I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

Jun 26, 2008 Brad Byers rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I really enjoyed this book. It was required reading for a University course I took on Adolescent Literature.

This book has been placed on banned book lists by needlessly close-minded people for it's real life content.

The book tastefully addresses issues of molestation, rape, racism. But it does so within the context of the trials and tribulations of growing up as well.

The book presents things in a direct and extremely vivid fashion, but it is not garishly or needlessly graphic. These are issues...more

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Oct 06, 2007 Jami rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

In her nonfiction autobiography, Maya Angelou describes her life from her young girl life up to the birth of her first child at age 16. The book drew me in at the very beginning because of the talent Angelou has with language, scenery, and loading the moment with emotion. Another intense draw for me was the fact that it is a nonfiction book. I was constantly thinking I can’t believe she had these experiences.

When Maya turned three, she and her brother, Bailey, went to live with her grandmother...more In her nonfiction autobiography, Maya Angelou describes her life from her young girl life up to the birth of her first child at age 16. The book drew me in at the very beginning because of the talent Angelou has with language, scenery, and loading the moment with emotion. Another intense draw for me was the fact that it is a nonfiction book. I was constantly thinking I can’t believe she had these experiences.

When Maya turned three, she and her brother, Bailey, went to live with her grandmother in Arkansas because of her mother’s divorce. They worked doing strenuous, everyday chores and the grandmother, referred to by the children as “Momma”, instilled in them religion and values. When Maya was eight and Bailey nine, they went to live with their mother in California. They loved knowing who their mother was finally—a beautiful, successful, hardworking woman. Soon, however, Maya was raped by her mother’s live in boyfriend. After being on the witness stand in court, Maya was terrified what would happen to her brother because of the threats that he mentioned about killing Bailey if she spoke to anyone about what happened. Maya didn’t have to worry about this for long, however, because the perpetrator was killed a few nights later. The children were placed in a ping-pong game of having to move to different places and learn to adjust throughout their difficult circumstances. The ping-pong game was relevant to more than moving; their emotions and identities seemed to follow the same pattern.

I loved this book although it has been censored and banned from schools and classrooms quite often. Because of the issues illustrated in the book, I think that this book would be most effective for students who are juniors or seniors in high school or older. Angelou had a difficult life with challenges beyond what I can wrap my mind around, and her blunt honesty tells it how it was. This fact was both hard and captivating. The book should be read by parents before handed down to teens, but if discussed properly, it has the potential for many teaching and learning opportunities. The book discusses graphic and disturbing conflicts in the book including (but not limited to) the following: racial prejudice and violence, sexual abuse, violence, language, prostitution, and an unwanted pregnancy. If discussed properly, the book would provide a great learning experience for both student and teacher as discovery occurs.
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Jan 11, 2009 Stephanie rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: noone

Recommended to Stephanie by: Classics Bookclub at 5 Minutes for Books Blog

Shelves: 2009, classics, memoir

When I picked up I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou I knew two things:

1. The author is friends with Oprah and the Clintons.
2. The book is considered a classic.

The book is mostly set in the tiny town of Stamps, Arkansas. I lived much of my childhood within an hour's drive of Stamps so I found that detail very interesting.

The account of life as a Negro (the term Ms. Angelou uses) in rural Arkansas was fascinating. Some of it brought to mind memories of my own childhood (though I am "l...more

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Jul 03, 2008 Peter rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Aracely

Recommended to Peter by: The entire earth

Shelves: non-fiction, autobiography

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Oct 26, 2012 Dave Keays rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

It was definitely a view into a world I didn't know, and very many inspirational insights. However, I decided to not give it of the top ratings since she was the source of hatred and not inspiration. Most of the inspiration in the book came from her uncle Willie or her grandmother. More than once I felt like I was slowly walking through a pond of scum because of the hatred she spouted. I had to hold my nose and ignore the thick blue/green slime that made the other side of the stream seem much fa...more It was definitely a view into a world I didn't know, and very many inspirational insights. However, I decided to not give it of the top ratings since she was the source of hatred and not inspiration. Most of the inspiration in the book came from her uncle Willie or her grandmother. More than once I felt like I was slowly walking through a pond of scum because of the hatred she spouted. I had to hold my nose and ignore the thick blue/green slime that made the other side of the stream seem much farther away and trying to get there much less of a joy.

