It is not often that someone with the celebrity rankings of Sarah Palin comes into American popular culture, and even rarer for them to be in politics. A year and a half ago most people in the Lower 48, as Palin calls the continental United States, had probably never heard of the Alaskan governor. Now, she is a superstar.
In her memoir, "Going Rogue," Palin tells her life story, giving us a better idea of who she is and how she became the maverick that she is today.
Palin comes off as a genuine woman whose love and enthusiasm for her country, state, family and God knows no bounds. She displays an independent spirit and instills this in her children. For example, her eldest daughter Bristol, a teenaged mom, wakes at 4 a.m. to work as a barista and takes college courses in the late afternoon, while her mother reportedly got a $5 million advance for her memoir.
Her father was a schoolteacher who carried his lessons to the Palin dinner table: her mother was a popular school secretary. Palin's childhood was a busy one, like her adulthood. She belonged to 4-H, Girl Scouts, band, ballet and played many sports. Her young life in Alaska reads like a more modern Little House On The Prairie, although more gory. She was a tomboy who enjoyed hunting with her dad, but drew the line when he cut out the eyeballs of a moose and asked her to hold them.
Palin is mother first and foremost and makes it clear throughout the book that her childrens' well-being is what matters most, not problems that arise with her political career. Between her first and second child, she suffered a miscarriage, which she said carved a new depth in her heart. "I became a little less Pollyanna-ish, a little less naïve about being invincible and in control. And I became a lot more attuned to other people's pain."
Her strongest criticisms in the book are aimed at the McCain campaign staff, which she does not agree with how the campaign was handled. And Katie Couric. She hates Katie Couric, who Palin felt treated her unfairly. The first half of the 413 page book is about her life before she got the call from John McCain asking her to be his running mate. The other half is the year after that call.
After the 2008 election, the book takes a negative turn when Palin is forced to deal with the ugly side of national politics, and she has no problem complaining about it. She laments on the stresses she puts on her family, who had to, and continues to endure, attacks from the media.
Palin's first book is a fun read. Filled with her unique style of folksy humor, Going Rogue, works as a way of planting seeds for a future political career, maybe even running for president in 2012 and/or replacing Oprah. It also serves as an inspiration to visit Alaska and experience the northern most part of our country where you can have moose chili, hunt, and fish all under the midnight sun.
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