Reviews - I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

6.6k reviews for:

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

Maya Angelou

4.28 AVERAGE

laurolly's review against another edition

3.75

emotional inspiring reflective fast-paced

shahirsaleheen's review against another edition

5.0

To write an autobiography in such a poignant, yet inspiring way is something unlike any other autobiography I've ever read. Maya Angelou writes with so much power and conviction in her poems, and I've known her to be one of the greatest poets in modern American history. When I finally had the opportunity to read this novel, an autobiography based on her life living in Stamps, Arkansas, St. Louis, Missouri, among other pivotal places, I was so gripped by the story of her circumstances and the circle of people she lived with and experienced, I ended up reading this book in one sitting.

My favorite themes within this novel is Maya's relationship with her family, and her connection with the world around her as someone who was often displaced. With some of the horrors and hardships she experienced over the course of her young life, it was apparent that her family would have a very complex relationship with her, often relating to the experience of trying to survive in the South as a Black American in the 1930s. In many ways, family often contributed to some of the hardships within her life, from the moves across the courtry away from her parents, dealing with the emotions of abandonment with her brother. Despite the discipline her grandmother and uncles gave them, they often were a symbol of protection and stabilty during their time in Stamps, and her relationship with her Grandmother and mother, as well with her teachers that motivated her to pursue literature, contributed to this complex community fabric that built the foundation of Maya Angelou's life. The situations she was forced to deal with growing up were disturbing, reflective on the awful conditions Black women were subjugated to, via the white supremacist patriarchy she was raised in. The women that surrounded her in that time span helped push her to become the best person she could be, and it's a testament to the community of womanhood that exists that often saves lives and protects women in the most direct ways.