A review by beckyyreadss
A Song Flung Up to Heaven by Maya Angelou

emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.0

I decided to read this book because I bought a poster with 100 books to read in your lifetime. I enjoyed the first book in the series and wanted to carry on with it. I'm just inspired and in awe of her. I knew I wanted to carry on with this series and learn more about her life. This book is about the death of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr.  

This book is the sixth of seven volumes of Maya Angelou’s autobiography. It is a testament to the talents and resilience of this writer. This book is set between 1965 to 1968, this book begins with Maya’s trip from Accra, Ghana where she has lived for the past four years, but now she back to the United States. Two massive events frame the beginning and the end of the book – the assassinations of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. Maya describes how she dealt with these events and the sweeping changes in both the country and in her personal life and how she coped with her return home to the US. The book ends with Maya at the threshold of her literary career.  

Usually I struggle with non-fiction books, I find them slow, boring and I can never really dig into them and thoroughly enjoy it. However, this book I managed to enjoy. This book still discusses serious and difficult topics but it’s a journey of her finding her voice and becoming a writer and her dealing with the death of two massive figures. It’s almost as if she was writing about a fiction character in a storyline that I had to remind myself several times that she was the main character she is talking about and that she is talking about her life. The worries and the sadness she had about Malcolm and Martin was heartbreaking. I would have loved to see some chapters from her son as he made a re-appearance and finding love and I wanted to know how he met her and if he said anything to her after what happened with her and his mum. 

Again, with the previous book when it gets towards the end it feels rushed. I think it’s the gripping factor to get you to read the next book. I am sort of hoping with me having one book left in this series that this stops and comes to a point because I am hoping that she finds happiness and peace. 
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