A wonderful book, and extra special to hear Michelle Obama narrate her story in her own voice on the audio version. This book helped to fill me in on A wonderful book, and extra special to hear Michelle Obama narrate her story in her own voice on the audio version. This book helped to fill me in on her background; as a Canadian, I hadn’t followed the story of the most beloved FLOTUS as closely as most of her American fans probably did, and while I already had great respect for her as a person, this grew exponentially when I learned about her very humble beginnings. That she was able to be such a great public figure as a First Lady when all along she had such a dislike for politics and is a strong and outspoken and obviously extremely smart woman with a mind and ideas of her own is all the more admirable. It shows the extent of her strength of character and the real sense of duty she feels about bettering the lives of others.
The position of FLOTUS is a difficult one to fulfill as there is no job description that comes with this title, no salary, no official guidelines. A president's wife is expected NOT to meddle in policy making and in fact to stay out of politics altogether. But Michelle had no intention of simply being a smiling presence on a stage behind her husband. Educated at Princeton and Harvard, having worked as a corporate lawyer and then moving on to high level positions in government and non profit organizations, specifically to enable mentoring and helping young people from less advantaged background to fulfill their potential, she wanted to continue helping young people and children from the White House too. She talks about her programs to help combat the obesity crisis, which involved reaching out to major corporations so they would reduce fat, salt and sugar contents, to deliver healthier school lunch options, to get major food outlet Walmart to lower produce prices and about creating a vegetable garden at the White House itself, which other than being a great source for photo ops for the media and showing Michelle in casual wear surrounded by children, also produced vast amounts of produce they could donate to a homeless shelter.
She also used her visibility and the constant demand for her to be a speaker to go to schools in underprivileged neighbourhoods to tell her own story and encourage children to give their all, because she said, as a child she had been given so much encouragement from her own mother and family and teachers, which made all the difference in her own success in her studies, because growing up the Southside of Chicago might have led her down a very different path but for all the positive feedback she was given. She knew children of all colours in multicultural neighbourhoods would feel special being given a pep talk (and often a big hug) by someone they admired such as herself, being the first black First Lady, who had started from humble origins just like they did. The recurring theme in the book was that of family, of their family, and of the importance of children and of giving them hope and tools for the future, and it was clear that these were things that were close to Michelle's heart and of deepest importance to her. Fun anecdotes abounded, a couple about meeting Queen Elizabeth, about intimate moments with Barack, many about interactions with their security detail and the difficult and sometimes nearly impossible task of trying to have a "normal" life while being the First Family living in the White House. She spoke candidly about how she felt about campaigning for her husband and of politics in general, one thing that emerged was that she loved interacting with people but was deeply hurt by the negative bias the Republicans and the media deliberately put forward to the public. Her message may be "When they go low, we go high" which doesn't prevent her from having feelings, just like anybody else and she got more than her fair share of abuse and unfair criticism.
I found this to be a bittersweet book. Michelle shares how she feels about the results of the 2016 elections, and reading it now in 2019, while that great hateful misogynistic autocratic racist divisive selfish childish reality show host abuses power on a daily basis and is intent on further diminishing the quality of life for the masses to build a monument to his boundless ego has a surreal effect—that the Obamas, people with such impeccable personal ethics and high moral standards and dedication for public service could be followed by such a shameful and cruel act is...
I want to keep believing in humanity too, though have been finding this difficult in the last few years. It pains me daily to think how some of the same people who voted for Obama were then able to turn around and vote for that poor excuse for a human being who makes bullying a raison d’être. Simply put, America went from a soulfull to a souless leader. That Michelle is still able to deliver a message of hope and persistence despite this cruel setback which affects the world on a global scale gives us all something to hold on to. Michelle gives credence to the saying that behind every great man is a great woman, and hearing her story reinforced my belief in this family as truly decent human beings. It makes me feel we are all blessed to have the Obamas, whether they be in the White House or not. They remind us there is decency in this world, that there will always be soulful people working towards the greater good. ★★★★½...more
A new approach I’m trying, posting a review in progress about a book I really loved because if I don’t, I’ll end up posting nothing or just a fe******
A new approach I’m trying, posting a review in progress about a book I really loved because if I don’t, I’ll end up posting nothing or just a few words. So hopefully you don’t mind this isn’t the final version... yet!
