A review by laila4343
Gather Together in My Name by Maya Angelou

4.0

Wow. I've somehow read these Angelou memoirs out of order (I don't think I realized for a long time that she even had more than the first one, I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings.) I wasn't prepared for how dark this one would be after reading some of the later ones. Angelou lived a hundred different lives, it seems. One would never suspect that the dignified poet who read at Clinton's inauguration had once been a prostitute. This memoir chronicles her late teenage years as she lives in San Francisco with her mother and tries to fashion a life for herself and her son. She desperately hungers for the affection of a man to "save" her and true to the norms of the time (1950's) enable her to become a housewife. In doing so she gets into some crazy situations and ends up endangering (and almost losing) her son. This was a quick read, fascinating, sometimes sad, but I'm glad I read it.

(Classics Club list, 3rd book)