It was a difficult read for me because of her hatred and discrimination against both Mexicans and Whites which was even greater if the Mexican or White person was a man. Being a white male all I had to keep reminding myself that she had very valid reasons for some of her hatred. However, by stereotyping us all together I felt I was being targeted. She needed to listen to her uncle's statement when asked why the White's hated the blacks- "because they don't understand us". I also live in southern California and see a side of Mexican's that are missing in her descriptions. I put down the book thinking it claims all whites are either slave owners or "powhitetrash" that don't have the values of the slaves, and that all Mexicans are the peasants who have no values or concerns beyond drinking and having a fiesta. Should I be embarrassed that I came from a family that was called "powhitetrash" and ignore the honorable value system my grandfather had? Should I wish my family were slave owners instead? I'm sorry but I refuse to be ashamed of my white skin and I will be inspired by my grandfather and the lessons he taught his children.

That said, her ability to open-up to personal topics was amazing. I would not have the courage to talk about some of the topics she did since I still feel a need to be private. For example; she spoke of her sexual encounters and desires with more detail than I could.

I've read many other websites that said this book should be banned because of explicitness and encouraging hatred. This was on the recommended reading list in the High School I went to and I would like to see it taken off the reading list. But trying to ban it or taking it off school or library shelves ignores the ideas that this country is based on.

I walked away from this book learning more about the honorable slaves and free blacks. Her grandmother and uncle are now on my list of people I hope are in my family tree.

I gave it a better rating than it deserved (I want to only give it 2 stars which stands for "it is ok") because some people's reactions to this book was on par with her grand-mother's reaction to her saying 'by the way'. The underlying values are admirable, but the reaction was absurdly over-done.(less)

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Oct 15, 2009 miaaa rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: lamski kikita

Shelves: ophelia-s-library, memoirs-biographies

'What coloured people had done to white people in the first place?' Asked Bailey Jr. to Uncle Willie. The question, enquired by a mere little boy, summed up every bits of Maya's life in this book.

***

'Sebenarnya apa yang telah dilakukan orang kulit berwarna kepada mereka yang berkulit putih dahulu?' Tanya Bailey kecil kepada Paman Willie. Pertanyaan yang begitu sederhana namun sangat mengena.

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Mar 05, 2011 Bev Hankins rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: autobiography

"The fact that the adult American Negro female emerges a formidable character is often met with amazement, distaste and even belligerence. It is seldom accepted as an inevitable outcome of the struggle won by survivors and deserves respect if not enthusiastic acceptance."

That quote sums up the entire experience of reading Maya Angelou's honest, heart-breaking, and wonderfully written story of growing up black in the 30s and 40s. That she can make her story so real to someone who grew up white, m...more

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Sep 26, 2010 JG (The Introverted Reader) rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: own, 4_stars, author_american, biography_memoir, non-fiction, read_in_2010, reviewed, setting_us, strong_females, titles_i_like, banned-challenged

The first volume in Maya Angelou's autobiography, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is not an easy read. It picks up when she's three and her brother is four and they're being shipped from California to Arkansas--alone on a train. They live with their paternal grandmother for years. Maya writes poignantly and heart-breakingly, but never with self-pity, about life as an African-American girl in a segregated South.

I'm having a hard time writing this review. I occasionally run into this problem with...more The first volume in Maya Angelou's autobiography, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is not an easy read. It picks up when she's three and her brother is four and they're being shipped from California to Arkansas--alone on a train. They live with their paternal grandmother for years. Maya writes poignantly and heart-breakingly, but never with self-pity, about life as an African-American girl in a segregated South.

I'm having a hard time writing this review. I occasionally run into this problem with memoirs. Who am I to judge what someone has had the courage to put on display for all the world to read? They have generally lived through experiences that I don't even want to think about.

Maya, or Marguerite as she's mostly called in the book, is a "tender-hearted" soul. She's intelligent, she's a reader, she's a dreamer, but she has no prospects, simply because of the color of her skin. She unflinchingly lays down her history. There were parts that I had an unbelievably hard time reading, but by sharing them, Maya lets the world remember what segregation leads to, and even lets others who have shared some of her experiences know that they are not alone. Some sections left me feeling sickened by the casual cruelty of humanity, others left me infuriated for the same reason. I was never indifferent.

It's not all darkness and misery though. She has good times growing up too. There's one scene at a picnic that stands out as a beautiful bright spot. And when she meets some of the women who become her mentors, they are spots of hope also, encouraging us to reach out to those less fortunate than ourselves.

I did feel like this book just kind of stopped. I guess you could say that it stopped when her childhood ended, but there's not much of a conclusion or a wrap up.

Pick this up to read a story of survival against the odds. Actually, she more than survives. Wikipedia describes her as "one of the most honored writers of her generation" and follows up with a long list of honors and awards.

I read this book for Banned Book Week 2010. Read a banned book and decide for yourself.(less)

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May 21, 2011 jzhunagev rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: to those raring to read African-American Literature, this is a good start!

Recommended to jzhunagev by: the "Voice"

Shelves: classics, award-winning-best-seller, non-fiction, biography-and-memoir, drama, 2011-reads, dark-chest-of-wonders, from-book-to-film

Defying the Odds
(A Book Review of Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings)

The first volume in a five part nonfiction autobiography series, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings chronicles Maya Angelou’s coming-of-age in the segregated South during the 1930’s.

“If growing up is painful for the Southern Black girl, being aware of her displacement is the rust on the razor that threatens the throat. It is an unnecessary insult.”

Told in the first person reflective prose, the multi-talented Angelou re...more

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Jun 09, 2011 Sandra Lawson rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is a book I've been meaning to read for years, and I wasn't disappointed. Maya Angelou writes with intelligence and a growing view of her younger self and her place in the world. Her style matures as she portrays the young Marguerite growing older and learning about the world. From the age of three until the tale ends in her teens she describes a life of challenges, but is never defeated. She makes her choices (not always the best ones) and creates her own story of dignity as she rises abov...more

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Mar 14, 2009 Ari rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Another 7th grade humanities class read, this book, an autobiography of a young Maya Angelou, mixed all the things an autobiography needs. Some unbelievable events, tragic events that bring the reader closer to the narrator, and everyday life to bring things down to scale. The reader truly feels for Maya in her life of growing up Black in the south.

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Jan 15, 2009 Sunny added it · review of another edition

I know why the caged bird sings by Maya Angelou
Rating: 9/10
I really enjoyed this book. It is the autobiography of the poet as a young girl-- spanning from age three to the birht of her fistr child in her late teens. It is so rare to find a book about a famous person's childhood (unless of course the were famous as a child) and the book is exceptionally well written. The language gradually, subtly progresses as the main character ages. Even though it sounds like it would be boring and moralistic...more

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May 10, 2013 Iqra added it · review of another edition

When I first had to read this book for school, I assumed it would be like all the other boring books I had to read for Honors English (i.e. Romeo and Juliet, Into the Wild). Actually, I found this book to be quite interesting. It starts out to be a little boring, but it really does grab a reader's attention,( if you're willing to actually read the book instead of staring at the words for an hour). It covers topics like racism in the twentieth century, overcoming adversity and the loss of innocen...more When I first had to read this book for school, I assumed it would be like all the other boring books I had to read for Honors English (i.e. Romeo and Juliet, Into the Wild). Actually, I found this book to be quite interesting. It starts out to be a little boring, but it really does grab a reader's attention,( if you're willing to actually read the book instead of staring at the words for an hour). It covers topics like racism in the twentieth century, overcoming adversity and the loss of innocence ( I'll explain later). While the book can be quite graphic at times, it really does a good job of conveying an important message. It starts off with Maya Angelou as a six year- old girl and continues until she reaches her late teens. Maya faces a lot of crazy and tragic things in her life, although I don't want to give spoilers. Fair warning : Do NOT read chapters eleven and twelve if you are squeamish and don't want read about an eight year-old being errr, mishandled. Apologies, I didn't mean to sound so cruel, and I don't find what happened to her to be funny AT ALL. We didn't even have to read those chapters in class, that's how bad it was. Unfortunately, I did anyway and wish I hadn't. This book is a great piece of work for many reasons. First of all, the events are actually REAL. This is an autobiography, and a GOOD one at that. While some are really crummy and boring, this one is filled with interesting events. It gives an insight into the world of an African- American during the nineteen thirties and forties, while grabbing the reader's attention. Another reason why I enjoyed this book is because it encourages people to keep going on, even if they think they can't. When Maya faces a horrible, life changing experience, she thinks she can't go on. However, she does with the help of one thing that can help everyone: Books! After she continues with her burning passion for reading, she starts to open up more and actually starts to realize how to be a kid. Maya makes a friend during this time, and this friend teaches her how to enjoy life as a kid. She begins to act the way a child should, thus overcoming adversity. The third theme portrayed in this novel is the loss of innocence. Like I said before, Maya is assaulted, and lost her innocence. She is forcibly pushed into an evil, dark world that no child should ever have to endure. Although,she isn't the only character who experiences this. Maya's brother and confidant, Bailey, loses all of what he called innocence. He loses his virginity to an older girl at the age of eleven. ELEVEN!!!!! Like Maya, he is also pushed into this world, though not as forced. But if you read this story, some of these events make sense, based on their background. You see, Bailey and Maya were shipped around to various family members over the course of their childhood. They were constantly sent to stay with their grandmother, mother and father. They never really had a place where they felt they belonged. They didn't have a proper relationship with either parents and their parents' partners. They later started to backlash in more ways than one. Maya however, stays strong. She eventually becomes the first female African American cable car conductor. How cool is that??? In the end though (and when I mean end I mean end of this book), she ends up being happy. Bailey, I can't really say the same for. I'm not entirely sure what happened to him after he SPOILER : rebelliously move out as a teenager!!! Either way, this book knows how to teach people a lesson. I really did have quite the emotional roller coater ride while reading this, but it was good. It tells an epic story of a young woman with perseverance and emotional struggles. However, if you happen to be a teenager that hates reading books for school, then don't read it. It takes a lot of thought and concentration to read it (trust me, I know). Hopefully, I can come across another book like this, although I don't know if I will. I know this sounds like an essay with too much punctuation, but I write like this anyway. If you enjoyed the review, read the book, but if you didn't, go back to reading Facebook posts. Enjoy!!!(less)