Review draft 3
Beyond a doubt one of my favourites of the year and would probably feature as one of my most influential ever had I read it as a teenager and not kept putting it off because it was a book I knew I really should read. Never did I more stubbornly resist doing a thing than when “should” came into play, and to this day I have to keep finding clever ways to get around that teenage glitch in my brain that just won’t let me follow my common sense. I’ll have to create a Top 100 List so I can put it in it. Or maybe 150 since almost all the reading I do is based on great recommendations.
Back to “shoulds”, common sense should lead a woman who knows what’s good for her, be she black, brown, blue, dotted / striped, yellow, white, purple, or semi-transparent (like me, I don’t get out much), that she should start reading Maya Angelou from a young age... NOT because Maya Angelou is gonna bore you to death and lecture you about things you should, and shouldn’t do. No. And not because she’ll recite to you all the details about what could be looked at as a tragic life, and describe to you how clever she was to surmount it and “If you believe in Jesus Christ The Lord... or Money, or Allah, or Hard Work, or (Insert Personal Belief Here) any followed her point-by-point instructions, you too can become a celebrated poet and an icon of Hope.”. No, nothing like that. This is one of those books that you should read because Maya Angelou has always been a sheer force of nature and what she did here was simple magic. She told a great story. And that story made you feel your heart expand somehow.
This story describes the life of young Marguerite and her brother Bailey growing up in a most unusual family, and she being a very clever, curious, book-loving, “ugly” little black girl in the extremely racist and segregated American South when the story begins. I found one element which made this story special was how much her brother Bailey featured in it, as they obviously shared a beautiful bond, and supported each other as they were bounced around between different adult caretakers without ever knowing why they were being carted around.
Bailey was one year her senior, her closest friend and confidant from the moment when little Marguerite, at the age of three, was put with him on a train to be sent to their paternal grandmother to be looked after. As far as the siblings knew, their biological parents had died and they were orphans. Nobody ever told them otherwise. “Momma” was a force to be reckoned with. She owned and ran the local grocery store and was a landowner and a landlord with paying tenants, just outside of Stamps, Arkansas, which was so segregated that it took several years before young Marguerite set eyes on a white person who wasn’t dirty po’ whitetrash.
This is no sob-fest of an orphan’s tale, even though growing up in her circumstance and coming of age as a black person in America during WWII, having been bounced around with her brother between Stamps, Sans Francisco and St-Louis between her separate parents and whoever the step-parents of the moment were, and Momma, or somewhere in between offered plenty of challenges and harsh life lessons. But for all that, life was a mixed bag and in fact, while recounting her tale as she grows from a small child to a very mature seventeen year-old, there are countless amusing anecdotes.
I won’t ever be able to hear or think of the words “PREACH IT” without having an internal silent belly laugh again. At one point, following an especially dramatic incident in which those words were being repeatedly uttered, little Maya peed herself in an uncontrollable fit of giggles when it just became too much. A truly memorable moment that she illustrates as though you’d experienced it right along with her, especially if you’ve decided to treat yourself to the audio version she so beautifully narrated, her deep enveloping voice and beautiful spoken English weaving a kind of spell on the listener. And then occasionally, when in a church scene for example a song is being sung, her voice naturally flows into the notes, this soulfully singing voice which she doesn’t overplay, but you suddenly remember is a professional singing voice after all.
