A Marriage, The Obamas: A Mission

`The Obamas: A Mission, Marriage.' is a portrait of the first couple during their first few years in the White House. This explores the lead up to his election and the hope that was placed in him. It looks at the settling in period that Michelle toiled with and the struggle she had finding her place in the administration. We see how the Obama girls are looked after and used to enhance Barack's image as a family man. And we see the difficult decisions he had to make and the awkward relationships that clashed amongst his closest advisors.

In an easy to read style and with enough depth to maintain interest, but not so much as to overwhelm, Jodi Kantor offers up an insight into the Obamas life that many may not even be aware of. His isolation and stubborn streak is highlighted and Michelle's forceful personality shine through. The book isn't initially that flattering and you get a good picture of why some of the shine has come off the Obama star since his election. This is quite hard to see in the UK as we are removed from the day to day battles and media information. But, by the second half of the book you see how Obama attempts to change and be more inclusive and open. You see after his success' and small changes how much better things could've initially been and hope that if he gets a second term he can steer things along a calmer, more productive course.

This has two photo plate sections which show the president and his family in both formal and informal scenarios, which adds to the text and also illustrates some of the particular anecdotes.

This book is clear and engaging and regardless of your political leanings or whether you like Obama or not, you will be left with a deeper insight into his character and first few years in power. An interesting book that is worth a look at some point.

Feel free to check out my blog which can be found on my profile page.

There have been so many books written over the past 6 to 8 years about Barack Obama, his life, his rise to the presidency, and his early years as POTUS that you have to ask yourself what new angle you are going to get out of reading yet another book about him. This book by Jodi Kantor was recently named to the NY Times list of 100 Notable Books of 2012 so I figured that there was at least something noteworthy about it (and the two other books about Obama on the list) so I gave it a try. I can't say I was disappointed. The angle that Kantor takes as a NY Times reporter covering the White House beat is taking as deep a look as possible into the Obamas as a family inhabiting the White House. What was it like for them in the initial days after living in a brownstone in Hyde Park in Chicago? What was the transition to President and First Lady like? We learn a lot about Michelle Obama in this book and her very straightforward, no-nonsense approach to being First Lady. In fact we probably learn more about Michelle than we do the President in this book. We learn what it was like for them to set up as normal a home as possible in the White House for their kids. We also learn about the role Michelle played in some of the President's early big decisions in the White House, her frustration at being in a role that was not as front-facing as perhaps she would have liked, and how she dealt with it. I do recommend this book to anyone who wants a bit of a deeper look into the Obamas and the White House goings-on from a day to day perspective.

So many times these public figures seem larger than life and we don't look at the inside view of these people. Jodi Kantor's book gave me an inside look at the Obamas. They appear to me to be very ordinary people that quickly rose to the level of extraordinary rather quickly. It was a rather quick transition and one that they found challenging. However, once they got to the White House they adjusted rather well.

I found this book portrayed Michelle Obama as a First Lady that was very much her own woman who brought her own style to the Obama presidency. I enjoyed the chapter on their daughters and how their parents handled their experience with public life. The book gives a lot of detail about the Obamas personalities and how the presidency benefits from the strength of their marriage.

What impressed me was the sincere desire of the Obamas to do some real good in the world and make his presidency a success. -- Valerie Lull, Author, Ten Healthy Teas

Books hatched inside the White House typically are supposed to be about salacious insider information -- the proverbial "inside scoop." This one fails short of that standard as the author discovered so little dirt inside the White House on the Obama's that she ended up having to stretch every tidbits of trivia she found -- most of which were so anemic that even Kitty Kelly or the National Enquirer would have turned them down. Watching her stretch them to the breaking point does not leave a good taste in the mouth of the reader. Even the fake fight between Michelle and Robert Gibbs over the first lady's comment to the French President's wife about how oppressive life in the White House museum was, just barely rose to the level of a "real insider" story.

Even though there is usually both an inside and an outside narrative about people in the fish bowl. With the Obama's, it seems that the inside story and the outside stories collapse into one and the same: the Obamas are simply boring, not very interesting people, and evidently that is exactly the way they wanted it to be.

