Dreams from my Father by Barack Obama

The Forncett Reading group provides us each month with a different and interesting choice of book for discussion when we meet the following month. A recent choice  was Dreams from my Father by Barack Obama,  chosen to coincide with his inauguration as president of the United States.

 This is a memoir, a personal account of his family history written in 1995, with a preface written before the 2004 publication. Barack Obama wrote this while he was at Law school as a result of being the first African American president of the Harvard law review, a preview of things to come!

At the beginning of the book he receives a phone call from Nairobi from his Aunt Jane telling him that his father has been killed in a car accident. At the time of this call his father was "a myth to him".   He had left the family home when Barack was two and his memories were through the stories his mother and grandparents told. We then begin a journey about his feelings for his father, the influence he has on him from Kenya.   We read about the strong relationship with his mother and the life he had living with his grandparents with moves to Indonesia and Hawaii as part of his young life. All of this is written with such love and respect for his family. When he graduated from college he decided to become a community organiser. He tells of his hardships in achieving this aim and then meeting Marty Kaufman who was trying to pull blacks and suburban whites together to save manufacturing jobs in Chicago.  This involved working with mainly church communities.  It demonstrates how the difficulties were overcome by sheer tenacity and how he was changed by this challenging job

The final part of the book is his journey to Kenya and the meeting with his African family. The complex issues of finding out who he was and what he cared about, a circle to close are revealed in this emotive part of the book. There is a lyrical description of a safari in Masi territory, a journey by train from Nairobi to Kisumu and all of these against a constant dialogue with his family. Vibrant oral histories are revealed and enjoyment, compassion are revealed in these African voices from the past and present.

I found this a very readable, sensitive and in places poetic piece of writing.  It is a remarkable story and when you see him now as President of the United States you feel the book has added to the knowledge of his background and development of his ideas, values and Christian beliefs.

Histories of families and how they arrive at certain points, mix and then go on their disparate ways is always fascinating and awe inspiring. The courage and integrity to face your past is not easy! This is the family history of a man who has changed American history and promises a new vision for America .The reading of this beautifully written memoir is a must. But as with all the books the Forncett Reading group read opinion was divided! So try it for yourself and see what you think.

Margaret Hickman Smith