A review by angelbabe_cj
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou

challenging reflective sad medium-paced

4.25

Not an easy read for the contents, but beautifully written and important. There's a lot to unpack in this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Rape, Racism, and Pedophilia

Moderate: Violence, Ableism, and Death

Rape:

It does mention in the blurb but the rape is of a minor, the first person child, Angelou being the victim. It is explicitly on screen and in a fair amount of detail, although relatively brief.

Outcomes of rape:

Perpetrator is reported, tried, jailed, and somehow let out before being killed (implied by Angelou's Uncles)

Violence is mostly off-screen or the results described after the fact, but there are several instances. Racism: A major theme of the book. Includes both more major and minor events, featuring both systemic and more direct racism, to varying degrees of detail. Setting 1930s and 1940s. Death: doesn't happen on screen but some dead bodies described.