This was a hard book for me to “rate.” It is difficult to untangle the book from all the publicity on the presidential candidate. I voted for Barack Obama in the Oregon primary just before I finally got to the head of the line for the book at the library. There was nothing in the book that really surprised me. I am still glad I voted for him.

I really enjoyed the first three-fourths of “Dreams from My Father” and was impressed with Obama’s humanity and admission of flaws. This is clearly not a book written with the thought of pushing a presidential candidate. If nothing else, Obama’s constant descriptions of smoking tend to paint him in negative light in today’s world.

The last section of the book covered a trip to Africa to visit the complicated and divided family of a father he really did not know. I realize this visit was a big part of what gave him the opportunity to write a memoir as such a young age. It had to be in there. However, I wished for more on his life in America including the influences of his time at Harvard Law School. I felt I was just getting to know what makes him tick when the book veered off onto a story about a family that had no influence in forming him.

I finally decided to give this book four stars rather than 3 because the author identifies some of the flaws in the preface to the new edition. He admitted the “urge to cut the book 50 pages or so” and wished the book had more celebration of his mother and less “meditation on the absent parent…”

In the long run this book matters little since there is so much more on the table now. I sincerely hope that Barack Obama can live up to some of dreams so many people have for him.