Hi everyone. I'm rincey and this is
rincey reads. Today I'm going to be doing
a book review on Becoming by Michelle
Obama. If for some reason you aren't
aware, Becoming is a memoir by Michelle
Obama. And this is a book that I really
enjoyed. I actually listen to this on
audiobook. I have the physical copy
because my mom wanted to read it, which I
thought was really sweet cause she doesn't
read. Or at least not like recreational
reading like this. Like she reads
newspapers and stuff like that. So yes, I
listen to this on audiobook which
I highly recommend the memoir in that
fashion because Michelle Obama narrates
it herself. And I honestly think that
memoirs read by the people who write
them are always so much better on
audiobook. I'm not really going to do a
plot synopsis because the plot is
basically her life. But this book is
broken up into three sections.
The first section is called becoming me,
the second section is called becoming us,
and then the third section is called
becoming more. So the first section is
basically her life from birth through
like childhood and college talking about
growing up on the south side of Chicago,
talking about her experiences with
school, her brother, her parents. And then
becoming us is her life basically after
college when she had started working and
met Barack and they started dating and
eventually obviously got married and
everything along those lines. And then it
follows them like through part of their
adulthood. And then becoming more is
about after Barack gets elected to be
president. Like I think the second
section ends on the election day. The
final section is from when she becomes
First Lady moving forward. So yeah, like I
said, I really enjoyed this book. One of
the things that she talks about both in
this book and I've also been like
watching interviews like right around
the time that this book came out. And I
also got to go to the book launch at the
United Center here in Chicago. So I've
like heard her talk about this book and
the events around this book and things
like that quite a bit. And so one thing
that she talks about is how like as
first lady and as specifically the first
black woman to be first lady, there were
a lot of things that she held back on in
terms of her life and her story just
because she didn't want to distract
from the things that Barack and the
white house were trying to do. She didn't
want to become the story. She didn't want
to make it about herself or anything
along those lines. And so a lot of times
when she was put in situations, she was
very purposeful about what she said and
how she said it and things like that.
And so for a lot of this book, it feels like
Michelle Obama is really able to open up
about her life and her circumstances and
things like that. And it feels almost
like revelatory because a lot of times
when you think about politicians or
people who are politics adjacent, they're
very guarded. And even when they come out
with books like this, a lot of times it
feels like there's a little bit of an
agenda. Like I haven't read Hillary
Clinton's what happened,
I didn't read like The Audacity of Hope
partially because personally I feel like
when books like that are coming out,
they're written with the purpose of
basically like convincing you of like
who they are as politicians. I have read
dreams for my father because that's a
book that Barack Obama wrote prior to
him like running for office and things
like that. And if you remember earlier
this year I read Joe Biden's book.
There's like this fine line that books
by politicians or people politics
adjacent walk because a lot of times it
feels like politicians are trying to
sell you on themselves as human beings
when they're like putting out books. And--
at least that's how it feels to me. I'm
not saying that is their purpose behind
them but that's a lot of times how it
feels to me. And so like with this book,
I was very intrigued to see sort of like
what Michelle Obama was going to do with
her story and how she was gonna present
herself. And for the most part it feels
like she's pretty open about her
circumstances. She's honest about how she
felt about different people and things
that she's gone through. She's open about
her family life and stuff like that
and she's not afraid to hold back. One of
the big sort of news storylines that
popped up right around the time that
this book came out is that Michelle
Obama admits that she had miscarriages.
And that's not like a huge plot point in
this book by any means but the fact that
she was willing to be open about it when
she didn't really talk about that before
is seen as sort of revolutionary. And it
feels like Michelle Obama is more
comfortable talking about her life now
that she's no longer in the White House.
That being said, once you get to the
becoming more section basically from the
point when Barack Obama gets elected as
president, you can see that once again
she starts to shield herself just a
little bit. The becoming me section feels
the most honest and open and the
becoming us section
feels pretty close to that level. But
once you get to the becoming more
section, she-- it feels like she moves back
into that first lady role of being
slightly more guarded about what she
says or what she talks about. She doesn't
talk about any of the controversy. She
talks about the difficulties that they
had with like the press focusing on minute
things like what she was wearing
or anything like that or social faux
pas and things like that and how she
didn't enjoy those things. She talked
about how she had a difficult time
living in the White House
sometimes, you know, cause it just feels a
little bit weird sometimes to be
surrounded by a full staff and security
and all of those different things. And
she talks a little bit about watching
Sasha and Malia grow up and trying to do
the best that they could to make them be
normal children, or as normal as first
daughters can be. But you can tell like
she's holding back about those years of
her life. And like part of me wants her
to write another book in maybe like ten
years time or something like that when
she's had more distance from it and when she
maybe can say a little bit more.
It was either during the book launch
event or in one of the interviews that I
read someone asked her whether or not
she feels like now that she's no longer
in the White House and being first lady
if she feels like she can be like
completely open and honest. And she
admitted that she doesn't feel that way
because she recognizes that she's still
being scrutinized. And like the fact that
she will always be the first, and she's
still the only, black first lady and that
Barack is the only like black person to
be President,
they're still going to be watched and
they're still gonna be scrutinized for
the rest of their lives basically.
And anything that they do is going to be
held as like this ridiculous standard.
And so, like, I feel like you can feel
that in this book a little bit. But again,
that's like my one main and only quibble
with this book. So if you are looking for
a book that
talks about the politics and policies or
anything along those lines, this is going
to be very disappointing. If you want a
book where it feels like Michelle
Obama's like your best friend and you're
sitting down for coffee together and
catching up on life, this is the book for
you. And the physical copy of the book
does also come with photos, which is
great as you would imagine.
Which, yeah, just love it. 
Love it a whole lot. I will
say my favorite part of this book was
reading all about her and Barack's like
romance and dating life and everything
and like up until the proposal and all
of those different things. Like I was
swooning so hard for all of that. But that's
just who I am as a human being and I'm
not ashamed of that. So yes, I give this a
four out of five stars. I really enjoyed
it. But again, it's not like a perfect
book by any means. If you want a 1000%
open and honest book, I don't think
you're ever really gonna be able to get
that. But I think that this is pretty
close to what we can possibly get in
terms of openness and honesty when it
comes to Michelle Obama's life. So that's
everything that I have before this video.
Leave a comment down below letting me
know whether you've picked up this book
and what you thought of it if you've
read it already. Or if you
have any questions about the book, feel
free to leave that down in the comment
section as well. So yeah, that's all I
have for now and thanks for watching.