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Apr 12, 2013 Paul rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: autobiography

The first of Angelou's series of autobiographies and a powerful account of growing up and coming of age in 1930s/40s America. In the background and foreground are racism, violence against women and the problem of identity. It is written with clarity and great force; there is no hiding from what you are reading.
It would be superfluous to sum up the book or outline its contents; it should be read. So I will just add a few thoughts and reflections.
Beacuse of the strong brother/sister relationship,...more

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Apr 10, 2013 Andrea Henderson rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

In I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings Maya Angelou talks about her upcoming as a child. I can relate to this book in some ways because I know how it feels to grow up with problems. Coming from a household where your grandmother raised you most of the time then living with your mother facing more problems.

This book was very vivid and understanding. Once you read it you feel the pain that Maya and her big brother Bailey had to got through. When you read it you'll want to read it again like I did.

Most...more

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Apr 04, 2013 Alle Wells rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Song Of The South

I don't know why it took me so long to get around to reading this 1970 classic. Maybe it's because I was just a little girl when it was written. I was part of the New South, the white child who played house with black and white dolls, oblivious of my roots. Dr. Angelou's natural poetic prose describes a South that I'm too young to remember. The story of her childhood during the first half of the Twentieth Century will remain in my heart until the day I die. I'm eternally gratefu...more

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Mar 14, 2013 Emilee Whitesell rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Mostly, books are divided into two categories. There are books that you read once, and admire or don't admire, and then you close the cover and never think of it again. But the other group of books is more extraordinary. You read these books diligently, like a chore, you sleep with it like you once slept with your teddy bear. You read it again, and again, and again.
Year after year. "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" is in that category. I first picked up Angelou's masterpiece in my 10th grade E...more Mostly, books are divided into two categories. There are books that you read once, and admire or don't admire, and then you close the cover and never think of it again. But the other group of books is more extraordinary. You read these books diligently, like a chore, you sleep with it like you once slept with your teddy bear. You read it again, and again, and again.
Year after year. "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" is in that category. I first picked up Angelou's masterpiece in my 10th grade English class, back when mandatory reading meant "read it, memorize it for the test, and then forget it." But of course, this book was different. I read it again my senior year when I was deciding on my college major. Creative Writing or Education? I chose the former. And I would carry it with me on airplanes, on trains, and in waiting rooms during the next several years.
In fact, when I was having pains over deciding on my senior thesis, "I Know Why..." hit me like a bag of bricks. Of course, I thought, who else but Angelou?
And so my senior thesis research began. Faced with a book review of monumental proportion, I began to realize that my love for "I Know Why..." ran much deeper than appreciation for the author's ability to keep me locked in with her creative and inviting writing style. No, in fact the literary genius that is this novel affects you like a virus before you even know what a complex plot is.
The novel shares a lot in common, surprisingly, with Nabokov's "Lolita," though the perspective is different (one is of the predator, the other of the prey). Oh, and Nabokov's is entirely fictitious while Angelou's is based entirely off real events in her own young female life. But here is the major difference and the major similarity, all in one. "Lolita" readers may remember in vivid detail the scene in which a young "Lo, plain Lo," and HH are engaged in a sexual interaction which, many critics argue, symbolized the violent transition from child to adult. A similar scene is found in the sprawling pages of "I Know Why..." and just like "Lolita," the scene practically bites you, stabs you, leaves you with an open wound that your real life, the world of reality, continues to salt as you age and time passes. You begin to compare everything you see in reality to Angelou's brilliant narrative. You begin to look at people and compare them to Angelou's characters. A compassion for strangers has been ignited within you. Because of a book.
If you haven't picked up "I Know Why..." by now, it's never too late. You don't have to be young to appreciate this childhood narrative. You don't have to be a woman to appreciate the raw feminism in its pages. You don't have to be black for your perspective on all of American History to change incredibly. So I recommend it, obviously. It will be good for your soul. (less)

