katiewilkins186

This autobiography describes Sonia Sotomayor’s life from her earliest memories to the time when she became a judge. It carefully avoids touching on her political opinions, focusing instead on personally formative experiences. These include her close relationship with her grandmother and her only recently repaired relationship with her mother. It includes a ton of inspiring sentences that I could see underlined in my kindle version, each of which lets you see a little part of Sonia Sotomayor’s personality that must have been crucial in making her dreams a reality.

Even though I don’t follow politics very much, I really enjoyed getting to know a public figure’s background so intimately. More than anything else, I’d like to vote for politicians who I believe are good people. That would be much easier if everyone in politics wrote a book like this! This autobiography seems extremely candid and includes many moving, personal moments. I’m fairly sure I teared up a few times reading about how she overcame various challenges in her life. The book was very well written and I liked how straightforward the author was in admitting that she was intentionally avoiding talking about her political beliefs.

My one problem with this book was how seriously it was written. While it was beautiful, intimate, and inspiring, I didn’t feel much of a personal connection with the author. This could just be because our life experiences are very different, while many stunt memoirs that I read are by women addressing problems that I relate to. But I also felt that her memoir lacked the humor and down-to-earthness of some other authors. It felt a little more professional and a little more distant. That said, it was moving in the way that a movie can be moving even though it isn’t connected to you personally. It was also a great way to get to know someone who plays a crucial role in the politics of our country. So, if you’re looking for a memoir that’s a little more serious than the typical stunt memoir or are very interested in politics, I think you would probably enjoy this book even more than I did.

This review first published on Doing Dewey.