Reviews tagging 'Fatphobia'

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou

4 reviews

wickedgrumpy's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad tense slow-paced

3.75

Difficult to read, but in the way that it challenges how you think about things.

In particular this made me consider the times it took place during, the "good ole days" and how shitty they were for a lot people.  I make it a habit to not read much about a book before I pick it up to give everything a fair chance and the reason why I picked those one up was because I saw it on a list of commonly banned books.  While it contains some mature(-ish) content, it is much tamer than many things I read as a youth and the value of showing other-ing on a personal degree is unmatched.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Alcohol, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Abandonment, Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Genocide, Grief, Blood, Body shaming, Car accident, Child abuse, Classism, Cultural appropriation, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, Gaslighting, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Lesbophobia, Medical content, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Pedophilia, Racism, Rape, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Xenophobia, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Violence, Sexual violence, and War

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I struggled with some of the authors outdated views regarding fatness,  being gay, and a few other issues that really took me out of the reading experience.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

tigerlark's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.5

Angelou's writing is tremendous! I have found some books of this genre and time period to be quite difficult to understand or get into, but this one was very accessible. A good mixture of inspiring, sad, painful, and funny moments. I could not put it down!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Murder, Sexual assault, Blood, Rape, and Racism

Minor: Fatphobia

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