The three books take different angles, yet all tell parts of the same story. I have mostly good things to say about Dreams from My Father. It was honest--and not in that "I'm running for political office" kind of way. Though some customer at work argued with me that Obama knew he'd be elected president in 2008 when Dreams was published in 1995, I don't think he had that kind of outlandish foresight. Unless our government is more corrupt than we could possibly imagine and Obama was notified upon his graduation from Harvard that he had been chosen to be president in fifteen years, this customer is an idiot. Dreams from My Father isn't a necessarily "safe" book, politically speaking. Obama not only draws attention to race (something I've been less than pleased about him skirting in his presidential career), but he also admits to dabbling in agnosticism, cigarettes, alcohol, and "reefer" (by the way, he did inhale). The book dragged on a bit at times and occasionally felt choppy. Big whoop, though, the darn things made me have feelings. Even the gee dee preface made me cry. The best part about the book was the perpetual searching for identity. Obama--and the character of himself that he creates--isn't a personality-less void; instead, he is a young person trying to make sense of his heritage and his privilege. He also struggles with ideas about families. To quote from the book a teeny tiny bit:
Though Obama and I obviously don't share identical backgrounds, I can totally identify with the struggle to piece together an identity. What (adopted) twenty-something wouldn't? In short, the book is worth the read. And will maybe make you weep. And definitely appreciate our president a little more.
What is a family? Is it just a genetic chain, parents and offspring, people like me? Or is it a social construct, an economic unit, optimal for child rearing and divisions of labor? Or is it something else entirely: a store of shared memories, say? An ambit of love? A reach across the void? (327)
Though Obama and I obviously don't share identical backgrounds, I can totally identify with the struggle to piece together an identity. What (adopted) twenty-something wouldn't? In short, the book is worth the read. And will maybe make you weep. And definitely appreciate our president a little more.
Son of Promise, Child of Hope is not-so-loosely based on Dreams. As I was reading it the second time, after just finishing Dreams, I was struck by how similar the two were. Grimes admits in her acknowledgements and in her bibliography that her primary source was indeed Dreams from My Father. But I didn't like this book nearly as much as I liked Dreams. The illustrations aren't my favorite, and the whole book has kind of a religious tone. There's a biblical illusion or two and a weird church scene, that sure, has basis in Dreams, but it's definitely been taken to the next step. Yick. Basically, Son of Promise, Child of Hope borders too much on weird American Dream ideology stuff. And it really really wants to emphasize Obama's Christianity--which I don't care about.
Moving on to Of Thee I Sing. This book is absolutely stuffed with liberal ideology--more, perhaps, than I could even stomach. But after rereading it after Dreams, I found myself more sympathetic. Obama does a good job of including all kinds of people in his book: Georgia O'Keeffe, Albert Einstein, Jackie Robinson, Sitting Bull, Billie Holiday, Helen Keller, Maya Lin, Jane Addams, Martin Luther King, Jr., Neil Armstrong, César Chávez, Abraham Lincoln, and George Washington. The book reeked of the liberal humanist tradition, which isn't a bad thing, I suppose, but when I read it, I just couldn't get the bad taste of obvious ideology out of my mouth. Either way, I see yuppie parents reading this to their children. I also see parents like mine reading it to kids like I was. And, I see teachers reading this book to their students. So, there's that.
Now, you may have noticed that a book I did not read was The Audacity of Hope. If I couldn't handle the American Dream stuff and nonsense in the other books, how would I even dare to delve into this book? (This from the girl who sat alone on her couch staring at the boob tube and weeping with joy on election night.) Maybe someday I'll read it when my political views have become less youthful and more resigned to the liberal humanist tradition. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.
Now, you may have noticed that a book I did not read was The Audacity of Hope. If I couldn't handle the American Dream stuff and nonsense in the other books, how would I even dare to delve into this book? (This from the girl who sat alone on her couch staring at the boob tube and weeping with joy on election night.) Maybe someday I'll read it when my political views have become less youthful and more resigned to the liberal humanist tradition. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.
