After seeing several interviews with Melania Trump about this book, I wanted to read it for the additional details and perspectives on recent history. Melania is much maligned in the mainstream media, and often overlooked in terms of her own experiences. I wanted to give her the chance to be heard in her own voice and also to learn more about her as an important figure. One can argue about whether a First Lady is “important”, but to me, as someone who is right in the thick of things, especially in this US administration, she is important.
Candidly, this book is not well written. The hyperbolic adjectives and adverbs, the jumbled timelines, and the exclusion of some details to link events together make for a challenging read. The stories about more recent events, and especially her experiences in the 2016 campaign and election and subsequent term in the White House, were the most interesting. Here, the reader gains their best insights into the author. Melania is a strong and independent woman, a proud American, and a devoted mother. Her family is the driver for most of her beliefs and actions. Her love and commitment to Donald and Barron are clear, and the effort she contributes to the larger Trump family, her own parents, and to children more broadly is admirable.
While she talks about the hurt experienced when the media targets her or her family (especially Barron), one gets the impression that she is understating these; she tries to maintain a positive attitude, which comes through in her effusive praise for many things compared to her more muted criticism of others. The exceptions are her thoughts and feelings about staff members letting her down, celebrities expressing uninformed opinions about her, and the media who target both Barron and her. Specifically, when there was a round of media commentary about whether Barron is autistic (he is not), she is protective of him and aggressive in her response. Similarly, the backlash around her fashion choice when visiting the US southern border distracted from her justified anger at the media’s deliberate distortions of her and at her staff refusing to push back. About this, she is very clear: her fashion message was for the media, saying, “I do not care what you say about me.”
While Melania is an impressive and strong woman, her backstory is less inspirational than interesting in a People magazine kind of way. She is not a writer and seems not to have had any editorial support for this story, but perhaps this reflects her commitment to telling her story in her own voice. Indeed, while reading, it was helpful to imagine hearing her voice for the cadence and language to make a bit more sense.
I’m glad I read this book, but can’t say it was good or I enjoyed it. I think there are likely better ways and sources for the facts of the Trump political area, but few more gentle and honest glimpses of that life from the inside. I hope Melania’s second term in the White House is both more gentle on her and her family and more powerful in terms of her accomplishing her own goals.
Fate: Little book library
4 – published 2024
7 – debut book
8 – female author
14 – a name in the title
23 – a memoir
25 – new author to me
31 – history/politics
rclr 
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