Becoming

"I wanted Barack for our family. Everyone else seemed to want him for our country."

That, my friends, struck me. Of all the things Michelle Obama explains in her book, the struggle between what Michelle Obama needed from her husband and what the country needed from him will most likely stay with me. How do you reconcile your husband's ambitions - ambitions to literally be the most powerful man in the world - with the power you yourself have worked so hard to gain?

What can I really say about this book that hasn't been written about nearly ad nauseam? When books come out that are this highly-anticipated, the suspense is sucked away in the pre-release press. Still, I found myself surprised and moved by the story of Michelle Obama's life - and most of what moved me happened before she moved into 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

Despite most of us not knowing a thing about Michelle Obama until the first presidential campaign, the true meat of this book happens in the decades before. It's truly her life story, and most of what made Michelle Michelle happened in a small apartment on the southside of Chicago. In detailing the story of her family's history and her constant striving to be the best, you begin to understand the whiplash she felt when she was thrust into the political spotlight. So many times throughout I tried to imagine how it must have been for this Harvard-educated over-achiever to be expected to take an ornamental, backseat role as First Lady.

You also have a first-person understanding of the barriers the Obamas had to break. The hate that came with that. The people who tried to tear them down simply because of who they were. The fear they must have felt knowing of the threats made against their children. And, the superficial way in which this educated, professional woman was judged, all in the name of politics.

"A sitting congressman made fun of my butt," she writes. "I've been hurt, I've been furious. But, mostly, I've tried to laugh this stuff off."

I'm kind of a DC nerd and I'm borderline obsessed with the the idea of life in the White House, so I naturally devoured the chapters about those eight years. What they had to pay for, what it was like to see screaming crowds outside and not hear a thing through bulletproof glass and life with a staff of many dedicated to taking care of your every whim... But, I related much more to Michelle as working mom. She gets real about infertility, the struggle to feel like you're still you, despite now being someone's wife and someone's mom... All of that is what felt the most real and accessible - and, drew me closer to the life of this woman I can't help but admire.

This book is much deeper and denser than other "celebrity" biographies. It's an inside look at the White House, sure. But, more than that, it's a look at the life of a powerful woman and how much of herself she had to give up - and reimagine - to truly accept what's next.