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Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou

55 reviews

cleo_vii's review against another edition

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emotional reflective medium-paced

5.0

Normally I write longer reviews after I've had a day or two to digest the book, so I'll keep it short for now.

Immediate reactions/thoughts: how one's circumstances shape oneself (nurture over nature); whether Maya's experiences were normal in their diverted-ness, or if she was unusually nomadic; the traumas embedded in the families, social customs, and cultures of Black Americans (and liberation in Mexico), as well as in her personal history (pockmarked with darkness that would warrant trigger warnings in the 2020s); the frequent juxtaposition of imagined "success" rather than the reality (e.g., a self-described 'military dietitian' living in a mansion vs a cafeteria cook living in a trailer) delineating cultural worlds (the façade drops with the intrusion of the oppressive culture); and other thoughts but I'm quite tired now.

Maya is, as always, incredible.

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nvrrrdie's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced
hard hitting and eloquent 

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julia_rose's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional reflective sad tense

5.0


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morningsdaughter's review against another edition

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challenging dark reflective tense slow-paced

4.0

I don't ever think I'll consider this one of my favorite books, but it was interesting. I choose to read it to complete a yearly reading challenge and wouldn't have picked it up otherwise. I liked it more than I expected.

The audiobook is read by Ms. Angelou herself and her voice is very familiar to my generation. 

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wmelissa's review against another edition

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emotional reflective fast-paced

2.0


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hjb_128's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0


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331bats's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

4.75


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librarymouse's review against another edition

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emotional informative reflective medium-paced

4.5

Hearing Maya Angelou tell her own story in her own voice was wonderful. She's a gifted storyteller and speaker, and her mastery of language creates a wonderfully vivid image of her childhood for her readers.

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leseratte69's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

4.0

Very beautiful and poetic despite there being some traumatising explicit experiences.

This book is one of its kind as a literary autobiography. As it’s a coming of age story, the chapters  seem more like short stories. I found myself getting lost in the detail and so found it harder to be absorbed in the story. 

Quotes I found wonderful were:
‘One girl, whose name and face have melted into the years’
‘He was forever dropping slangy terms into his sentences like dumplings in a pot’ 
‘Bailey was the greatest person in the world. And the fact that he was my brother, my only brother, and I had no sisters to share him with, was such a good fortune that it made me want to live a Christian life just to show God that I was grateful.’

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betag1013's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

5.0


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