amarisafloria

Adult Non-Fiction // Category: Memoir

Release Date: November 13, 2018

Publisher: Crown (Penguin Random House)

Format: Audiobook • 19 hours 3 minutes

Rating: 5 stars

My first five-star read of 2021 ✨⁣
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Don't be intimidated by this chonky book! The audiobook may be 19 hours long, but it feels just like a long conversation with Michelle Obama. For some reason, I was worried that I wouldn't connect with this memoir because I didn't know much about the Obama family. So I'm here to say that you don't need to know anything about them before reading! Michelle Obama discusses her entire life, as a child and growing up, all the way to meeting Barack Obama and their journey to his presidency. And she does so in such a natural and down-to-earth way.⁣
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A handful of times, I've talked about struggling to share the "in progress" version of me on Instagram. It’s not a secret that I'm currently looking for work that's specific to the career I want to start, and have been in "limbo" for a while now. In Becoming, Michelle Obama talks a lot about the uncertainties she's faced regarding her career, and it brought me a sense of comfort. I was talking about it to my husband (I always give him a lil summary and my thoughts whenever I finish a book 🤣) and he said it's easy for her to bring those things up because she's at a place where she wants to be now. She's no longer in those difficult positions.⁣
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True, it may be easy for her to tell us that practicing law didn't bring her joy, or that she was hesitant about Barack Obama becoming a senator and then president. But the comforting thing is knowing that she's been where I am now, and she came out strong. She figured out what she's passionate about, and she pursues those things relentlessly, even now. Whether it's creating campaigns to encourage healthy eating or supporting students to stay in school, she puts her heart and soul into it.⁣
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Sometimes, it's nice to hear from powerful people that they don't know what they're doing. Not as an ego boost, but it's kinda like … proof that they recognize and are willing to admit they're human too.

Adult Fiction // Categories: Contemporary, Women's Fiction

Release Date: March 10, 2020

Publisher: Atria Books (Simon & Schuster)

Format: Audiobook • 6 hours 45 minutes

Rating: 3.5 stars

In Five Years follows a woman named Dannie who is living the seemingly perfect life—she just nailed an interview for her dream job and ended the day with a marriage proposal from the man of the dreams. But after falling asleep that night, she wakes up in an apartment that is definitely not hers, and next to a man she doesn't recognize. The news is on TV, and she finds out it is now five years later.

I am going to stop the synopsis here, because I think there is enough intrigue for you to decide if it's interesting enough for you to pick up or skip. Instead, let me talk around it and tell you some things I wish I was aware of before reading:

1. In terms of genre, In Five Years leans more toward women's fiction than romance.
2. It's not a time-travel novel. Dannie doesn't spend any more time in the "future" outside of that one night.

By describing this book as "women's fiction," I just mean it's a fictional story, written by a woman, about women and issues that women go through. I'm not saying that men cannot read this book—it's just a very general term I'm using to contrast the romance genre, which is more focused on how a romantic relationship develops. In women's fiction, there is generally a bigger focus on other things outside of romance (but that's not to say there is no romance in women's fiction.) ANYWAY, this is not a discussion on women's fiction vs. romance lol.

I guess you can see the difficulties in distinguishing between the two genres, which is something that affected my enjoyment of this book. Even after listening to the first 10%, I was thinking, "ooh, it's going to be a love story where Dannie will have to decide if she's really happy staying with her fiancé because of the dream she had!" And it is, to a certain extent, but it's not the focus.

I've been really conflicted because how I feel and how I should feel doesn't match up. It's an emotional story, which means everything in my heart is supposed to be wrung out. But I kinda felt ... cheated? Like I wasn't introduced properly to what the story would be, even after getting past the first third. It's like I made a plan to visit the beach and I ended up at a ski resort. Both are places I love, but I didn't prepare to go snowboarding! I think it just seems like In Five Years was two different stories combined together to make one, and it negatively affected my experience and appreciation. I liked how everything came together, but I would've loved this book so much more if it built up the theme of friendship from the beginning.

If you want to know more, there's a spoiler section in my Goodreads review!