After her devastating defeat in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, Hillary Clinton published this memoir in September 2017. She looks back on her experience in the past three years as a Democratic candidate and more importantly, the first female nominee of a major party. In the course of this reflection, she gives a personal and (seemingly) honest recount of her campaign, behind the scenes sentiments, and her side of the email controversy. In addition to this, she spends the beginning and end focusing on how she dealt with the aftermath of her failure, wrapping up the book on an apolitical note.

As a complete outsider to American politics, I loosely followed the 2016 election because I was curious how a female candidate would perform and concerned about what I would be stepping into as an international student there. Hillary Clinton seemed like, as she admits in this book, a somewhat unapproachable and cold politician. People like her are often associated with obstacles blocking the path to fundamental changes in national policy, and conspiracies associated with international terrorism and certain foreign countries. This is why I was pleasantly surprised to meet Clinton the person instead of Clinton the Democratic, who turned out to be a compassionate, caring, and charismatic woman. From her detailed recount of her campaign and the election, I learned quite a bit about how candidacies work and how much effort is put into gaining votes. The descriptions of her team’s personal relationships and spontaneous activities were imbued with so many authentic details that they substantially altered my impression of Clinton. In this respect, this book is successful in portraying Clinton as an amiable and lovable person.

While I viewed the middle portion about the election as merely informative, it’s the most debated section of the whole book since many American readers find it too political and intentionally shady. In other words, it is evident from Clinton’s tone and description that she blames a number of people and groups for her ultimate failure. She doesn’t hesitate to name them and repeatedly describe their faults in her eyes. Moreover, she even devotes whole parts and chapters to those who supported the email controversy that set the last nail in her campaign’s coffin. In retrospect, this section does sound a bit petty and gives off the (possibly unintended) impression that she hasn’t made peace with the result of the election. In fact, a past presidential candidate who lost his election openly criticized Clinton for speaking out too early, suggesting that her recollection would inevitably sound bitter to the common reader, which is a valid point in this case. What also catches my attention is how Clinton casts excessive and unnecessary shade on Trump, calling him multiple bad names and condemning every imaginable aspect of his performance as a candidate and a president. While this can be read as standing by her political views, it can also be interpreted as the complaints of a sore loser.

An unsuccessful attempt by Clinton to underscore her generosity and compassion was constantly mentioning her daughter and granddaughter, which easily becomes a platitude that just sounds repetitive. There are many possible ways to describe how one loves and cares for her family, but most of Clinton’s words are spent on telling us that she enjoys being a grandmother. It’s clear that she writes about her granddaughter to flesh out her perceived character, and although I dislike the specific way she’s doing this, I think there is at least some genuineness in it. She also tries to describe how she copes with her defeat, which includes some self-help methods that just don’t feel like they’re fulfilling any purpose in the book. Like many would imagine, a politician talking about herbal tea and long walks sounds more strange then relatable. But she does manage to sound funny—and, most importantly, in her element—while talking about political issues.

The sole factor that makes this book exciting for me is the overarching feministic theme. Regardless of the specific national policies she’s raised in the past, I respect her for working so hard in this field that is dominated by mostly men. It’s important for young women to see how her campaign was taken seriously and advocated by a strong team of Americans of all genders and races. Even if the first female president is a Republican, it will be a monumental step for the United States as a country. On the other hand, I think the gender of any candidate shouldn’t be the strongest part of the base of his/her campaign. Voters shouldn’t be voting for a candidate just because she’s female, but more importantly, because her actions will benefit the country and its people. I sincerely hope that people, whatever country they’re from, won’t be overlooking important national issues when they’re making crucial decisions.

Overall, Clinton’s writing is pleasant to read because it truly does feel like a conversation on paper. While I enjoy seeing her as a relatable person, I would prefer to read about her experience in politics, which would be written with more ease.