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emilyatmidnight's reviews
395 reviews
The Heart of a Woman by Maya Angelou
4.0
Reading this short autobiography was a lovely opportunity to get to know Maya Angelou.
I love her candid discussion of her life, how she doesn't subscribe to what others (white society, etc) considers to be proper and instead just tells her story authentically.
There are many great moments in this book, but the one that is standing out to me right now is how she was unashamed to be excited about her own life even after her son moved out. Patriarchal society has women believing that our whole life is children, leaving far too many women feeling purposeless once their kids grow up. What is worse, that's actually how we are pressured to feel. There are INTENSE messages of shame around any idea that you could be *happy* when your kids move out (or if you are childless to begin with). But Maya boldly states her true feelings, that she wasn't overwhelmed with grief and that she was excited to have a whole chicken breast to herself now that her son moved out. It's when like her, with subtle remarks of unashamed truth, that will finally break the patriarchies grip on the worth of women. We are people. Have have lives. We have hearts. We have passions. And though family can fit into that just as it can with men, those feelings are unconnected to our children. We can have passion, love, and care for our children while also having passion, love, life, and dreams entirely separate from them!
I love her candid discussion of her life, how she doesn't subscribe to what others (white society, etc) considers to be proper and instead just tells her story authentically.
There are many great moments in this book, but the one that is standing out to me right now is how she was unashamed to be excited about her own life even after her son moved out. Patriarchal society has women believing that our whole life is children, leaving far too many women feeling purposeless once their kids grow up. What is worse, that's actually how we are pressured to feel. There are INTENSE messages of shame around any idea that you could be *happy* when your kids move out (or if you are childless to begin with). But Maya boldly states her true feelings, that she wasn't overwhelmed with grief and that she was excited to have a whole chicken breast to herself now that her son moved out. It's when like her, with subtle remarks of unashamed truth, that will finally break the patriarchies grip on the worth of women. We are people. Have have lives. We have hearts. We have passions. And though family can fit into that just as it can with men, those feelings are unconnected to our children. We can have passion, love, and care for our children while also having passion, love, life, and dreams entirely separate from them!