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4.23 AVERAGE
4.23 AVERAGE
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
slow-paced
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
slow-paced
A lot of beautiful wording and phrasing in this book that stunned me upon reading it. I've thought a lot about my ancestors, relatives and the people before me that have allowed me to become the person I am now and through this book, I've been thinking more about my role in connecting back to that heritage.
beautiful reflections on identity and post-colonial africa. i loved her intention on exploring her own purpose and meaning and where that fits into the larger scheme of things.
challenging
reflective
medium-paced
I perhaps shouldn't take on reading Maya Angelou's autobiographies out of order (I have previously only read I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, #1 in her saga) but I still enjoyed this book plenty.
It was particularly interesting as an examination of Black American ex-pats living in Africa in the 1960s. I'm learning a lot right now about efforts by both white segregationists and Black African nationalists to "re-colonize" African Americans back to Africa as early as pre-Civil War and continuing even to the present day. So it was interesting to see how in the height of the Civil Rights Movement in the '60s, a lot of people we would consider leaders in that movement or at least in advancing the interests of Black Americans chose to spend their time in Africa. They found community with other ex-pats but it was interesting to see Angelou reflect on how they weren't really "home" and how Africa did not just welcome them back with open arms. Angelou, with her beautiful way with language, shares how she both felt a part of, and apart from, the African people surrounding her. “We had come home and if home was not what we had expected, never mind, our need for belonging allowed us to ignore the obvious and to create real places or even illusory places, benefitting our imagination.”
“Many years earlier I, or rather someone very like me and certainly related to me, had been taken from Africa by force. This second leave-taking would not be so onerous, for now I knew my people had never completely left Africa. We had sung it in our blues, shouted it in our gospel and danced the continent in our breakdowns. As we carried it to Philadelphia, Boston and Birmingham we had changed its color, modified its rhythms, yet it was Africa which rode in the bulges of our high calves, shook in our protruding behinds and cackled in our wide open laughter.”
It was particularly interesting as an examination of Black American ex-pats living in Africa in the 1960s. I'm learning a lot right now about efforts by both white segregationists and Black African nationalists to "re-colonize" African Americans back to Africa as early as pre-Civil War and continuing even to the present day. So it was interesting to see how in the height of the Civil Rights Movement in the '60s, a lot of people we would consider leaders in that movement or at least in advancing the interests of Black Americans chose to spend their time in Africa. They found community with other ex-pats but it was interesting to see Angelou reflect on how they weren't really "home" and how Africa did not just welcome them back with open arms. Angelou, with her beautiful way with language, shares how she both felt a part of, and apart from, the African people surrounding her. “We had come home and if home was not what we had expected, never mind, our need for belonging allowed us to ignore the obvious and to create real places or even illusory places, benefitting our imagination.”
“Many years earlier I, or rather someone very like me and certainly related to me, had been taken from Africa by force. This second leave-taking would not be so onerous, for now I knew my people had never completely left Africa. We had sung it in our blues, shouted it in our gospel and danced the continent in our breakdowns. As we carried it to Philadelphia, Boston and Birmingham we had changed its color, modified its rhythms, yet it was Africa which rode in the bulges of our high calves, shook in our protruding behinds and cackled in our wide open laughter.”
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
This was my first book by Maya Angelou and I love how it read like a poem despite sharing none of the structure. She writes about searching for home and a sense of belonging, articulating feelings I hadn't known I'd felt. Living in New York, I often romanticize moving to a different borough, city, country... Angelou acts on these feelings and describes how her experience in Ghana evolves from an idyllic homecoming to a candid observation and finally, the realization that home is what she had left behind. Throughout her ups and downs, she writes with a graceful candor that never once evokes judgement or pity, a testament to her character and writing.
She uses the discrepancies between her life in Africa and America to convey, without accusing, the extent to which prejudices permeate American life. I found myself seeing the world through her eyes despite sharing none of her cultural history (another testament to her writing), feeling her awe and empowerment upon being the majority and observing things like Africans on the local currency and entering government buildings. She also describes her disheartenment upon realizing that slavery is not as black and white as she believed. In Africa, the victim and offender often shared the same skin color; her black skin does not put her firmly on the right side of morality.
"If the heart of Africa remained elusive, my search for it had brought me closer to understanding myself and other human beings. The ache for home lives in all of us, the safe place where we can go as we are and not be questioned."
She uses the discrepancies between her life in Africa and America to convey, without accusing, the extent to which prejudices permeate American life. I found myself seeing the world through her eyes despite sharing none of her cultural history (another testament to her writing), feeling her awe and empowerment upon being the majority and observing things like Africans on the local currency and entering government buildings. She also describes her disheartenment upon realizing that slavery is not as black and white as she believed. In Africa, the victim and offender often shared the same skin color; her black skin does not put her firmly on the right side of morality.
"If the heart of Africa remained elusive, my search for it had brought me closer to understanding myself and other human beings. The ache for home lives in all of us, the safe place where we can go as we are and not be questioned."
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced