Becoming by Michelle Obama BOOK REVIEW

I can't believe it's been almost two years since my last book review! That is a long time but it coincides with the period during which I have been working through 13 exams to become a chartered account so I'll forgive myself.

I read tonnes of books in the period, I just didn't have the time to review them. I will not attempt to do back reviews, I'll just pick up with my latest reads.

So, becoming. Like a lot of people I am a big fan of Michelle Obama. My uncle, this very weekend, said he didn't get the hype at all, what is it about Mrs Obama that has everyone so gaga? 

Well, I will use a phrase that several people have often used to describe me - "she's a breathe of fresh air" - and this book confirms exactly why.

I was brought believing that beauty looks a certain way and success follows a certain stereotype but she puts paid to all those myths. I relate to Mrs Obama because she has a great depth that you simply don't find in a lot of people. When I read the first chapter of the book in which she describes the first night after the White House and observes the reaction of the dogs to neighbours' dogs barking, I was like wow, how is her life so busy yet she manages to be so in tune with her surroundings?

I love that she proves that education matters. Education and only education can give you the options in life that nothing else can.

I'm not into celebrity worship, I'm not a Beyonce superfan and yet I remember that as far back as 2010/2011 I used google "Michelle Obama" to see her amazing outfits. She dresses amazingly well and to me, is a style icon. I know she is envious that we women have to put in so much effort in our appearance relative to men but you know what, she embraces how the world judges women and chooses her own style, she doesn't try to be anybody else.

At this point I should probably say I would love to meet her but you know what, I would not like to meet her, I'd rather admire and worship her from afar. When we meet out idols we realise just how normal they are and I'd rather she just stayed in my mind as Super Power, a real life super hero.

Mrs Obama makes me so proud to be alive in these times. It means everything to me that she exists as a black role model for my daughter. My daughter is lucky to be growing up in times when so many black women are visible, doing their thing and proving that skin colour is just that, skin colour, it doesn't need to limit you in any way, limitations exist only in our heads. Mrs Obama is successful in her own right and has been walking the halls of power since the late 1980s before she met Mr Obama.

In Becoming Mrs O takes us right through from her upbringing on the Southside of Chicago, she introduces us to her family and the people that influenced her. She is open and candid about the challenges she faced as well as the fears she had growing up. She speaks openly about the apprehension she felt in having to raise her daughters in the public eye. She takes us through the turning points of their life and how surreal many things she experienced were. I am so glad she decided to write this book and let us into her world and how she became the Michelle Obama we see today.

Becoming is an awesome book to have read at the end of 2018 when I am setting my 2019 goals. Get it on amazon.com or amazon.co.uk.