In the absence of any game changing revelations, this author put a great deal of stock into stretching trivia to the breaking point, in order to give the puffed up impression that an accumulation of insignificant tidbits would somehow add up to at least a few meaty inside stories? In my view here they did not. For here there are no meaty stories.

Unfortunately for the author, the Obamas marriage is a happy but uninteresting one. They act basically as caretakers of the office of the presidency just as they intended to do. They never intended to get excited about Washington, DC, and vice versa. Both she and the President value their privacy more than they value the glory of the office, and do not enjoy living in the country's national museum. And who could blame them?

The author poses a series of meaningless questions in the early chapters, to which there are mostly trivial answers. Throughout the book she struggles to gin up melodramas, but that dog doesn't hunt either. In the end this book is one of those "gossipy told tos" that misfires. There is so little meat here that after paying $30.00 for this book, I am actually embarrassed for the author. She obviously relied heavily on an accumulation of in-house gossip from multiple inside sources, and as a result, the book reads exactly like a compilation of trivia, tidbits and other irrelevancies that even the likes of Kitty Kelly would have elected to gladly pass up.

Therefore, the reader will not find a smoking gun about the Obama marriage here, no matter what the National Enquirer says about it being in trouble:

Unfortunately for the author, Barack and Michele Obama are "what you see is what you get" kind of people. Neither of them is planning to change their personal habits, personality, or cramp their styles in the least to give a false impression on being the country's chic political power couple. To me that may be the only thing that is refreshing about the Obamas -- which is more than I can say about this book. Two stars

I just finished this book. It covers the President, the First Lady, and the inner workings of the White House during the first three years of the Obama Administration. It was easy reading and done well, but I don't think it covered anything I didn't know already. So Valerie Jarret, Rahm Emmanuel, and Robert Gibbs didn't always play well....duh! This book is already pretty dated, being that we are in the 5th year of the Obama Presidency. Not a book for the ages, for sure.

Stanley R. Schneider

As highly influential political figures, the Obamas have been subject to microscopic scrutiny by the press. Kantor's book, subtitled "A Mission, a Marriage" peeks into the inner workings of their relationship and reveals the core within the flashy images on screen. The Obamas have been praised and derided for being celebrities. This book shows that there is depth underneath the surface.

Though not always flattering, the portrait she paints is that of a dedicated team who are, like the rest of us, all so human. Reading about Michelle's struggle to accept and live as a political spouse echoes the struggles of many women who try to keep their families together. Seeing Barack's actions and decisions in the political arena from the lens of his personal background and idealism makes the picture more cohesive.

As the book progresses, we see how the presidency changes the Obamas, individually and as a team. I really like how she unveils the evolution of the characters' stances on politics, Washington and their roles, engendering empathy from the reader. Kantor doesn't judge whether the changes are good or bad, but leaves it to the reader to identify with the Obamas either root for them to succeed despite the odds, or be saddened by the loss of innocence to pragmatism.

I am an independent and not wedded to thoughts from either party but there have been times in the past three years when I really have had difficulty understanding how bright people could mess up things quite so dramatically. This book does give one insight into the character and motivations of both of the Obamas and for that I am grateful.

But the overall tone is disconcerting because it keeps replaying the notion that life for this pair is so difficult and oppressive. We are not permitted these days to email either the President or the Fiirst Lady so I hope one of them reads some of the reviews that will start to come. I would strongly ask Mrs Obama to go to the website: tentcitynj.org to see some of the nicer housing available to the ever increasing number of homeless folks in New Jersey. It might give her pause and help her get through living in what we all realize is a museum more than a home. It is a lovely museum and it would be better for them if they could approach things from that perspective because that would be a healther and more constructive take on life.

It also is apparent that the Secret Service is doing an overkill job on the residents of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. It is impossible to read about the over protection that Mrs. Obama especially is forced to live with. The author is kind enough to give us the schemactics of the first two floors and the immediate grounds around the White House and that in itself is helpful. Yes, there is a pool but no, no one can use it much if it's tourist time. Maybe that pool is in the wrong place. Apparenty there is no private entrance for the family and if you look at the layout you can see how easy it would be to install one and to use landscaping to provide the family with an area where they could relax and be themselves.

