I felt like such a doe-eyed fangirl after finishing Becoming earlier this month... Ugh. 😭 It was an excellent start to Non-Fiction November, securing its place as my new favourite memoir as well as a top 2020 audiobook and definitely a highlight of the year overall! So I guess you could say I enjoyed it somewhat!!

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Usually when I read memoirs they are more focused on a particular period or event of the author's life, looked at and mulled over in a lot of detail. It's rarer for me to pick up autobiographies, where a fuller account of the author's life is recounted. So it was quite a new experience for me to journey with Michelle (we're on first name terms now) from her childhood through her teens and university, the start of career, meeting Barack (heart eyes), and of course her life as First Lady. I felt emotionally wrung out in the best way by the end of it, in a good way!

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The section where Michelle talked about the uncertainty she felt around her chosen career path honestly made me feel so comforted. To know that MICHELLE OBAMA second guessed herself, realised that what she'd spent her whole life working to achieve wasn't actually what she wanted, and gave herself the freedom to discover what exactly she wanted in her thirties... Gah, it gave me hope. I loved reading about the work she did as First Lady too, since the position is not an actual job but she wanted to make sure she put her status towards something rewarding.

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And how amazing is Michelle's mother Marian?! I loved how she maintained her independence and privacy even while living at the White House with them. She seems so down-to-earth. And obviously Michelle and Barack are iconic. I was cackling at their first meeting, I could just imagine Michelle writing that part and looking over at Barack like '😏 I just roasted you'.

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I seriously can't recommend this book enough. All the criticism and racism Michelle faced as the first Black First Lady, their lives being turned upside down by the presidency, the stresses of their positions, balancing public and private life... She's just an incredible woman, and this book lays it all out, no holds barred.