The first thing you’ll notice when you read “Becoming” is that it is l o n g. Not just in pages (448), but in story. The book starts when Michelle Robinson was a young girl living in Chicago. Michelle chronicles her life through school, university, her first major job as a lawyer, meeting Barack for the first time, many career changes, children, Barack’s political career, their stint in the White House, and ends when Barack’s second term is complete. The story of Michelle’s life is well-written, but quite simple in its structure. The beginning is in the beginning, and the end is the end. Everything is chronological, which is fine, but I wished there had been some more reflection or projection to tie the ends of this lengthy book together in a neater bow.

Overall though, I was amazed at Michelle’s journey! Especially as a career woman. It was inspiring to read about all the causes she advocated for and what she was able to do as First Lady, but also what she was able to do as an independent woman. I was sucked in to the book from the first chapter in which Michelle describes her childhood growing up in the apartment above a piano teacher. Eventually, Michelle starts taking lessons and is quite good. The piano has a chip in the key, but it sounds just fine and Michelle even tries to jump ahead in the piano lessons, though she is admonished for this by her teacher. Soon, Michelle has an opportunity to play at a recital, but when she sits at the piano on stage, she can’t remember where to put her fingers! She had come to rely on that small chip in the key of the piano and without it, she could not remember her starting hand position. Thankfully, her teacher gently put her hands in the right place, and Michelle played beautifully. This simple story is clearly a metaphor for racial disparities and systemic racial injustice and the fact that many people are struggling to succeed in a world not made for them. Michelle had not known she was starting with a disadvantage to other kids learning the piano, but once she was set up to succeed, she did. Later, Michelle writes this in her chapter about attending Princeton: “So many of us arrived at college not even aware of what our disadvantages were… it was like stepping on stage at your first piano recital and realizing that you’ve never played anything but an instrument with broken keys.”

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Created Jun 27, 2020 at 7:27pm • Submit your own review...