The Barack Obama Book Review
I have always been indifferent when it comes to Barack Obama. I couldn’t understand how his victory affected me or any South African for that matter. It is until I read his autobiography, Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance, that I started to respect the man. After I read the last page I felt that I knew the man personally.
The book begins from the time he was a student in New York, staying in a tiny apartment. Through-out the book he relates his life story, from the time he was born, his parents’ divorce, having a crocodile pet in Indonesia, growing up with white maternal grandparents, his rebellion as a teenager, his quest to find identity and meaning to life, his community organizing in Chicago, meeting his father for the first time. Until the time he visited his father’s birthplace, Kenya, for the very first time.
There is a sad and sombre tone about the book, at least most part of it. Obama takes the reader to the most inner part of his thoughts and feelings. He narrates, with passion, how it is like being a black person in America. How white people are still in control of everything and how that resulted in black people being cynical, apathetic and hopeless.
He tells a story that we all can relate to. Going through its pages, I was reminded of my own life – growing up without a father, trying to belong. His memoir is beautifully written and well thought out. What impressed me is his honesty and innocence – or the lack thereof. My favourite part of the book is when he decided that he can bring the change in his life and that he is the change. And off he went to Chicago to really begin his life.
Dreams from My Father has the perfect answer to some of life’s important questions. I’d recommend it to anyone who wants real change and how to go about achieving it.
Favourite Quote From The book
My stepfather Lolo said, “Men take advantage of weakness in other men. They’re just like countries in that way. The strong man takes the weak man’s land. He makes the weak man work in his fields. If the weak man’s woman is pretty, the strong man will take her. Which would you rather be? Better to be strong. If you can’t be strong, be clever and make peace with someone who’s strong. But always better to be strong yourself. Always.”
By Sithe ©