Becoming is a memoir and an autobiography written by Michelle Obama, former first lady of the United States under president Obama from 2008-2016. She is a mother, lawyer, and all around political and social activist.

The book is divided into three parts: Becoming Me, Becoming Us and becoming more becoming me talks about her early life and her time growing up becoming us talks about her relationships with Barack Obama and then becoming more talks about the presidential elections and then her time as first lady.

Michelle Obama was born and raised into a middle class family in the Southside of Chicago on January 17, 1964. She lived in an apartment upstairs from her great aunt Robbie and great uncle terry. She quickly became an excellent student, learned valuable life lessons from her mother such as respecting herself and others, and to work hard,

She learned piano at a young age, her father has multiple sclerosis, and she was faced with constant acts of racism such as her family car getting keyed by a white Despite these adversities, she was determined to live life to the fullest.

After excelling in high school, and overcoming constant doubts from her counselors and advisors, Michelle gets accepted and attends Princeton university to study sociology with hopes of attending law school. Michelle graduates magna cum laude with a degree in sociology, and jumps right into Harvard Law School.

Michelle lands her first job at Sidley & Austin, and after a year of working there, agrees to mentor an incoming summer associate. This associate was Barack Obama, an already reputable law They quickly strike it off as friends, and soon even begin dating. However, soon, Michelle starts to feel dissatisfied with her job.

Michelle experiences great loss in the next few years of her life. As Barack finishes law school, Michelle loses her friend Suzanne to cancer, and her father to a heart attack. About a year later, On the day Barack took his bar exam, he proposed to Michelle, and she said yes. Michelle and Barack get married in the summer of 1992, and soon have 2 children, Malia and Sasha.

After two years in the Senate, Barack thinks about running for President, and Michelle hesitantly agrees. Being African American, the family faces adversity, scrutiny, and racism on the campaign trail. Despite this, Barack wins the Democratic nomination beating Hillary Clinton, and ultimately wins the presidency against Republican John McCain on November 2016.

The newly elected president and first lady waste no time as they rush to fix the failing economy known as the Great Recession. Obama passed the Affordable Care Act, which is known as his staple piece of legislation during his time in He starts to pull America out of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and kill Osama bin Laden.

Michelle takes her platform to start her own initiatives such as the children’s health initiative, named Let’s Move! Where she fought for healthier school lunches. Joining Forces (which focuses on supporting military families), Reach Higher (which aids students in getting in and staying in college) and Let Girls Learn (which supports girls’ education worldwide).

Michelle’s initiatives on being first lady During the second presidential term for 2012-2016, Michelle Obama focused a lot on education and social reform. She wanted to give every child the opportunity to go to college and attend graduate school if they wanted to. Despite adversity. And growing up in a low-income family, much like she did. Growing up in the south side of Chicago.

The second presidential term for the first family was a time of mourning especially because of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Connecticut which took the lives of 28 faculty and students in ST Elementary School. This created the rising issue and pressure of gun control versus gun rights in America, which still lives on to this.

Still, there are many instances in which Barack and Michelle aren’t able to achieve all of their goals, and they feel the weight and responsibility of caring for a grieving nation. Barack knows there is no solace to be had, but resolves to fight for common sense gun control laws. Yet despite more and more instances of gun violence and school shootings, Congress does not budge.

The transfer of power from Barack Obama’s presidency. Donald Trump presidency was a time of difficulty for Michelle Obama because she was disgusted by the racist and misogynistic comments made by Donald Trump’s previous years from tweets and speeches and videos and she was just not ready for this change.

So after the transfer of power. Michelle Obama now enters a new phase of life with her family in their house in Washington C. Michelle clarifies that she will not run for public office in her future, but now she is a social, political, and an all around activist for her causes.

One of the greatest outlying themes in this book is motherhood/ parenthood and she grew up with a loving mother and passed it on to her kids and she knows that in order to have a functioning relationship you need to be you need to have functioning and underlying love and that’s what motherhood and parenthood is built up upon going off the idea of motherhood and loving one

Another huge theme is race, where she talks about facing adversity through her time as a kid to her time in south to Chicago and then obviously through her entire life as they are the first African American president and first lady in The White House.

I chose this book because I immigrated to this country right before the Obama presidency, and I lived through learning about Obama and living through his accomplishments, but never his wife’s, and so I wanted to read about Michelle’s story, which I heard a lot of good talks about, and I am glad I took the time to read.

I think the biggest lesson I’ve learned from this story is the idea of overcoming adversity, especially being a person of color and seeing it through someone else’s eyes who has basically made it in America, by becoming the first African American First Lady of the United And I think that’s a really important and valuable lesson to take from this book.

This book is an easy yet inspiring read which in essence highlights the “American Dream” and the struggle through adversity for people of color. Michelle Obama shares her personal stories in a heartfelt and touching way to the readers, and I truly believe readers will gain an insightful view into the life and lessons of one of the most influential women of our lifetime.