''Becoming'' is the

memoir A memoir (; , ) is any nonfiction narrative writing based on the author's personal memories. The assertions made in the work are thus understood to be factual. While memoir has historically been defined as a subcategory of biography or autob ...

by former

First Lady of the United States First Lady of the United States (FLOTUS) is a title typically held by the wife of the president of the United States, concurrent with the president's term in office. Although the first lady's role has never been Code of law, codified or offici ...

Michelle Obama Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama ( Robinson; born January 17, 1964) is an American attorney and author who served as the first lady of the United States from 2009 to 2017, being married to Barack Obama, the 44th president of the United Stat ...

, published on November 13, 2018. Described by the author as a deeply personal experience, the book talks about her roots and how she found her voice, as well as her time in the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest (Washington, D.C.), NW in Washington, D.C., it has served as the residence of every U.S. president ...

, her public health campaign, and her role as a mother. The book is published by

Crown A crown is a traditional form of head adornment, or hat, worn by monarchs as a symbol of their power and dignity. A crown is often, by extension, a symbol of the monarch's government or items endorsed by it. The word itself is used, parti ...

and was released in 24 languages. One million copies were donated to

First Book First Book is a nonprofit organization established in 1992 that aims to provide educational resources to children from low-income communities. The organization works to eliminate barriers to education by distributing books and other learning mate ...

, an American nonprofit organization which provides books to children. It was the highest-selling book published in the United States in 2018, setting the record 15 days after its publication, with over two million copies sold.

Background

The 448-page memoir was published on November 13, 2018.

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

said Michelle had a

ghostwriter A ghostwriter is a person hired to write literary or journalistic works, speeches, or other texts that are credited to another person as the author. Celebrities, executives, participants in timely news stories, and political leaders often h ...

. The ''Observer'' notes that ''Becoming'' acknowledgments section thanks a team of people involved in finishing the book.

Synopsis

The book's 24 chapters (plus a preface and epilogue) are divided into three sections: Becoming Me, Becoming Us, and Becoming More. The preface sets the stage for Michelle Obama's story to open by sketching a scene in her post-First Lady life. Becoming Me traces Obama's early life growing up on the South Side of

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

with her parents, Fraser and Marian Robinson, in an upstairs apartment where she got her first piano lessons and learnt to be an independent girl under the nurturing care of her parents. There, Obama shared a bedroom with her brother Craig. The book continues through her education at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

and

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, Harvard Law School is the oldest law school in continuous operation in the United ...

to her early career as a lawyer at the law firm

Sidley Austin Sidley Austin LLP is an American multinational corporation, multinational law firm with approximately 2,300 lawyers in 21 offices worldwide. It was established in 1866 and its headquarters is at One South Dearborn in Chicago's Chicago Loop, Loo ...

, where she met

. While this section talks considerably at length about Obama's Princeton experience and Sidley Austin, Harvard Law school's experiences are mentioned marginally by comparison. Becoming Us departs from the beginning of the Obamas' romantic relationship and follows their marriage and the beginning of his political career in the Illinois State Senate. This section also notes Obama's career "swerve" from corporate law to the non-profit realm as she continued to work while raising her daughters and speaking at political events, becoming gradually more involved in her husband's campaign. The book shares Obama's balance between her position as the first

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

First Lady of the United States of America, her motherly duties, and her marital commitments. The section ends with election night in 2008 when Barack Obama was elected President of the United States. Becoming More takes the readers through Barack Obama's presidency, Michelle Obama's focus on her

Let's Move Let's Move! was a public health campaign in the United States led by First Lady Michelle Obama. The campaign aimed to reduce childhood obesity and encourage a healthy lifestyle in children. The Let's Move! initiative had an initially stated ...

campaign, and her role of "head mom in chief" to her two daughters - Malia and

Sasha Obama The family of Barack Obama, the 44th president of the United States, is a prominent American family active in law, education, activism and politics. Obama's immediate family circle was the first family of the United States from 2009 to 2017 dur ...

, along with the other aspects of the Obama's life as first family. The Epilogue talks about the last day of Obamas in the White House which was also Donald Trump's inauguration ceremony and Michelle Obama's reflection on Optimism. She also expresses her lack of desire to ever run for office.

Book sales

Total book sales, including hardcover, audio, and e-book editions, sold around 725,000 copies in the United States and Canada during its first day, making it the second best-selling debut for any book in 2018.

Bob Woodward Robert Upshur Woodward (born March 26, 1943) is an American investigative journalist. He started working for ''The Washington Post'' as a reporter in 1971 and now holds the honorific title of associate editor though the Post no longer employs ...

's '' Fear: Trump in the White House'' holds the record after selling around 900,000 copies during its first day. However, Barnes and Noble reported that ''Becoming'' surpassed ''Fear'' in first-week sales and had more first-week sales of any adult book since ''

Go Set a Watchman ''Go Set a Watchman'' is a novel by Harper Lee that was published in 2015 by HarperCollins (US) and Heinemann (publisher), Heinemann (UK). Written before her only other published novel, ''To Kill a Mockingbird'' (1960), ''Go Set a Watchman'' was ...

'' in 2015. The book sold 1.4 million copies in its first week. After 15 days, the book became the best-selling book in the US for the year 2018. By March 26, 2019, ''Becoming'' had sold 10 million copies. According to ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', as of November 2020, the book has "sold 14 million copies worldwide, including more than 8 million in the U.S. and Canada".

