Michelle Obama - A Journey That Inspires

Perhaps it was destiny that when I walked into a Tesco in the quaint suburb of Maccasfield, England, I’d be met with a shelf of Michelle Obama’s biography.

This was back in November last year, when Becoming had just been released a few days prior. My initial plan was to pick up a copy at the airport on the trip back to Malaysia. But there it was in the supermarket, the much-anticipated book. As soon as the stream of promotional interviews began flooding YouTube, the book had captured my attention. Watching this former First Lady of the United States on various talk shows showed me a side of her that felt so relatable. I wanted to see if her story would not just inspire but also hold my attention, as it looked like a really thick book!

WHO IS MICHELLE?

What amazed me most about the first chapter was how she took us through her childhood – as if we, too, were there watching her grow up in the South Shore of Chicago. From the house she lived in and the neighbourhood to her family and friends, she described every detail with such clarity. I felt that I too could hear the piano being played downstairs as her aunt Robbie taught classes.

But, what stood out the most was how she carried herself through her early days of school. Due to her mother’s determination that she get thebest in education, her family’s middle-class status didn’t stop Michelle from achieving her goals.

Although she does share later on in the book that she was driven mostly by a desire to tick off boxes she felt were necessary in each phase of life, she credits her achievements to being a disciplined scholar.

FALLING IN LOVE I have to admit that the ‘Becoming Us’ chapter was one that kept me glued to the book for hours. The unfolding of the love story between her and President Obama seemed straight out of a romantic film. They first met at her office, and over time she fell deeply in love with this man who would turn her life upside down.