The other suggestion I have for Mrs. Obama is to move to Camp David. Right now, it is set up as a pretty large resort. Certainly a cabin or house could be selected and given it's own side road and made again with landscaping to feel as if it was a stand alone, private home. Their daughters could go to public school there or even to private schools and have a much more normal life than they obviously do at the moment. The President has a helicopter and could be home for dinner every night and he, too, would have the benefit of some private time and space. Save the White House bedrooms for when they just must be in Washington overnight.

It is a bit difficult to empathize completely with the Obama housing problems given the horrendous state of that same topic on a much more painful scale that is being confronted by so many Americans right now. But the book does I think show us that 1600 Pennsylvana Avenue is on overload and probably not the most ideal place to ask any first family to spend time in 24/7.

A marriage that doesn't have tension in it during stressful times probably isn't real so most of us can identify with the difficulties we all face in living with people who are not just like us - and perfect, of course. But they do seem to have a caring relationship and maybe a bit of humor injected into their daily lives would help. It's not fair to compare them to Kate and Prince William who are after all newly weds but I have noticed that Kate and William seem to laugh and smile through what are equally bizarre living conditions and maybe it's an attitude adjustment problem that the Obamas could work on together.

As with the DeSouza biography of the President, I was able to get a better understanding of him and what he is up to than I would have without reading. That doesn't mean I accept it all as the way it has to be but it is useful because my instincts are quite different than theirs and I and others need to try to understand what often seems a tad offensive on some levels and tamper ourselves down to the point where we can more calmly and intelligently develop our own ways of thinking. An educated citizenry just might lead to a more civil citizenry. Now we have to hope the Obamas start to read about us.

So read the book by all means and understand that it is a portrait painted by a sole artist so to speak and that as the years go by we will certainly read and see other interpretations of the same material. But there is no smoking gun here at all. If anything, the author is clearly enamoured of her subjects.

The criticism I've heard from interviewers of Ms. Kantor is that she had no direct access to the Obamas for material in the book. This alone isn't troublesome to me, as many biographers must extrapolate the meaning of a situation and infer what a person may be feeling based on reports of conversation from others.

First, the writing is pedestrian and plodding. She does not tell the stories in an engaging way. She lays out facts and reports conversations like it was a three paragraph news report. Quite boring reading.

My disappointment is based on her deliberately uncharitable interpretations of the behavior of both the President and the First Lady. I wasn't expecting a valentine to the Obamas, but Ms. Kantor has a personal bias about both of them that comes through her seemingly measured writing. She depicts conversations and comments which were obviously intended to be humorous in a way which attempt to make the President appear cold, aloof and egotistical, and the First Lady as angry and controlling.

Her bias is not blatant and her distortions don't reach the level of outright lies. Rather they are buried in subtle word choices and the fact that every single time she presents a positive achievement or situation, the very next sentence begins with, "But...." where she undercuts the positive with her bias.

Without making this into a treatise with extensive support for each claim, I will just say that I believe Ms. Kantor deliberately paints a biased picture of the President and First Lady which is decidedly racist and plays into the depictions perpetrated by the conservative media. I have no idea if Ms. Kantor had this agenda in mind when writing, or whether she has a personal aversion to the Obamas, but it is striking.

The only thing of value which I bring from reading the book is a much more vivid picture of how truly difficult life is for a young family in the White House. It is a prison and life is exceedingly difficult for them. It's actually heart-breaking to think of how much sacrifice First Families make.

The Obama's is a massive disappointment. Trashy, all over the place, poorly written and actually rather annoying. It jumps from one anecdote attributed to a White House source to another. A waste of time.

