Full Disclosure: Yes, I am an Obama supporter, so my opinion is probably biased. Barack Obama chronicles his life in terms of what it meant for him to grow up black, but not quite. Despite having been raised by a white mother and white grandparents, the color of his skin automatically defined him as a "black man". To further complicate his search for self-identity, he had met his absent African father only once as a child.
For the most part well-written, the book sometimes reads like a novel (which makes for easy reading), and sometimes like an essay (which makes for somewhat dryer, slower, but still interesting, reading). Obama poses questions that all Americans, regardless of race, should consider. He spends the greater part of his young adulthood trying to figure out the meaning of race, for himself and for America. It's not until Obama visits Kenya for the first time that a flood of truth, history, and family helps him to come to terms with his father and himself. Reading the last third of the book felt like a rush, as by then, I felt vested in the protagonist's personal struggle (never mind that he's a prominent public figure).
On a trivial note, I wish the book had photos of family members, as many memoirs do, as I found myself wondering what they look like. (Turns out, photos are easily found online.) Also, I wish a family tree had been included.
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