Review: Kamala's Way: An American Life

Summary: A biography of  Kamala Harris, the first Black, Asian and woman to be elected Vice President of the United States. The book is written by Dan Morain, a  reporter who has covered California politics for more than 40 years.

Review: If you looking to learn more about Kamala the person, this isn't the book for you.

If you are looking to learn more about how Kamala got to where she is today, this is the book for you. Sort of.

The book talks very briefly about her personal life. Morain mentions her mother, sister and niece in brief clips. Second Gentleman Doug gets one small chapter. And I didn't know until I read this book that her father was still alive. Kamala doesn't talk about him, so I just assumed that he was dead.

The book is mostly about her political life and the rise from Bay Area prosecutor to Vice President. But this book left a bitter taste in my mouth.

One reason is that this book comes off as very gossipy and it was to the point that I almost gave up reading it. Morain talks about Kamala's relationship with Assembly Speaker Willie Brown, who had a lot of power in the California legislature and was also Mayor of San Francisco. Kamala was the other woman (he was much older and married with kids) and eventually figured out she deserved better.  Brown is mentioned several times in the book to make it seemed like "if it wasn't for him, she wouldn't be where she's at".

Boy bye.

Another thing that left a bad taste was that the author made it seem like Kamala, while holding various positions (mostly as District Attorney and state Attorney General), at times was indecisive and could have taken action when she should have. Morain also kept bringing up a cop's murder and that Kamala didn't seek the death penalty for the killer. But one of her campaign promises was never to seek the death penalty (most likely because it's mostly Black folks that wind up on death row).  Morain also implied that a lot of the grilling she did while she was in the US Senate, confronting that orange man's co-conspirators, was for show.  And used that to capitalized her run for president.

Really, dude?

But this book did show some compassionate moments, including talking to kids, comforting victims of violence and checking in on friends who have lost loved ones. Like doing things that normal humans do.

But mostly, this book came off as "Where did this Black lady come from and why she's only a heartbeat away from becoming the Leader of the Free World?" It seemed like she was being dogged for being an ambitious woman (and a Black/Asian one at that). You can tell this book was rushed (the author wrote it in two months) and the ending was very abrupt.

Just read The Truths We Hold. You will be better off.

Auntie deserves better.