4.5 stars

I loved this. I get why some people might think it was a little too long, but I honestly didn't have a problem with it. I felt like the anecdotes that she shared were important because they shaped the woman she is today; classy, intelligent, and empathetic.

I have read critical reviews talking about the fact that this focuses more on her childhood and pre-FLOTUS life than it does her time as First Lady. And that is true. But honestly, that's what I wanted to read about in the first place. Her experiences as a young black girl in Chicago in the 1960s and 70s are important in understanding how her values were formed. And considering the fact that she spent more than a decade in the public eye, I don't need to know all of the ins and outs of her time as First Lady. We all saw how she was treated and the stress it must have caused. I was more interested in her beginnings.

I loved reading about her family and her relationship with Barack Obama. The section where she talks about her fertility difficulties really hit home for me, as someone who has had difficulties myself.

Many of the one-star reviews seem to come from people who obviously haven't even read the book. But since being an ignorant jerk isn't a crime, the less time focusing on that, the better.