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Published in November 2018, Michelle Obama's memoir, "Becoming," gives the reader a broad and sometimes quite intimate view of Michelle Obama's life.

There are a number of things I really appreciated about this book. I realized that the publicly crafted story I had always heard Michelle Obama deliver did not match the life she had actually grown up with, or what kind of person she was. I had mistakenly thought she'd had a difficult upbringing in the South Side of Chicago, and that she was an intellectual who was solidarity-oriented, like her husband.

But these things are not true. Michelle Obama actually had a very stable middle class upbringing in a very loving home. She is certainly not an intellectual, though she did graduate from Harvard Law. And she only became solidarity-oriented after meeting and falling in love with Barack in her first job after law school.

Michelle Obama never cared for politics, and she states in the book that she never saw the point of politics, either; not until Barack came into her life, and she was "dragged"/forced to enter into a politically minded life.

What is astoundingly clear in "Becoming" is that Michelle Obama grew up in the profound safety of the American status quo, and the status quo worked for her just fine. She started out middle class and moved into the upper-middle class via higher education. She wasn't oriented toward any idea of lifting others up, not until Barack came along: the catalyst who made her question her values and what she wanted in life, as regards her career.

By the end of "Becoming," Michelle tells the reader that she has no interest in ever running for political office, a statement that every previous page of this book has already made obvious. Michelle Obama is a good, decent person, and she makes it abundantly clear that she never paid attention to politics, or cared much at all about the outcomes of politics. Even once she became the First Lady, her aversion to politics remained strong.

I could never understand why the Right hated Michelle Obama so much. But as I listened to her read aloud her own memoir in this audiobook, I gained a lot of clarity on why she was so resented and despised by so many Americans. There's a certain level of myopia and privilege, cluelessness and entitlement that is really hard to take in this book; the Michelle Obama who is revealed in this book is super off-putting. It was jarring to realize I had been so mistaken about her.

For me, this memoir was such a boring and lackluster read that it was a struggle to get through the whole thing. The first third of the book was especially brutal, since Michelle focuses so much of the first half of the book on her early childhood. It was immediately clear that her idea of "the struggle" is a matter of perspective, and my perspective on "a difficult childhood in the South Side" in no way matches hers.

Michelle Obama has led a life full of profound good fortune. It made my jaw fall open in shock, several times, to realize just how much privilege and good fortune that Michelle had grown up with.

And as I reflected on how self-centered Michelle had always been (before falling in love with Barack, when her worldview started to open up a bit more), I came away from this book realizing that Barack would have never gotten elected, if not for Michelle. Her life and her self-centered worldview gave Barack's personal narrative a wholesome, relatable self-interest that so many American voters could identify with and relate to. Especially affluent white voters, and especially affluent white women.

My takeaways from "Becoming" are in no way the intended takeaways of the author. Michelle Obama is touting a message of hard work and achievement, a narrative of middle-class self-interest that has brief moments of solidarity because she ended up being married to a man who was all about solidarity.

I can understand why so many readers on Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ loved this book, and gave it a gushing 5 stars.

For me, this memoir was a slog, and I'm truly amazed that I was able to listen to the whole thing. This book taught me that Michelle Obama was not the person I had always thought she was. And I can understand, so much better now, why so many people on the Right resent her so much.

Which is not to say that I feel that resentment is deserved. It's certainly not, and neither are the many lies the Right has spread about Michelle.

This book just made me reflect on how all of us have privileges we often aren't aware that we have. Michelle Obama grew up with a *lot* of privilege, and had a far more privileged life than many of the rural, impoverished people I grew up with, regardless of what color their skin was.

I have a couple of friends who have DNF'd "Becoming" because the first third of this book is so brutally boring. But on Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ as a whole, this book just took off in popularity, and has been much beloved.

This memoir ended up being a market research read, and not a book I personally enjoyed in any way. I wouldn't recommend it, but I feel like I'm definitely in the minority opinion on this one.

Three stars.