This was a hard book to rate. I hate only giving it three stars. But, three stars means "I liked it". I didn't "love it".

Obama starts this book off with a very heartfelt discussion of running for public office for the first time, of the strain politics put on his marriage. He discusses moving from state politics to national politics and how he eventually learned better ways to focus his time on his family as well as the work he needed to do. That was the most interesting part of the book to me. I could connect to President Obama's drive as well as his struggle to balance a demanding work life with life at home. Both he and Michelle felt like people I could sit and have a conversation with with and I enjoyed how present their personalities were in the book.

Once the presidential campaign settled into full swing the book started to lose my attention. I found some sections riveting and some sections absolutely and devastatingly dull. The former president was at his best when describing the battle for healthcare, the give and take required to get any kind of bill passed, despite a Democratic majority in Congress. However, Obama mentioned that in his youth he tended to drone on, to over-describe and to also delve into technical aspects of issues that others didn't find as gripping as he did. Unfortunately he slips back into that style of writing a few times in the latter two thirds of this book. I wound up a little lost in the timeline, especially involving the Middle East. I had to go back and pick up the train of thought a few times.

Overall, it was a good look at the first couple of years of the Obama Whitehouse and the road to get there. This volume of Obama's presidential memoir ended with the death of Osama Bin Laden. I'm interested to see where the next one will start. Despite my slight disappointment, I'll always read anything President Obama writes. I want to understand this time period better because it's when I shifted from Republican (to impress some of my family members and my church) to Democrat (because it aligned with my ideals and what I discovered of the world in college).