The was a little rambling at times, but overall it had a lot of information and gave some insight into the Obamas and the presidency. I know a lot of people gave this a "1", but it is much better than that

If you buy this book expecting to read juicy gossip about the Obamas, you'll be disappointed. There are snippets of the failures they have felt and how uncomfortable Michelle has been in her role as First Lady, skirmishes between Michelle, Robert Gibbs and Rahm Emanuel, and even Obama himself, but none of it is anything you haven't heard on the news or might have surmised if you were paying attention.

I'm a conservative and have felt Obama has been dismissive and deaf to anyone who didn't agree with his big federal government ideas. I finished the book with the same feeling. He's convinced he's right and has no patience with anyone who disagrees with him. It's not part of his character to compromise ever.

I did come away with a better feeling about Michelle. According to Kantor, Michelle doesn't have much faith in government making lasting changes to lives, but believes it's up to us individually to make changes in our own neighborhoods. I agree with that, but I question her decision in wearing a $515 pair of tennis shoes to pack boxes for a food bank. Maybe she just put on the most convenient pair of kickers in her closet?

If Kantor is correct, the Obamas think they are misunderstood. I think the Obamas should consider there are a lot more of us out here who feel like we are being misunderstood by them.

This is a pretty well written book. It is neither a hagiography nor a hatchet job. I was surprised by how readable it was and it did generally sustain my interest. I'm not American and I don't have a fanatical love or hatred for him or his wife.

I thought that the book length was just about right. There was plenty of detail but it didn't outstay its welcome and go into far too much detail.

In many ways its more about the First lady than the President of the United States and for most people there probably won't be any startling insights but there are plenty of interesting and fairly revealing anecdotes.

A light read, a la People Magazine - (some facts are incorrect re: taxation of high income tax earners, economic indicators) - Kantor soft pedals what she states is B.Obama's lack of economic agenda, never-quite-written energy policy and his just about near lack of political skills (BO has a tough time connecting with people, especially Republicans!) which he supposedly endeavors to work on off-and-on (more off than on!!).... one can also read of multiple instances of Michelle's adoring eyes watching her beloved in Nancy-Reagan-esque fashion.....must be an affectation of being a first lady?

Heard THE OBAMAS (Hachette Audio), written by Jodi Kantor and read by Robin Miles.

It gave me a real "inside look" at what it's like to be president of this country, as well as a husband and father . . . the task is not an easy one, but it seems to me that Barack Obama has done just about as well as anybody could have given the circumstances he has faced.

I also gained a much better understanding of Michelle Obama, and how she has grown into the role of first lady. This is not a job that anybody can really plan for; it sort of just happens.

Both Obamas have made mistakes along the way, but they have seemingly learned from them--and grown from them, too.

I'd recommend this book to anybody wanting to see what it means to give your life to public service.

When I finished Jodi Kantor's THE OBAMAS, my reaction was that all the hoopla from the media, both left and right, was much ado about not a lot. As everyone who is interested now knows, even without having read it, the book is essentially about the conflicts between Michelle Obama and certain members of President Obama's staff, Rahm Emanuel and Robert Gibbs et al and that the Obamas have two different personalities, etc., etc., etc. I am not sure that this is very much breaking news. ( I will say up front that I voted for Mr. Obama and will vote for him again so I may not be the most objective reviewer on earth.) It would never have crossed my mind to see the First Lady as an "angry black woman," for example. She comes across as a caring mother and a wife who wants her husband to be a successful president and get good things accomplished, someone I would like to have for a neighbor. I never heard any talking head call Hillary Clinton or Nancy Reagan "angry white women," for that matter. Strong wives of presidents have always had conflicts with their husbands' advisors and have had their own agendas . Eleanor Roosevelt; Hillary Clinton; Roseland Carter, who, as I recall, attended all cabinet meetings; and Nancy Reagan who had a very public fight with her husband's chief of staff Donald Regan, come to mind. Furthermore, what is all the fuss about a Halloween party for children of service members? Or the clothes that Ms. Obama wears? Surely she does not spend nearly the amount of money on clothes as the likes of Jackie Kennedy or Nancy Reagan, who got most of hers for free I believe. And why should not a classy First Lady grace the cover of "Vogue" magazine? Both the Reagans were all over glossy fashion magazines and Hillary Clinton while First Lady had at least one black and white fashion photo spread in a slick magazine. Would any of the so-called outrage about any of the above goings-on by Ms. Obama have anything to do with the color of her skin I ask?

