This authentic and transparent memoir gives readers a glimpse into her upbringing in the south side of Chicago. She discusses balancing work and family life, as well as her journey with Barack Obama.

Becoming is split up into three sections. The first section discusses where she came from, where she went, and how she carried herself along the way. It gives a well thought out look into her upbringing in the 1960s in Chicago and her educational development. Obama is able to vividly paint pictures of her childhood, and the foundation of how she became who she is. She shares some of her experiences growing up black in America; learning about racism through stories that she hears from her grandfather, as well as discrimination that she experiences from her peers like how she “talks like a white girl” and later on at Princeton University she feels “that everyday drain of being a deep minority”.

Michelle Obama, born Michelle Robinson, grew up working-class family. Her mother, a stay-at-home mom, and a father who was a pump operator and helped represent city needs. Her father had multiple sclerosis but he had endless determination. She and her older brother Craig share a very special bond. Both parents encouraged there to children’s ambitions, independence, and intellectual curiosity. Mrs. Obama recalls how she would watch her father talk to their neighbors with an unwavering interest and warmth. She notes that it came full circle in the future when she reminisced about her father making his rounds and listening to each concern as if there were no other place he would rather be, all with a young Michelle in tow. She remembered this years later as she did the same thing for her husband.

She also depicts moments of personal transformation. When she was young she attacked a moody girl to gain her respect. Obama’s strength comes through in hindsight, looking back on one difficult teen experience, she writes, “I look back to the discomfort of that moment and recognize the more universal challenge of squaring who you are with where you come from and where you want to go.” It is something that happens and continues to happen throughout one’s lifetime, continuing to come to terms and make choices about where you have come from, and where you are going. One very poignant passage comes from the book’s preface where Obama details the day of Trump’s inauguration: “A hand goes on a Bible; an oath gets repeated. One president’s furniture gets carried out while another’s comes in. Closets are emptied and refilled in the span of a few hours. Just like that, there are new heads on new pillows — new temperaments, new dreams. And when it ends, when you walk out the door that last time from the world’s most famous address, you’re left in many ways to find yourself again.”

It seems as if Mrs. Obama works hard to ensure that this book is well-rounded, and I believe that she succeeds in accomplishing this goal. However, she does not shy away from being true and candid about topics of race, gender, family life, and candid self-reflection. The second section of the book continues to let the reader in on a deeper level. She discusses her romance with Barack Obama. How they met, building their foundation, as well as long distance. She talks about the bumps in the road, the difficulty of the spotlight, the durability of their love.

Obama exhibits strength and determination and going through feelings of pain, disappointment, regret, and the different losses she experienced throughout their relationship. She very openly talks about her infertility, miscarriage, and IVF treatments in order to start a family. It was extremely difficult and she felt a sense of resentment for the fact that Barack was away, and she was left to administer her own fertility treatment medication.

Another point that Mrs. Obama outlines with importance, is the fact that she and President Obama sought marital counseling in order to improve their communication. We are the only ones that can give ourselves a sense of happiness and fulfillment, and how that is not something that our partners can do for us.

The role of the First Lady is not concretely defined, it is something that each first lady must in part define for themselves while also balancing already written agendas. As First Lady, Mrs. Obama worked on the issues close to her heart — helping to develop four main initiatives supporting military families, helping children lead healthier lives, and encouraging all our young people to find fulfillment within themselves and recognize their own self-worth.

In 2010, she launched Let’s Move, bringing together community leaders, educators, medical professionals, parents, and others in a nationwide effort to address the challenge of childhood obesity. the goal of Let’s Move! was to bring awareness to the issue of childhood obesity. The goal was to provide healthier food in our schools, helping kids be more physically active, or urging companies to market healthier foods to our children, Let’s Move recognized the importance of giving parents the support they needed to make healthier choices for their kids. She helped to educate companies with the goal of making healthier food options more affordable.

In 2011, Mrs. Obama and Dr. Jill Biden came together to launch Joining Forces, a nationwide initiative calling all Americans to rally around service members, veterans, and their families and support them through wellness, education, and employment opportunities. Joining Forces worked hand in hand with the public and private sector to ensure that service members, veterans, and their families had the tools they needed to succeed. This initiative was started in part because of Beau Biden and his military service, but also all of the men and women who also served as well as their families. The Obama’s and the Biden’s, but Michelle and Jill, in particular, have the opportunity to hear a lot of stories from those who served and their families.

In 2014, Mrs. Obama launched the Reach Higher Initiative, an effort to inspire young people across America to pursue higher education, whether at a professional training program, a community college, or a four-year college or university. Reach Higher aimed to ensure that all students had an understanding of what steps they needed to take in order to complete their education. Working to expose students to college and career opportunities; helping them to understand the financial aid process and eligibility guidelines; raising awareness regarding the importance of academic planning; and seeking out and taking advantage of other learning opportunities. She also highlighted the importance of supporting high school counselors who do essential work and helping students get into college.

In 2015, Mrs. Obama joined President Obama in launching Let Girls Learn, this is a U.S. government-wide initiative to help girls around the world go to school and stay in school. As part of this initiative, Mrs. Obama called on countries across the world to help educate and empower young women, and she shared the stories and the struggles as a way to help them feel not alone and stay committed to their education she wanted them to know that they mattered and that she thought highly of them.

Much like my parents’ memories of President Kennedy, I will always have memories of where I was on President Obama’s inauguration day and remembering all of Michelle Obama’s initiatives and her heart for the people of our country and around the world.