"A Promised Land" by Barack Obama
Definitely for a history buff - which is not me.
Read Review Below
Alright, I may have to remove other books written by Presidents/ex-Presidents off my To-Read list - this genre just isn't for me.
What I Disliked:
1. About 75% of the book was about politics - and I hate politics. You're probably asking why I decided to read a book written by someone who was the head of politics then? Well, maybe he had some other things to talk about! Which he did, and those parts I enjoyed very much. However, that was the remaining 25% of the book.
2. The audiobook. Obama is a great orator, but I think meant more for shorter speeches. Listening to him talk for hours was a little unbearable. Soon the sentences just started to sound like that teacher from the "Peanuts" cartoons.
3. I didn't understand a lot of the world events he referenced... which is what probably led to my disliking most of the content. I accept that this was my fault - I never did enjoy social studies in grammar school, and cheated my way through US History in high school.*
I will say that the first few chapters were incredible. He told some personal stories about his campaign trail that were endearing and admirable, and I appreciated his candid attitude in how the Presidency sort of just fell into his lap. Yes, he definitely worked for it and sacrificed a lot of family/personal time, but there were a lot of things that fell into place for him as well. I'm not complaining. He is the first President to even get me interested enough in Presidents, politics, and US History enough to read his book.
So although I didn't really enjoy Obama's book, he still prompted me to put in the effort and give it a chance. I think that says a lot about his influence as President.
*We would get the answers to the exams from the period before us, which were all multiple choice (so we'd only get the letters on a slip of paper). My favorite part about this was writing a poem with lines that began with each letter, so I could recite it as I was circling in answers during exam time. I think at least my English teacher would have been amused by this…. right?
| Pub Date: | November 17, 2020 | Page Count: | 768 Pages | ISBN: | 9781524763169 |