In any case. PREACH IT! had me laughing out loud while I was walking little Charley in the middle of the night the other day. I don’t think anyone heard me, besides which everyone is used to people seeming to have conversations with themselves while out in public nowadays. However, should you choose to walk around listening to the audiobook as I did and you are a woman too and you suddenly hit a scene that has you giggling to yourself, and then... oops! again!, they sell amazing leakproof undies nowadays. It’s a totally natural thing for women after they’ve had kids or are over 40. Just sayin’.
Timing plays a huge role in our capacity to appreciate any given book. There are books we read and feel are very satisfying and we write enthusiastic reviews and encourage all our friends to read them too. Then there are books we end up disliking, and in some cases, this is because my own life circumstances got in the way and influenced how I perceived the text. Then there are books that come to us when we’ve asked the universe for something, and the universe delivers.
A bit more on that in a next version.
*****
Writing reviews, or doing most anything takes me a lot of physical energy and brain power, which are available to me in limited resources only as an invalid. In past few years I’ve been skipping the effort entirely and have very few notes to look back on for a good number of great books as a consequence. So I decided to give this approach a try. I understand few will read the edits, but that’s ok. It’s all about small steps and at the very least having some work in progress. I’ll remove this note on the final version. ...more
5 a.m. on the nose. Just finished listening to this. All I can say right now is WOW. Badly needing sleep. Will be back to say more than just that inep5 a.m. on the nose. Just finished listening to this. All I can say right now is WOW. Badly needing sleep. Will be back to say more than just that inept expression. ...more
4.5 rounded down: a favourite this year. A heartbreaking and all too realistic story about a Muslim family with traditional Indian parents living in C4.5 rounded down: a favourite this year. A heartbreaking and all too realistic story about a Muslim family with traditional Indian parents living in California, who are struggling to find a balance between their customs and community and modern life in the West. Their youngest, Amar is sensitive & creative, and constantly getting in trouble.
The novel opens with eldest sister Hadia’s wedding, to which Amar has been invited despite being estranged from the family for some years. Hadia is the oldest of three siblings, and Amar, the only son is left out of the close friendship between his two older sisters, and unlike them, too often taken to task by his strict father for not living up to expectations. Hadia on her part is respectful to her elders, but determined to follow her own path; finish med school first, then marry a man of her choosing, as opposed to agreeing to an arranged marriage while still in her teens, a custom most girls in her community comply with. My one quibble is the story changes timelines often and seemingly at random, going back and forth between their childhood, the wedding and years beyond, which I found confusing to follow, despite this being a device often used in fiction.
Amar eventually goes from smoking cigarettes & joints as a teen, to drinking (a great sin for a Muslim), and eventually falls into dangerous addictions. His bid for independence and to find relief from the oppressive customs upheld by his devout parents, and especially his father, whom he dislikes and who angers easily are compounded when a girl he loves is forbidden to remain in contact with him.
I was especially touched by the final part of the novel, narrated by the father, now old and sick, talking (writing?) to his son who he fears he’ll never see again. He expresses regret at having failed to treat Amar with more understanding and patience, and most of all, about not having been true to his own better instincts for love and compassion, as also taught by the Islam he’s always adhered to out of habit.
I often overshare to explain why certain books affect me more than others, and won’t break a good habit now. I couldn’t help thinking of my own life as a black sheep on my mothers side of the family, and how I was left with no choice but to make a permanent break from her, for my own self-protection. Couldn’t help, as I was listening to the fathers expressing so much regrets about losing a son who is yet alive and kicking, but remains at a remote and unreachable. Wondering if this is something she’s experiencing or not. Whether she has any understanding of her role in breaking my trust in her. Wether, she, the unpublished author, has spent any mental effort on this writing exercise, or whether she prefers to remain in a comforting denial. I wonder often about this, but never nearly enough to break my no-contact policy. Some questions are better left unanswered in any other way but through fiction. But it’s nice to imagine some parents who’ve denied their children the love and care they deserve can understand they had a role to play in breaking down such an essential relationship....more
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