And Then Life Happens – Auma Obama

Auma Obama’s memoir is underrated. I don’t think we know what we’re missing by not reading the book. (Okay now I have) I get the feeling that this book gets passed as the book by Obama’s sister and everyone has the vibe that it’ll talk about Obama from cover to cover.

The more thrilling part is that Auma let’s you believe it’s a book about her brother. As if to mock you and say, yes this book is everything you imagined it would be. She opens the book with an all about Barry story in full regalia with even the Clintons.

You need to be patient enough to know that as all memoirs it’s a story about her life. And yes she has a life aside from being Obama’s sister and one that will have you on your toes at all junctures. She has an amazing story telling gift where she tells you what most authors drag through in an attempt to build suspense. She’ll tell you her marriage was on the rocks before you could even smell blood in the water. Then you’ll be hooked wondering how it went all wrong. Get it from me, her relationships are all so relatable; ladies, I guarantee you, you’ve had at least one of the situations in your life.

What I appreciate more about her book is that she talks about her strained relationship with her father without dehumanizing him. She doesn’t just tell the story from the perspective of an angry teenager. She very well explains the hardships her family went through the misunderstanding and the lost time. That you must read, it really makes you realize how complicated family relationships are but even more how important they are.

Finally, she talks about growing up with Barry and getting to know a brother from another mother in a different continent and what it takes to make them work. I wouldn’t dare spoil the beauty of that relationship. You just need to read it for yourself!

I had my reservations before I read this I saw, ‘Translated by Ross Benjamin’ and immediately I felt like so much would be lost in translation from German to English. I have however been proven wrong. This was a genuinely fantastic book to read. The kind that’s relatable because she’s a Kenyan sister going through life and unrelatable because she’s doing all this on another corner of the world.

Be sure to enjoy it before I spoil it all!

Format: Paperback

Publisher: Lübbe

Published: 2013

Genre: A Memoir

Setting: Kenya, Germany, London

Pages: 342

Price: Ksh. 2100

Copy acquired via: Graduation gift fom my cousins

Available at: Book Duka: The African Bookstore