A lot of what Ms. Kantor writes about has already been beaten to death by radio, television and the print media so I got not much new insights into the First Couple. And Rahm Emanuel's temper, for instance, is already legendary. Mrs. Marian Robinson, Ms. Obama's mother, however, sounds like someone I would like to have lunch with. (When , for example, she runs into people on the street in Washington who say that she looks like Michelle Obama's mother, she responds, "I hear that a lot." Or she says that she is often mistaken for just another servant in the White House. She obviously has a wicked sense of humor.) I read that Ms. Obama says that she will not read this book since she has no interest in a writer's impression of others' impressions of her. From where I sit, she has little to worry about should she change her mind and read it. I would be teed off if I were she, however, that some person or persons high up in the administration talked to a reporter. But that is one of the givens of living in the White House-- or glass house. By the way, if you just read the captions with each of the photographs included in the book, you'll get pretty much what Ms. Kantor has to say.

The author says that she spent hundreds of hours with over two hundred people to get information for this book including David Axelrod, Valerie Jarrett, Robert Gibbs, Susan Sher, Eric Whitaker and Marty Nesbitt. Many of her sources did not want to be identified although she maintains that she crosschecked every source with other sources as well. She had also interviewed both of the Obamas in 2009 but not for this book. She also includes a sparse amount of sources that are identified. Of course the problem with any book of this type is that the reader has to take the author at her word and trust that both she and her sources are being truthful.

I'd give this book a B-.

The furor that this book caused when it was released made me want to read it with an open mind, neither looking for insults to the First Lady nor ignoring them. I found no evidence of anything other than reporting and impressions based upon documented interviews with some impressive sources. (Neither Michelle Obama nor President Obama were interviewed.) The book is intriguing, have been written by Ms. Kantor, who covered the Obamas for The New York Times during the 2008 presidential campaign, and is currently a Washington correspondent for the paper. Ms. Kantor tells a fascinating story of life inside the White House and the diverse personalities who interacted during both political and personal defeats and triumphs. I would highly recommend this fascinating biography.

I despise giving negative reviews, I really do.

But when I find such a flagrant error as the one I found on the back end paper of the hard cover edition of this book, I couldn't bring myself to spend time reading it.

The East Room in the White House is in the main building, not in the East Wing of the White House. If such a basic, simple fact is wrong, who knows what others are in the more than 300 pages of text?

I decided I didn't want to read something that had me constantly wondering about its accuracy. I rated it two stars as sort of an "E" for effort type thing.

The Obamas a fascinating portrait of two remarkable people and their marriage (no mean feat to try to attempt to understand any marriage!). It was also compulsively readable. I read it in just a few days' time.

Interesting to read some of the other the store reviews - I didn't feel that Kantor was at all apologizing for them but rather passing on what they thought via her sources (which she plainly explains in a section at the end). I also didn't think Kantor was endlessly flattering but rather portrayed them with all their warts (in fact, Obama himself comes off as considerably less "wonderful" and much more flawed than often portrayed).

Well researched, interesting book. Important read for many Americans, particularly those who buy "The Obamas are just like us" myth.
They are not.The author, contrary to the portrait painted by the White House and their cronies in the media, wrote a book that is smart,
well researched, and a sympathetic but honest portrait of the Obamas. Most people planning to vote this year should read it.

This book is an amazing read. Jodi Kantor clearly knows Washington inside and out - her contacts for "The Obamas" seem top-rate and make the book truly, truly absorbing. Having heard Kantor speak, I can say that she's very engaging and persuasive and is clearly so smart about politics and economics and the way the world works in DC - having her window into the city was fascinating and I really missed it when I was finished. As anyone who reads her work in the NYT knows, Kantor is an extremely gifted writer, and I found it very very hard to put "The Obamas" down. In addition to really interesting, I found the entire book very instructive (I'm very interested in healthcare and can honestly say before I read this, I was most naive about how the system works). I agree this is not an unflattering portrait - for me, to read it was to feel very lucky that anyone runs for public office because boy is it challenging. A must-read for anyone following the election .... you'll learn so much that will make you smarter and savvier this election season.

