Reviews tagging 'Abortion'

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou

7 reviews

litliz's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Injury/Injury detail, Dysphoria, Body horror, Ableism, Alcohol, Blood, Car accident, Classism, Pregnancy, Cursing, Death, Infidelity, Lesbophobia, Pedophilia, Racism, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Violence, Xenophobia, Rape, and Sexual violence

Minor: Gun violence, Domestic abuse, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Abortion, Misogyny, Murder, Violence, Excrement, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual harassment, and Slavery

_izzi_'s review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, Racism, Racial slurs, and Violence

Minor: Abortion

theelliad's review against another edition

3.5

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is Maya Angelou’s autobiography, exploring the challenges and triumphs of her life. 

This was required reading for my module last year and despite really enjoying what I read of it, I never got round to reading the full book until now. Angelou’s writing is so beautiful and captivating, especially when read by herself, I literally had to finish this in one sitting! I’m not typically a non-fiction reader and so the narrative exploration and descriptive attention to detail felt as immersive and entertaining as any fiction. Her coming to terms with herself, her trauma and the struggles of those around her is made both painful and relatable even for those who have never or will never experience the things she did. This is a case study in self writing and Angelou truly is someone to be studied and remembered. I don’t however understand the purpose of making an autobiography 7 <200 books? Perhaps that is just how storygraph classifies it but this book alone definitely didn’t feel complete which was annoying, I would happily have endured a longer cohesive piece instead of having to spread the reading across multiple books. (note post finishing: apparently there is audio editions of all 7 in one so that’s my bad i just didn’t realise it had 7 parts so didn’t think to look) Overall an enjoyable read :))

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Racism, and Ableism

Moderate: Child abuse, Body horror, Body shaming, Car accident, Adult/minor relationship, Classism, Emotional abuse, Bullying, Alcoholism, Abandonment, Blood, and Gaslighting

Minor: Abortion and War

brynalexa's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad fast-paced

5.0

It’s hard to give a poet anything but five stars on their autobiography. I can’t imagine having such a strong memory of my formative years after going through so many transitions and traumas. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Abandonment, Medical content, Sexual content, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexism, Racial slurs, Pregnancy, Pedophilia, and Murder

Moderate: Slavery, Lesbophobia, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Xenophobia, War, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Abortion, Addiction, and Alcohol

a_bloom's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.25

It took a little while for me to get used to the writing and actually interested in the story, but within a hundred pages it REALLY captured my attention. Her writing is beautiful and descriptive and painfully aware of how her younger self perceived the situation of her birth and life. However, the last few chapters come off awkward as it strays from the usual pacing, but considering she had more autobots it makes sense.

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Medical trauma, Sexual assault, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Grief, Death, Blood, Abortion, and Addiction

Minor: Infidelity, Hate crime, Pregnancy, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, War, Incest, Gun violence, Xenophobia, Transphobia, Toxic relationship, and Slavery

amandas_bookshelf's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Child abuse, Colonisation, Racial slurs, Rape, Toxic relationship, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Racism, Classism, Abandonment, Alcohol, Body horror, Hate crime, Pregnancy, and Slavery

Moderate: Death and War

Minor: Abortion

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