It’s easy to forget that once upon a time, the media was not in love with Michelle Obama. She was once described, not in fawning terms, as “outrageous,” “emasculating,” and a “princess.” During her husband’s first campaign for president, less than half of the nation found Obama favorable. She never wanted to be first lady, let alone become a political wife at all. Yet she left the White House with nearly a 70 percent approval rating.

With her first-ever memoir, Becoming, the city girl from the South Side turned two-time Ivy League graduate turned first lady relays a proper literary coming-of-age saga, not a political strategy. But she doesn’t hold back from having the last laugh.