Jodi Kantor's book The Obamas is full of riveting stories about the challenges faced by a relatively inexperienced President during extremely challenging times. The book takes you inside the White House (including with annotated maps so you can see what happens where) and is based on interviews with all the key players. I was glad when I found the time to read the book myself because I now see that some of the criticism of the book by the White House and others is from people who can't admit that sometimes the truth hurts or from people who haven't actually read the book themselves. This is fair and balanced and the Obamas were long overdue for an independent review. I hope Jodi writes a sequel.

Ms. Kantor's well-researched and thoroughly-engaging book evenhandedly provides an informed, compelling glimpse not only into the inner workings and complex lives of America's First Couple, but also the hallowed, claustrophobic halls of The White House. That The Obamas should find their family, their values, and their optimism challenged there is little wonder. That they persist, evolve, endure and re-up for another round is a testimony to persistence and hope. In capturing some truth of The American Politician, and The American Condition, Ms. Kantor tells us something about our own lives, our own families, our own ambitions, and our own impossible expectations for The First Couple, and Our American Selves.

Jodi Kantor proves to be a fascinating social historian in this well researched and compelling view of the Obamas. Through a perspective few are privileged to have, she shares the story of politics, of life, and of the reality that is the presidency. This book truly captures many facets of their lives and Jodi so effectively writes the story that it will be read and read over again in our house!

Readers experienced with political insider books will recognize in The Obamas many of the dynamics present in other books about past administrations. Like Bob Wodward's books about the Bush Administration, Jodi Kantor obviously received a lot of information from aides working in the White House. Unlike Woodward's books, though, The Obamas comes at its subject more from the personal side than the political side. Rather than focusing on the workings of power in the West Wing, The Obamas describes at length the effect that President Obama's family has on him and his administration. The book also depicts how living in the White House and constantly being in the public eye affected the Obamas and how they responded.

One theme of The Obamas is their growing understanding of perception and images. Michelle Obama in particular is very conscious of the way that she is depicted in the media. She finds looking good by wearing nice clothes with professional makeup to be empowering. She makes conscious efforts to present herself well, do things well, and set a good example. There is a pair of scenes early on when Michelle is photographed wearing casual clothes on casual occasions, one while walking the family dog on White House grounds and another white visiting the Grand Canyon, and the First Lady received some unflattering press as a result. Ironically, when she dressed in expensive clothes, people noticed that as well and remarked accordingly. The book shows how the Obama Administration in general and Michelle in particular developed an improved sense of the value of imagery. Michelle if anything became more acutely conscious of how she dressed. Similarly, merely putting Michelle in a room of children or showing President Obama with his wife and daughters produced images that the public loved to see.

The White House's negative reaction to The Obamas confirms some of the other major themes of the book. The Obamas, for understandable personal and political reasons, want to limit and control the information that the public receives about their life in the White House. The Obama Administration also sometimes exhibits a tin ear about how the public will respond to something. The White House is reacting as if the book is somehow akin to Michelle being photographed in ordinary clothes (i.e., a failure to control the depictions of the First Family) rather than a humanizing portrayal of people who are trying to do their best under highly unusual circumstances. Michelle could have said "I haven't read the book and shouldn't comment." The White House could have said "We are too busy working on the issues facing our country to concern ourselves with the book." Instead, the White House's odd reaction is perhaps the best indication that the book gets its subjects largely right.

Made me feel more sympathetic to the Obamas and the struggles to adjust to the realities of White House living. It made them seem like human beings instead of just some prepared portrait painted by the media. I enjoyed this book immensely, and feel as if I can better understand where the Obamas are coming from, and how they perceive the world.