Reception

According to

Book Marks ''Literary Hub'' or ''LitHub'' is a daily literary website that was launched in 2015 by Grove Atlantic president and publisher Morgan Entrekin, American Society of Magazine Editors Hall of Fame editor Terry McDonell, and '' Electric Literatur ...

, the book received a "positive" consensus, based on twenty-three critics: four "rave", sixteen "positive", and three "mixed". On Books in the Media, the book was rated 4.37 out of 5, based on seventeen critic reviews. It was an

Oprah's Book Club 2.0 Oprah's Book Club 2.0 is a book club founded June 1, 2012, by Oprah Winfrey in a joint project between OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network and '' O: The Oprah Magazine''. The club is a re-launch of the original Oprah's Book Club, which ran for 15 year ...

selection. The book was given over 42,000 ratings and over 41,000 reviews on

Goodreads Goodreads is an American social cataloging website and a subsidiary of Amazon that allows individuals to search its database of books, annotations, quotes, and reviews. Users can sign up and register books to generate library catalogs and readi ...

and received 4.55 out of 5 stars. Hannah Giogris, a writer from ''

The Atlantic ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher based in Washington, D.C. It features articles on politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 185 ...

'', used the words "refreshing" and "striking" to describe the book. In 2020, the

audiobook An audiobook (or a talking book) is a recording of a book or other work being read out loud. A reading of the complete text is described as "unabridged", while readings of shorter versions are abridgements. Spoken audio has been available in sch ...

edition won the

Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album The Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album has been awarded since 1959. The award has had several minor name changes: * In 1959 the award was known as Best Performance, Documentary or Spoken Word * From 1960 to 1961 it was awarded as Best Perform ...

and was named one of the top ten

Amazing Audiobooks for Young Adults The American Library Association's Amazing Audiobooks for Young Adults, formerly Selected Audiobooks for Young Adults, is a recommendation list of audiobooks presented yearly by the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) division. The Yo ...

by the

American Library Association The American Library Association (ALA) is a nonprofit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world. History 19th century ...

Soundtrack

American musician

Questlove Ahmir K. Thompson (born January 20, 1971), known professionally as Questlove (stylized as ), is an American drummer, record producer, disc jockey, filmmaker, music journalist, and actor. He is the drummer and joint frontman (with Black Thought ...

curated a soundtrack for the book called '' The Michelle Obama Musiaqualogy''.

Tour

In November 2018, Michelle Obama went on a national book tour conducted in arenas, often to sold-out crowds starting in Chicago at the

United Center The United Center is an indoor arena on the Near West Side, Chicago, Near West Side of Chicago, Illinois. It is home to the Chicago Bulls of the National Basketball Association (NBA) and the Chicago Blackhawks of the National Hockey League (NHL) ...

. Obama previewed the book and tour on Chicago's Windy City Live daytime television show at her alma mater,

Whitney M. Young Magnet High School Whitney M. Young Magnet High School is a public four-year magnet high school and middle school located in the Near West Side neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois. Opened on September 3, 1975, as a public magnet high school, joining Lane Tech in that ...

on Chicago's Near West Side. The initial tour included 12 venues in 10 cities but expanded with its popularity; as of February 2019, another 21 cities had been added, including six in Europe and four in Canada.

Film

In May 2020, a

documentary film A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

based on the book was released on

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

, following Obama through her book tour. The documentary features footage of Obama's travels behind-the-scenes of the tour and clips of her interviews onstage with moderators, including

Oprah Winfrey Oprah Gail Winfrey (; born Orpah Gail Winfrey; January 29, 1954) is an American television presenter, talk show host, television producer, actress, author, and media proprietor. She is best known for her talk show, ''The Oprah Winfrey Show' ...

and

Stephen Colbert Stephen Tyrone Colbert ( ; born May 13, 1964) is an American comedian, writer, producer, political commentator, actor, and television host. He is best known for hosting the satirical Comedy Central program ''The Colbert Report'' from 2005 to ...

Translations

* , translated by M. Abdul Ahad and A. Salem (Hachette Antoine, 2019: ) * , translated by Marin Zagorchev (Softpres, 2019: ) * , translated by Núria Parés Sellarès, Mar Albacar i Morgó, Esther Roig Giménez and Anna Llisterri i Boix (Rosa Vents, 2018: ) * (Lindhardt & Ringhof, 2018: ) * , translated by Rob de Ridder (Hollands Diep, 2018: ) * (Helios Kirjastus, 2018: ) * , translated by Ilkka Rekiaro (Otava, 2018: ) * , translated by Böbe Weisz and Éva Andó (HVG Könyvek, 2018: ) * , translated by Inga Būdevytytė, Indrė Kaulavičiutė and Jovita Liutkutė (Alma Littera, 2018: ) * '','' translated by Ali Salami (Mehr Andish, 2018: ) * , translated by Débora Landsberg, Denise Bottmann and Renato Marques (Objetiva, 2018: ) * , translated by Corina Hadareanu (Litera, 2018: ) * (Plaza & Janés, 2018: )

References

External links

*
Official website for Japan

Interview with Michelle Obama on ''Becoming'', conducted by Oprah Winfrey, November 13, 2018

C-SPAN Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network (C-SPAN ) is an American Cable television in the United States, cable and Satellite television in the United States, satellite television network, created in 1979 by the cable television industry as a Non ...

{{Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album 2018 non-fiction books American memoirs Memoirs adapted into films Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album Books by Michelle Obama Crown Publishing Group books Political memoirs Viking Press books