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You know you've lived a life when the third book in your autobiographical series only covers your mid-twenties. We left Ms. Angelou and her son in San Francisco at the end of the second book. Ms. Angelou had just turned 21. This continues right from there. She describes her experiences with finding a stable financial footing for herself, in between working in a record store, moonlighting as an exotic dancer, a bartender, and finally getting her 'break' as a calypso chanteuse in a club called 'The Purple Onion', which launched her into fame and a Europe tour with the acclaimed Opera troupe Porgy and Bess.

In between are also reflections on a failed marriage with a white man and the repercussions of the same, her insecurities as a mother and nurturer, her first tryst with fame and stardom, and experiences gained from traveling across cultures and countries. As always, her writing is simple but powerful and she mixes incidents of simplicity with commentary that explores the deeper threads running through it.

There was one errant comment which disappointed me, about her reluctance to bring along her son to her tour because the touring group had many gay men and her impressionable son would follow in their footsteps to gain adoration and approval. I guess even someone like Ms. Angelou wasn't untouched by some form of prejudice. That aside, her writing is always enjoyable and so was this book.