Publishers Weekly
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The Democratic governor of Michigan shares life lessons and political wisdom in her unsatisfyingly brief debut memoir. Whitmer recaps the challenges she has faced in office, among them a social media attack by then President Trump in the early days of the pandemic, a mass school shooting at a high school north of Detroit, and a headline-grabbing plot to kidnap her that was disrupted by the FBI. But readers hoping for a deeper look at the governor’s life and politics will be disappointed by what reads like little more than standard campaign fare. The book’s most moving and courageous moment details Whitmer’s 2013 decision, as a state representative, to go public with the story of her rape in college in a bid to sink a bill that forced women to buy extra health insurance for abortion coverage. (The bill passed, but Whitmer oversaw the law’s repeal in 2023.) In breezy prose, Whitmer manages to relay some personal insights—folksy wisdom shared by her grandmothers, a family penchant for gallows humor, and the admission that she “ran with a fast crowd” as a student, for example. But the net effect is to leave readers wanting more. There is almost certainly enough material—personal and political—for Whitmer to deliver a meaty memoir. Unfortunately, this isn’t it. (July)