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Rowena's Reviews > I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
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I'm quite ashamed that it's taken me this long to read this book. Maya Angelou is so inspirational to many people so reading about her childhood and adolescence was really special. I found her autobiography tragic and also hopeful at the same time. Things have changed a lot since Angelou's childhood, such as segregation, and colourism in the black community (to an extent). The fact that she went through that period of history and is alive to see the first Black president in US history is just wonderful.
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Reading Progress
January 29, 2012
– Shelved
February 10, 2012
– Shelved as:
afrocentric
February 15, 2012
– Shelved as:
american-lit
November 13, 2012
–
Started Reading
November 14, 2012
–
Finished Reading
December 29, 2012
– Shelved as:
banned-book-challenges
Comments Showing 1-21 of 21 (21 new)
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Yasmin
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rated it 5 stars
Nov 14, 2012 02:04PM
Very good review!
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A wonderful review Rowena - and that last line really makes me go 'Wow - yes!' It is - it's quite unbelievable.
Yasmin wrote: "Very good review!"Thank you so much, Yasmin :)
Caroline wrote: "A wonderful review Rowena - and that last line really makes me go 'Wow - yes!' It is - it's quite unbelievable."Thank you so much, Caroline! It's quite amazing how far the US has come regarding race relations :) Still room for improvement but good moves nonetheless!
I really enjoy listening to Angelou narrate her memoirs, too.
Heather wrote: "I really enjoy listening to Angelou narrate her memoirs, too."She was in Vancouver last month doing just that but my Aunt failed to tell me :( My Aunt said she felt so inspired by Angelou, wish I could have attended.
Ditto! Here memoir is not only honest, moving and enlightening, but it showcased artistry within the genre. To think, no one knew who she was when she wrote this...
Cheryl wrote: "Ditto! Here memoir is not only honest, moving and enlightening, but it showcased artistry within the genre. To think, no one knew who she was when she wrote this..."I hadn't realized she was an unknown when this book came out, wow!
Crazy right? The book was published in 1969. Literary agents say she was one of the "relatively unknown" when her book came on the scene but her writing lured them because they had never seen something like that, plus she brought racial tensions in the south to life in her book. Her publisher Random House also liked her because being a former dancer, she had a stage presence and once she opened her mouth--well they knew she would be fabulous behind a mic. She was one of those writers who paved the way to a different type of narrative style in biography: creative nonfiction. Instead of the regular autobiographical style of writing, she introduced an interesting and entertaining way to format prose in nonfiction. Instead of one big autobiography, she did memoirs instead and covered different periods of her life. Hmm, you just reminded me to read a couple of her other books again :-)
She is one of the people you could easily read over a thousand times and never tire of it.
Cheryl wrote: "Crazy right? The book was published in 1969. Literary agents say she was one of the "relatively unknown" when her book came on the scene but her writing lured them because they had never seen somet..."Wow, thanks so much for this. When my aunt went to her talk last month (and my aunt isn't much of a reader), she said she was astounded by Maya Angelou's brilliant memory (she memorized poems, dates etc), she could tell she was huge reader, and she was surprised by how strong she was despite some of the things she'd been through. I'm going to stalk your shelf later and see which Angelou books you have on there ;)
Yasmin wrote: "She is one of the people you could easily read over a thousand times and never tire of it."Just judging from Phenomenal Woman and I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, I definitely agree :)
Stalk the shelf later :-) After I rate two of her books (that I will be reading for the 2nd and 3rd times) and another one that's waiting to be read on my shelf.
Great review- I feel the same way. Have delayed reading this book and finally slowly getting into it
Shen wrote: "Great review- I feel the same way. Have delayed reading this book and finally slowly getting into it"Thank you, Shen! I hope you enjoy the rest of the book. Are you planning on reading her other autobiographies?
Diana wrote: "great review! :-)"Thank you, Diana:)
Yes Rowena...great review!!
Reading this review makes me nostalgic about the time in which it was written.
Lawrence wrote: "Yes Rowena...great review!!"Thanks Lawrence!
Matthias wrote: "Reading this review makes me nostalgic about the time in which it was written."I really liked writing, it was definitely of that time:)
