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![[image loading]](http://www.theblaze.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Obama-Lies-Dreams-From-My-Father1.jpg)
I am currently tired so please bear with me. Here I will attempt to discuss this great book, work of art, masterpiece, whatever you want to call it. At least in a way that will do it some justice.
So I read this book (along with a book on transcendental meditation) while on a road trip from New Jersey to Florida to attend some stupid convention. Remember this post is supposed to be completely non-political, but reading this book made me feel even better about Obama than I had in the past.
The way the book is organized is interesting. The entire first half consists of his early life, his mother's and maternal grandparents' stories, growing up in Hawaii, Indonesia, Chicago, going to Harvard Law School, and trying to play basketball.
The second half is the transformative part. Apparently at some point in his pot smoking hippie days, young Barack gets a call from one of his relatives in Kenya, telling him his father just died. Thus begins the soul-searching journey. Obama takes a flight to Africa and meets with his long-lost kin. He begins to unravel his father's side of the story, the black part of himself, and the contrast between being "too white" for Africa but "too black" for White America is beautiful. But at the same time he comes to understand that the poor boy in Kenya who dreams of being the next Michael Jordan and the young drug dealer in the Chicago projects aren't that different after all. Both are searching for something that is elusive, their identities.
Barack, while still working as a community organizer in the South Side of Chicago, begins to realize just how deep the rabbit hole goes. And by that I mean how complicated of a character his father really was. His dad came to America on his own, married a white woman he met in his college history class, and went to Harvard to study to be an economist. Barack, Sr. could engage in invigorating intellectual conversations with drunk rednecks, dance to old vinyl records, drink like a madman, and threaten to throw idiots over cliffs. Many of this is true, but a lot of it was what Barack imagined his dad was like, the stuff of urban legend. You see, his dad left his mom at an early age and the two Baracks only met once, when our Commander In Chief was 10 years old. In the book Barack says he was shy and nervous about meeting his dad for the first time ever because in his imagination his dad was more of a mythical creature than a real person.
The reader starts to visualize the stark differences between all the different places the story takes place...Hawaii (where young Barack is sent to a prestigious preparatory school where he doesn't fit in), Indonesia (where his mom finds a job teaching businessmen English and marries an Indonesian man with whom she bears a daughter amidst political strife and personal turmoil), Chicago (where Barack learns to live on his own, at first sleeping on friends' couches and then eventually becoming a rising political force), and Kenya (where Barack is destined to learn about his father's true past and the secrets only his closest relatives knew, his own identity and sense of belonging in the outside world, that a people so mired in poverty can find things to smile about in their everyday lives, and that blood does indeed run thicker than water).
It's a delightful read, not very long, and the prose is so...crisp, observant, refined, delicate, profound, simple yet sophisticated.
The book ends with Barack falling in love with Michelle and going on their first date together...his grandpa actually says she's a cutie:p
Excellent book, 10/10
 
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Appreciate any feedback:p
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You posted this at a bad time. Usually TL viewership tapers off around 12 EST and onward, and then the Europeans will start logging on and reading quite a few hours into the night (EST). So whoever responds will also probably not be American (not that you want to confine responses to Americans, but in a way those might be a bit closer to your ideas of your readership). Obviously it's not a hard and fast rule by any stretch of the imagination, and my hours might be off a bit, but it generally seems to be the case at least in my experience. If there's a big tourney going on, then people might be staying up and might drop into blogs/other forums between games or something.
It's definitely quite a cool story, but I don't have a particularly strong opinion either way ^^
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Prime posting time if you're looking to really corner the Kiwi and Australian market though Aerisky 
Thanks for the review mate. I knew next to nothing about the book, having only read the Audacity of Hope and assuming that Dreams from My Father was along similar lines.
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Let's not forget the huge Taiwanese English-reading TL-browsing population here as well, haha!
It's a pretty interesting book, and it's quite different from the Audacity of Hope. I think it struck a cord with me, because as someone who sort of grew up between cultures as well, we shared many similar experiences, in terms of (I know it's cliche, but still true) understanding where you stand. His search, his realization that he is something different, and that he is more than the sum of his parts (African ancestry, as well as the experiences gained from living in different parts of the world) - all that rings very true.
the term "inheritance" in particular, because I think it's a good description of the process many of us go through. On one hand, you sort of pick and choose what aspects of your parent's culture you adopt (in his case, because his two parents came from such different backgrounds, it was an even more complicated process than it typically might be), but there are aspects of it that are just an inherent part of you, that you may not be aware of until you develop more life experience.
Even if you completely disconnect it with Obama the politician, it is a fascinating read - perhaps even moreso if you do it that way. That said, if you have a chance to listen to the audiobook version, it's hilarious, partly because Obama himself did the reading for it, so you get to listen to him say, "You ain't my bitch, nigga! Buy your own damn fries".
As I read elsewhere:
"The main draw of the audiobook is that it’s actually narrated by Obama. It’s interesting to hear him imitate the voices of some of the people that have been important in his life. Like Ray, for example.
Ray, a former high school classmate, was savvy and streetwise, with a new take on black culture and white America. Best of all, Ray had an extremely colorful manner of self-expression. In other words, he cursed. A lot. That means the President curses. A lot.
In fact you’re about to hear the POTUS swear like a motherfucker."
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Oh wow, that's actually pretty awesome :D
Though I suppose his capacity to respond to this feedback has been significantly reduced, now that he has been permed.
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Nice writing EffervesecentAureola. Your blog along with FunnyToss's additional information really opened my heart to the idea that Obama is a person just as real as I am. That m ight sound a little strange but I tend to see people looking for power and think they might have ethical ideals that are less pure thanmine.
Seems like an interesting and relatable tale that I may one day read, or never get around to. Either way, I now have an idea of what to expect.
I guess this is goodbye.
SoR and now you.
rumours must be true.
This news makes me blue,
posters like you are few
and I always knew
you were part of my crew
a bouncy soul
down the hole
he was more than a mole
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On October 31 2012 18:40 Aerisky wrote:
Oh wow, that's actually pretty awesome :D
Though I suppose his capacity to respond to this feedback has been significantly reduced, now that he has been permed.
And you hate it when that happens, lol.
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Dude you spoiled the ending of the book, not cool.
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EPT