I was spurred to write this review only after reading a glowing one in the NYT Book Review. And I'm pleased to see that there are other readers who feel the same way as me. I want to help save at least one person from wasting his/her money. To sum up Kantor's book: There's no there there. Unauthorized books are challenging, yet there are plenty of such biographies that show depth and insight. "The Obamas" was a waste of my time. And Douglas Brinkley -- who I had believed to be a serious historian -- should be ashamed of himself for his praise of the book. As other one-star reviews point out, the book is a mishmash of gossip, anonymous sources, mind-reading and high-fallutin' -- though inevitably vacuous -- writing. Kantor's position at the NYT -- and the media attention on national outlets -- must be the main reason this book is getting the light of day. It's as if the National Enquirer dispatched a well-regarded journalist to write about the Obamas. Save your money. This is a book that shouldn't have been published because there's no there there.

This is a carefully researched and well written book by a NYT reporter covering Washington since 2007. It bears little resemblance to television sound bites emphasizing feuds between staff members. It portrays a President and First Lady who care deeply about their family, cherished long-time friends, and improving opportunities for socially and economically disadvantaged people throughout this country. Yes, they were naïve and unrealistic about the political process and made unrealistic promises, made some poor choices for staff members, and have failed to penetrate the security bubble the White House imposes. But it humanizes them as people who are trying very hard to solve nearly impossible problems despite a poisoned political environment. This book represents the difference between a conscientious journalist's insights and television "talking heads" simply seeking a sound bite or headline. If you are a reader who appreciates that, you must read it for yourself.

This book is hard to read, largely because it lacks fine editing. I found myself skipping large segments of sentences and some parts of paragraphs because they seemed unreadable to me.

On the merits, I have to say that I really expected a more contemporaneous account of the Obamas in the White House. However, it appears that the interviews for this tome ended in 2009, just after the Obamas moved into the White House. More than disappointing, actually. Don't recommend purchasing. If you must, get it from the library.

Jodi Kantor's "unauthorized" biography about the Obamas was a superficial political book. I was expecting something written with more quality, but let's face it, she's no Bob Woodward.

This was a "quick buck", high school "oh no he/she didn't!" type of book. It was written in haste with little historical or political context. It offers pretty much the same as Mark Halperin and John Heilman's book, "Game Change" - a lot of gossip and 3rd party innuendo. The fact that she based this book without interviewing the Obamas makes her conclusions and commentary ridiculous.

But what can you expect from a society that is crazy about reality TV and cares more about Kim Kardashian vs what's really important to know. Its authors like Jodi Kantor, who go for the superficial, which contributes to what's wrong with our society. If you're into Access Hollywood or have a limited attention span, then this might be for you.

The more discerning reader should stick to thoughtful books written by compelling and knowledgeable writers such as David McCulloch, Stephen Ambrose, or Howard Zinn etc.

I wish I could demand my money back.

I found this book to lack true "vetting" The author refers to White House staff as sources but all the tales are 2nd or 3rd hand, being passed about by staff. The only direct interview was 40 minutes with both of the Obamas. Kantor believes that brief interaction is enough to write a book about the First Lady?

It really wasn't worth my time or money.

The book is obviously written to make the obama's look good. How could it miss obama's communist upbringing and far left ideology? No matter how pretty Michelle tries to look for the public, she cannot distract from the reality that obama is an enemy of the Constitution. He went to a Black Liberation Theology church for 20 years. This is a twisted church that mixes Marxism with christianity. However, the media never questioned obama about the many inconsistancies in his past. This book is pure propoganda for the left.

This book is notable for omitting Obama's history and what turned him into such an America hater. Needed more about Frank Marshall Davis and Rev. Jeremiah Wright and their influence on the President. We are still looking for the book that describes his evolution into the anti-capitalist he is today.

The author hasn't even spoken directly to the Obamas since 2009 when they first moved into the White House. She's clearly sensationalized the book in order to sell copies of it and garner public attention. Don't waste your time or money on this volume.

I skimmed through it though, Kantor has good story-telling ability but no actually facts or basis for her claims all based off her own twisted opinions and views, heck.. if I had spent the time I could've easily come up with this book, hmmm.. maybe I will and call it "The Real Obamas" an in-depth look at what you haven't heard, sure it will be a best-seller.