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Feb 26, 2013 Anna rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I'm conflicted about this book. She is an amazing writer. I wasn't offended by the frankness of her telling of her rape and subsequent sexual experiences. I didn't feel her account was salacious but accurately reflected her limited understanding of what was going on. (I do agree with some of the reviewers on taking issue with whether or not this book is appropriate for younger readers.)

I don't admire her character. She is arrogant. I don't agree that black people are entitled to hate white peopl...more

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Jan 23, 2013 Dawn rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I read this book because my teenage son was going to be required to read it in his English class at school. I did not want to read the book because I was aware of its content. But I felt it necessary in order to be able to talk to the teacher about my objections. So I did not like this book. My degree in Comparative Literature enables me to recognize some literary value in Caged Bird, as well as historical and social value. I believe Maya Angelou is a powerful and talented writer. I admire some...more I read this book because my teenage son was going to be required to read it in his English class at school. I did not want to read the book because I was aware of its content. But I felt it necessary in order to be able to talk to the teacher about my objections. So I did not like this book. My degree in Comparative Literature enables me to recognize some literary value in Caged Bird, as well as historical and social value. I believe Maya Angelou is a powerful and talented writer. I admire some of her poetry. But her series of autobiographical books includes too much explicit and disturbing sexual content for me. And I certainly did not want my 15 year old son to have to read it!

The most graphic and disturbing sexual material in Caged Bird involves the rape of the author as an eight year old girl. This horrible experience deeply affects her life. But I believe our teenage children can understand that terrible things like this happen, without needing to be dragged through the muck of the sordid details. My son does not want those images in his head, and I fully support him. I can see this book being taught at the college level, but I strongly feel that it is not appropriate for high school required reading. In my son's advanced English class, this book was one of six main texts. In the regular English class, there are only two main texts, and this is one of them. How sad, when there are so many other great literary works to choose from which are clean.

My son's teacher was nice and professional about it. Another English teacher was not so nice. She acted surprised that I would characterize the book as "R-rated." She said that we could see worse things on prime-time TV. Our (my husband's and my) response was "That's why we choose not to watch those TV shows!" It bothered me that she would try to use the "everybody's doing it" excuse. Just because our society's standards of decency continue to plummet, is no reason to embrace them! It is an American Lit class, so I suggested a couple of other texts as options if the purpose was to address the African American experience. But this book is obviously one of that teacher's favorites, so she defended it. The teachers did say that our son could choose to read a different book. However, because the class structure was centered on discussion, we chose to have him read an 'edited version' of Caged Bird instead. I just told him which chapters to skip. And I'm glad that our son happened to have the more sympathetic teacher.

So I'm done with my rant now. Just needed to get that out. I'm glad that I love to read so I can be alert to what my children are exposed to at school. I know other parents who would also object to this book if they were more aware of the content. And I understand that it's hard to keep up with our kids sometimes. I expect we'll run into this problem again at the high school. But on the bright side, I also get to enjoy discussing good books with my children!

