September 15, 2020
One of the reasons I downloaded and listen to audio books was to fill my time during my commute to and from the day job.
However, now that I no longer have this commute I almost forgot I have the ability to listen to books. When I signed in to my OverDrive account recently, I realized Michele’s Becoming
I choose to listen to this book because it was available from my local library. Since I knew it was a popular book I thought I’d check it out to see what all the fuss is about. I haven’t read a lot of memoirs lately so this fit into expanding my reading material.
I’m also curious why the title of the book is BECOMING, I’m wondering why this word was chosen for the title of the book. I’m glad my library had this book and that I was able to listen to it. I’m not sure I could have curled up on the couch with a physical copy of it as I tend to drift with material I can’t connect with. Becoming did have dry spots, so listening to the audio version of this allowed me the flexibility in absorbing this material.
Another reason I chose this book is because I have time. It’s September and we are still in the grip of the global COVID-19 pandemic. The result is limited travel and lots of time at home with little to do. Listening to books I wouldn’t normally listen too is one benefit of this extra time.
In addition I’m from the far northwest suburbs of Chicago and since Michelle is from Chicago is another reason for wanting to listen to this book.
Becoming is a memoir of the former first lady Michelle Obama. The memoir recounts her life from growing up in Chicago to her life in the White House with her husband, the former president Barack Obama. The setting starts with her memories growing up in the south side to her time spent in the White House as the former first lady.
The author recalls various accounts of her life growing up in the city, attending college, gaining employment as an attorney and lastly as the former first lady.
Michelle is the primary character and focus of the book. However, she also talks about her family which includes her mother, father and brother Craig whom she speaks about throughout the book. A big portion of the book also talks about how she met and eventually married her husband former president Barack Obama. The reader also learns of various individuals who shaped her life.
We learn from the authors own words her thoughts and experiences growing up. We learn about specific details which helped shaped her life and how they eventually impacted her life as adult. The author does speak about mundane task of being a working mother. This part I found boring, however, I’m sure that are many working mothers would can connected with this part.
As a male reader, I was drawn into the time she spent in the white house and the various situations that arose while being the first lady. I also found myself interested in hearing her perspective of her husbands life and how he managed as the president.
I was surprised that the audio book was read by the author. I was expecting it to be read by someone else on behalf of the author. Having it read by Michelle I found made a big difference and allowed a certain feeling which would have been more difficult with another readers voice.
One negative is that I’m not the ideal target reader. However, the is also one of the reason I like to listen to memoirs not in my demographic. I think it expands my knowledge and perspective of others. At times I thought to myself this is a long book and was hoping it would end soon. It took me two weeks on and off listening to finish the entire book.
One odd fact that stuck out to me was when she spoke about the many different staff that regularly go out to purchase food for the white house. As a security measure, the white house sends several different people to different places to ensure the identity of the end consumer is never reveled.
On the plus side, listening to her book provided me a different lens in which to view someone else’s world. I’m glad I listened to the audio version, it was time well spent. After reading Becoming
Dave
