Reviews tagging 'Racial slurs'

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou

123 reviews

aoifetriestoread's review against another edition

challenging emotional inspiring reflective fast-paced

5.0

This is genuinely the best book I’ve ever read in my life. From cover to cover I was hooked on every word. I’ve already started reading her second autobiography.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Rape, Racism, and Child abuse

mrsdarcylynn's review against another edition

slow-paced

4.0

I think I’m going to bump up my star rating- I had an average reading experience, but that may have been due to the darker elements of the book. In the end, I had a really hard time connecting to the narrative and the “so what”- maybe because I have read other narratives/stories like this one. Or maybe because so many memoirs today take the individual experience and connect it to larger world/societal events. Or maybe I don’t find memoirs about one’s childhood that interesting? 

I struggled with some of the authors outdated views regarding fatness,  being gay, and a few other issues that really took me out of the reading experience. I definitely recommend looking at trigger warnings before diving in- there’s some heavy topics. 

I think I would have benefited from reading some of her other work before her autobiography. Maybe then I would have connected to her writing on a deeper level. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Body shaming, Rape, Sexual assault, Racial slurs, Sexual violence, Child abuse, Racism, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Fatphobia, and Death

emilycornelius's review against another edition

challenging emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.75

Formidable writing about an extraordinary life. From the perspective of her as a child which connects to the inner child and human experience in all of us. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Racism, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, and Rape

Moderate: Pedophilia

Minor: Pregnancy

ariak07's review against another edition

tense medium-paced

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism and Racial slurs

seanamcphie's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, and Child abuse

hkingcrab's review against another edition

challenging lighthearted reflective sad medium-paced

4.5

I went in to this book not knowing much abt it except that it was well-known. I listened to the audiobook which is narrated by Angelou. I think if I had read it word by word, I would have cried. There are so many darker themes, but narrated very lightly. 
If you are a fan of Angelou, I think you would appreciate this book. Please check the content warnings before reading though. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Transphobia, Sexual assault, Lesbophobia, Rape, and Adult/minor relationship

Moderate: Racial slurs, Child abuse, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, and Physical abuse

kthickett's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape and Sexual assault

Moderate: Racial slurs, Racism, and Violence

michaelion's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective tense medium-paced

4.25

One thing that makes it hard to get through nonfiction is that it is often pure and objective fact, nothing but hard statements and the evidence to back it up, but Angelou writes in a way that doesn't just feel the way a memoir / autobiography would, like someone telling their life story, but in a way that is colorful and bright and fluid like fiction usually is. Well, good fiction at least.

And on a personal note a lot of moments hit a little tew close to home. I'm not gonna list them but not me and Miss Dr Angelou living the same life having the same experiences feeling the same feelings!!! I had to put the book down a couple times and cover my face!!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Rape, Child abuse, Racism, Domestic abuse, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Ableism, Classism, Grief, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Violence, Abandonment, Gaslighting, Murder, and Xenophobia

Minor: Hate crime, Abortion, Fatphobia, and Police brutality

nelsoneng's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Racial slurs, Rape, and Pedophilia

blainereads's review against another edition

reflective medium-paced

4.0

This is kind of tough as I’m reading it today, knowing full well that it changed the American literary canon and profoundly contributed to how we conceptualize race and identity in the United States—and I can easily see why, if considering it in the context of the 1960s/70s when it was initially published. 

Today, it falls a little bit flat and/or dry (though the trauma is, as it always will be, horrific); the instances of racism (towards Latinos and Asians) and implied homophobia, though understandable for the period, are still a bummer; and it is certainly not the most engaging memoir I’ve ever read, but I know that those incredibly compelling memoirs (often from marginzaled authors) only exist because of this one, so I suppose for that alone, it deserves at least four stars. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Sexual assault, Racism, Homophobia, Sexual violence, Racial slurs, Hate crime, and Child abuse