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A review by blainereads
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
This is kind of tough as I’m reading it today, knowing full well that it changed the American literary canon and profoundly contributed to how we conceptualize race and identity in the United States—and I can easily see why, if considering it in the context of the 1960s/70s when it was initially published.
Today, it falls a little bit flat and/or dry (though the trauma is, as it always will be, horrific); the instances of racism (towards Latinos and Asians) and implied homophobia, though understandable for the period, are still a bummer; and it is certainly not the most engaging memoir I’ve ever read, but I know that those incredibly compelling memoirs (often from marginzaled authors) only exist because of this one, so I suppose for that alone, it deserves at least four stars.
Today, it falls a little bit flat and/or dry (though the trauma is, as it always will be, horrific); the instances of racism (towards Latinos and Asians) and implied homophobia, though understandable for the period, are still a bummer; and it is certainly not the most engaging memoir I’ve ever read, but I know that those incredibly compelling memoirs (often from marginzaled authors) only exist because of this one, so I suppose for that alone, it deserves at least four stars.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Sexual assault, Racism, Homophobia, Sexual violence, Racial slurs, Hate crime, and Child abuse