`I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings' is the first part of Maya Angelou's six volume autobiography and looks at her life as a black child growing up in pre war America. She spends her time between the town of Stamps in the south and St Louis and California and is moved between her mother and grandmother for much of her childhood. Her grandmother gives her discipline, love, stoicism and devout belief in the lord and her mother gives her a belief in herself and a wild love of life. Maya has to deal with the various tribulations of growing up in a racist country during a time of cultural upheaval, as well as the terrible ordeal of being raped at the hands of one of her mothers boyfriends. She copes with all life throws at her with bravery and fortitude. This also focuses on the relationship she has with her brother, Bailey, and how they supported one another though the toughest times of their childhood. This book truly reads like a novel and Maya's style is beautiful and richly descriptive, so much so that at times you forget you are reading an autobiography. The world Maya paints for us can seem hostile and scary and yet you finish the book with a sense of hope and positivity. This is a profoundly moving book, that is exceptionally well written and is well worth a read at some point, even if you aren't a fan of biographies.
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I'd forgotten how beautifully written this book is, but it is Maya Angelou, so you'd expect that! Still up-to-date, non-sensationalist, with warm colours, aromas and sounds emanating from every page. It is a book of love.
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dignified, insightful and so very moving. The last page left me with such a feeling of hope for her future, a beautiful book.
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Written well enough for me to delve straight into a time I have never experienced first hand, 1930's black America became as real to me as if I had been born and raised in it. Which is exactly what Maya Angelou was.
The fact that it is a true story, an autobiography, meant the story itself wasn't always gripping in the immediate sense, but I became so familiar and attached to the characters that I yearned to know their fate.
Empowering and wonderful, it's a must read.
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I had the privilege of briefly meeting Maya Angelou about 20 years ago. I have never met anyone with more charisma.
Her book tells her powerful story of her upbringing - that so much can happen to a little girl is shocking. To a white British man, her story reads like ancient history from a far-off place, and yet it is set in a modern Western country.
I can strongly recommend this book.
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