black people who go beyond the boundaries set up for their failure tend to be an enigma. I should know.

When you are a certain age and speak a certain way. When you singlehandedly mother two children and miraculously manage to remain sane. When you aren’t certificated in a certain field but are able to hold your ground in a debate. When your work is efficient, everytime… There will always be someone who manages to highlight the fact that you are doing well, as compared to the rest of the basket case civilisation of black people.

I feel Michelle did well to highlight just how hard she and Barak had to work, and sacrifice, to get to a point where they leave the White House “without a major scandal.” She says those word so many time you’d swear they were more concerned with not messing up than running the country.

As a thirty-year old woman, I’m floating around a lot of circles where the women are beginning to get desperate to settle. It’s a sad situation, if you ask me. Watching intelligent, beautiful women who have everything going for them choosing to lower their standards for the sole purpose of saying to Grandma, “I too am so-and-so’s wife.”

I thought Michelle had a lot going for her. I thought she was destined for great things. I don’t feel that her ending up as the wife of the first black president of the United states did much for her independence. She highlight, with vigour, the projects that she and her team worked on in their term of office. Serious stuff that’s really commendable, but I am disappointed that she was just one of those women who gave up their lives to see a man through.

She’s very human. I’ll give her that. Her decisions are typical of many of the women I know. Wanting to get married to the man you love, raising your children with great attention to detail, worrying over the smallest detail, not having control over your life, but choosing to make the most of it. I just wish we wouldn’t give up so much of our lives, our independence, to fit into position.

I’m not happy about the lengths she goes to, in the book, to justify some of the decisions Barak and his administration made. The Osama Bin Laden incident being the most evident. It was as if she’s justifying the law of retaliation- ‘an eye for an eye’. “What’s one life, if he orchestrated the deaths of so many of our lives?” Nationalism tends to be problematic for this purpose. No where does Michelle mention the damage that US troops did to the countries where they were deployed during their witch hunt.

She spends an entire section writing about South Africa, and of course about meeting Nelson Mandela – who I am beginning to wonder whether the world would have known anything about us were it not for his circumstances. It’s interesting to note just how detached she tends to be from the people, happily escaping to the safety of her security detail when there’s less reason to complain about being stifled.

One thing I enjoyed about how her book is written is that she name-drops a lot. She makes a point of giving kudos to pretty much everyone she’s come across in her life, even friends from primary school. I think that is amazing. To recognise that every person that comes into our lives plays a certain role is to understand Ubuntu.

The book tends to be repetitive, but this is made up for by the length of the entire text. It may be a blessing in disguise that I read it over a long period, managing to read Tomi Adeyemi’s Children of Blood and Bone in the interim, as I would have found the repeated facts a bit of a drag.

I think Michelle did well to have those of us that are a distance understand the challenges and triumphs of the first black family. I think she did well to justify her position as first lady, going as far as to recognise that she is one of very few black women in the elite circles that they frequented, and – in the closing lines, stating that those that find themselves where she is should always use their privilege to open doors for others.

“I’m an ordinary person who found herself on an extraordinary journey. In sharing my story, I hope to help create space for other stories and other voices, to widen the pathway for who belongs and why. I’ve been lucky enough to get to walk into stone castles, urban classrooms, and Iowa kitchens, just trying to be myself, just trying to connect. For every door that’s been opened to me, I’ve tried to open my door to others. And here is what I have to say, finally: Let’s invite one another in. Maybe then we can begin to fear less, to make fewer wrong assumptions, to let go of the biases and stereotypes that unnecessarily divide us. Maybe we can better embrace the ways we are the same. It’s not about being perfect. It’s not about where you get yourself in the end. There’s power in allowing yourself to be known and heard, in owning your unique story, in using your authentic voice. And there’s grace in being willing to know and hear others. This, for me, is how we become.”

What a load of rubbish.

Boring, self indulgent and a real snooze. If you have insomnia, this is the book for you

I enjoyed the book so much. Now I wanna visit America more than ever. Well written !

Inspiring.
Too lengthy,but can speed-read through boring pages.

no regrets for reading this.

The same CRAP as Obama's presidency.

Thank you for reading my boring book filled with platitudes, guys!

I really loved this book, I’ve learnt a lot of things from it.
It’s a really inspiring book
Although it took me a month to read but it was worth it

Making me wanna write my own book ????????

How can u not like it . And calling it crap seriously