Reviews with content warning for Sexual assault - I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

This memoir is incredibly important for its time, and Maya Angelou continues to be an important figure in Black history, not only for her clear technical ability in writing, but for her bravery to speak unabashedly about her life as a Black woman in the Jim Crow south. Published during one of the many dangerous peaks of white supremacy, during a time when civil rights activists were being targeted, harassed, and murdered, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings stands out as one of the most important memoirs ever written.

Despite its importance, I found it a bit of a tough read; probably because of the older style of writing that came across at times as disjointed. As a coming-of-age story, it's enjoyable and easy to get through, with plenty of moments of unbelievably beautiful prose that really showcase Maya Angelou's poetic talents.

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library_of_al's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring reflective fast-paced

4.0

I like the writing and I found a lot of what Angelou was saying relatable in some ways, but I didn’t quite understand the ending. For the whole book I felt like I was waiting for something more, but it never came. I think there might be a second book to this, though I’m not sure. What Angelou had written is very insightful of the Black experience and honestly people should be forced to read this book instead of “To Kill A Mockingbird” because Angelou just captures experiences so much better than Harper Lee ever could.

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jalexpulliamkepler's review against another edition

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challenging slow-paced

4.0

Interesting and often moving but sometimes felt more like a series of essays than a memoir

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torturedreadersdept's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

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whityreading's review against another edition

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reflective slow-paced

3.0

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bookishkarina's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional fast-paced

5.0

Highly, HIGHLY recommend the audiobook! Maya Angelou's voice is just absolutely magnificent. It draws you in immediately, brings you into the story and holds you there from beginning to end. Angelou's voice just does something to you. Check your trigger warnings tough.

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ed_moore's review against another edition

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informative inspiring fast-paced

3.0

Maya Angelou’s ‘I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings’ is a memoir of her time facing racism, sexism and questions of her sexuality as a child and teenager. It is also difficult to review a memoir as it is almost as if I am reviewing and praising or criticising another’s life and experiences, though am still inclined to come to some conclusion on such. It follows her and her brother Bailey navigating childhood in the Deep South of America before returning to their parents in the North.

This potion of her life was illuminating, turbulent and interesting though I struggled to entirety engage with the book, though narrated by Angelou herself with so much passion, both memoirs aren’t my typical genre and the book felt really fragmented. I am still unsure if this may be because I could’ve listened to an abridged version, though am not even sure wether it was abridged or not as I have found nothing to say otherwise though my audiobook recording felt really short. Abridged or otherwise, Angelou’s decision to split her autobiography across 7 books, ‘I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings’ only being the first, it still lacked any satisfying closure and just seemed to end without warning, not even setting itself up for the second book.

Each fragmented event was interesting and held literary merit in itself, but as a chronology they really didn’t work for me and just felt tacked together with no particular rhyme nor reason. I will also highlight that there are highly detailed scenes of SA that occur in Angelou’s life and therefore autobiography, it is handled well illuminating to see the shifting emotions as Angelou grappled with understanding her victimisation, but still worth being aware of if undertaking this book. It was certainly interesting, whereas I don’t think the first part (and most praised) was enough to persuade me to undertaking the vast number of further parts in Angelou’s collection of memoirs.

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