Hi girls and boys! How are you?
Have you ever found a book that you are not passionate about for the plot, for the twists, but for what it tells.
Becoming
“Becoming” by Michelle Obama is a biography that not only shows the negative and less happy sides that a First lady can experience, but makes us reflect on various topical issues.
Michelle Obama was the 44th First lady of the United States. The mandate of her husband, Barack Obama, the first African American to hold the position, lasted from 2009 to 2017.
Who is Michelle? Michelle is a woman, born in the suburbs of Chicago, on the South Side. Michelle grows up thinking only that being diligent and studious will lead her to be what she wants, that is, a good lawyer.
After Princeton University graduation and Harvard Law School, she joined a prestigious Chicago law firm where she worked on marketing and intellectual property issues. During this work she meets Barack. The meeting with Barack and the subsequent attendance changes forever Michelle, who sees herself now narrow in the role of a lawyer, so she leaves a well-paid job to continue with a job in the public administration that allows her to be closer to people and to do really something for her community.
That emerges from “Becoming” is above all the story of a black woman: a woman who feels part of a minority, who frequents places frequented more by whites than by blacks, a woman who never feels enough. The racial theme permeates the whole biography. Racial discrimination cannot become a limit to the social growth of a country. In her life Michelle always struggles to defend the rights of people of color and avoid ghettoization.
Another central theme is that of women. Michelle immediately realizes how for women, but especially for women of color it is difficult to reach certain positions.
Michelle is not just a black person, but is also a woman who frequents places frequented mostly by white men.
Obviously having a husband who starts a political career is not easy. It means less time for the family, less time for the couple. Here the most sentimental background also emerges, of how in reality she did not believe that Obama would become president. Of the attention and doubts of a mother who sees her daughters in the spotlight and how to defend them from the media.
Michelle wants to do something during the presidency. This is the way to create a vegetable garden in the White House. She wants to give the example by pushing the population towards a healthier lifestyle, especially fighting childhood obesity.
The story of Michelle Obama, a strong and revolutionary woman, always active towards her ideals, drives us to reflect on what we are and what we want to be.
I highly recommend this book! Reading flows really quickly without weighing it down, even though it is a biography. In the end we really feel charged: with the desire to do something more for ourselves and for others.
