Book Review: My Beloved World by Sonia Sotomayor

I don’t usually read biographies, and am even less likely to read a biography of a current figure, but when I heard Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor discussing her memoir, My Beloved World, on the Diane Rehm show, I was intrigued enough to download a preview from Amazon. I was drawn in to her story from the start, and already have encouraged several friends to check it out. 

From the Amazon.com book description:

The first Hispanic and third woman appointed to the United States Supreme Court, Sonia Sotomayor has become an instant American icon. Now, with a candor and intimacy never undertaken by a sitting Justice, she recounts her life from a Bronx housing project to the federal bench, a journey that offers an inspiring testament to her own extraordinary determination and the power of believing in oneself.

Even though I am an attorney and follow some Supreme Court decision for my work, I chose this book for the personal story that Justice Sotomayor tells. This is not a “rise to fame” story about how she became a Supreme Court Justice, or a “peek behind the curtains” at the Court. Rather, in this memoir Justice Sotomayor shares amazingly intimate details about her family circumstances, challenges, opportunities and hard work that got her from “the projects” to Yale to Harvard Law school and, eventually, to the Supreme Court. She shamelessly acknowledges that affirmative action opened many doors for her, but rightfully shows that she wouldn’t have been able to get through those doors (and the next ones) without her own talent and efforts. While I still disagree with some of her legal decisions, I have more respect for her as a person.

One of the passages that really struck me comes from the Preface, where Justice Sotomayor reflects on a question a student asked her:

Given that there are only nine Supreme Court Justices, each with life tenure, can anyone realistically aspire to such a goal?

She writes:

Experience has taught me that you cannot value dreams according to the odds of their coming true. Their real value is in stirring within us the will to aspire. 

I shouldn’t be surprised that the book is so well-written, but as Justice Sotomayor explains in the Preface, “a personal memoir requires a different style than a legal opinion.” Still, beautiful insight like this passage about two sisters goes far beyond most memoirs:

They were like two trees with buried roots so tangled that they inevitably leaned on each other, and also strangled each other a bit.

I don’t think my professional legal circle ever will intersect with hers, but if it does, I will have to find the courage to tell her how much I enjoyed reading her memoir, and how proud I am that a woman like her is serving on the Supreme Court.

Do you enjoy reading biographies?

Have you ever met a “famous” person that you look up to?