If you are my friend, then you will understand my personal opinion of this book. If you want to discuss it with me, that's fine. If you don't know me, but feel the urge to send me hate mail because you disagree violently with my opinion, please RESIST your impulse. I have no interest in arguing about it and I will not respond to your post. (less)

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Dec 17, 2012 Araceli Correa rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Maya Angelou faces many conflicts as she grows she suffers from orphanage. She and her brother are given away to her grandmother in Arkansas. She is faced with sexism, racism, and molestation from her mother’s boyfriend. The major settings in the novel include Arkansas where she lives with her grandmother and is raised there along her brother. She then moves states with her brother to live with her mother in California where she gets raped and is traumatized. From going to Mexico for a trip with...more

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Nov 24, 2012 Maddie rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The book, “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings”, is a great piece of American literature. This book had suspenseful parts and then not so well thought out parts. Inside this review I will explain my reasoning’s but let me recap on what has happened.
Maya is eight years old and lives with her brother Bailey, Uncle Willie and Mamma. Mamma isn’t her real birth mother but her grandmother. Uncle Willie, “had been dropped when he was three years old, Mamma talks about how, “he wasn’t born that way” and r...more The book, “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings”, is a great piece of American literature. This book had suspenseful parts and then not so well thought out parts. Inside this review I will explain my reasoning’s but let me recap on what has happened.
Maya is eight years old and lives with her brother Bailey, Uncle Willie and Mamma. Mamma isn’t her real birth mother but her grandmother. Uncle Willie, “had been dropped when he was three years old, Mamma talks about how, “he wasn’t born that way” and refuses anyone to tell him otherwise. Mamma is a very spiritual woman of God and she brings them all to church on every Sunday. Maya and Bailey both joke around about the woman in church who always tries to get closer to God while screaming in church, although it is funny to them Mamma does not appreciate it. Later their father comes out to visit them with his new wife from California and then wants to take Bailey and Maya to go see their real mother. But when they arrive there Maya doesn’t feel as connected with her mother as Bailey does with both their mother and father. Maya feels like she has a responsibility to take care of herself and her brother because when they were both little their parents shipped them off to Mamma and Uncle Willies house. She goes through some pretty large obstacles like getting raped by Mr. Freeman. He threatened her that he would kill Bailey if she were to say anything to anyone. Mr. Freeman was her birth mother’s boyfriend who her mother left him to babysit them when she went out for gambling. This part of the book I did not enjoy nor did I think they should have had inside the book. But she overcomes them later on by first being rejected by her mother once again, refusing to talk to anyone but Bailey and then is forced to go live back with Mamma in Stamps. But after she returns, she meets Mrs. Bertha Flowers who shows her a new type of life, books. They help her be able to overcome and cope with the whole situation with Mr. Freeman. She begins to talk to people once more but still has those self conscious feelings about her body and the way she looks. But Mamma sends her back to California to live with her father. But the woman her father is living with is mean and when she tried to get attention from her father, the woman stabs her with scissors. She then runs away for a while and meets other runaways. They show her that it’s okay to be who you are and she becomes happy with herself again. Later in the book she returns back to Stamps to Mamma. She goes back to high school determined to graduate and learns about lesbianism and is afraid she is one so she asks her neighbor boy to have sex with her and she ends up getting pregnant but hides it all the way through the year and graduates and later has a baby boy. And in the end she realizes she finds what she has been looking for, happiness within herself. She feels like a new, better, whole person. At the beginning she feels sad and depressed and unworthy and then after having her baby she feels better and secure about herself.
I do believe you should read this to help educate yourself on what the African Americans still were going through in the 1930’s-40’s. And the overall rating of this book from my perspective is 4.5 stars.
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Nov 21, 2012 Karen rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction, american-writers

Raped at eight years old; pregnant at 17. Not that great a start in life, particularly for a black American female living in Arkansas decades before the Civil Rights movement. But Maya Angelou is nothing if not strong. And it’s that strength of mind and character that comes forcefully to life in I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, the first part of her six volume autobiography.

It’s a coming of age book which traces her life from the age of three when she is sent with her brother Bailey to live with...more Raped at eight years old; pregnant at 17. Not that great a start in life, particularly for a black American female living in Arkansas decades before the Civil Rights movement. But Maya Angelou is nothing if not strong. And it’s that strength of mind and character that comes forcefully to life in I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, the first part of her six volume autobiography.

It’s a coming of age book which traces her life from the age of three when she is sent with her brother Bailey to live with their grandmother in Stamps, Arkansas after the breakup of her parent’s marraige. Living in the family general store, Angelou witnesses the realities of racial discrimination. One night she helps to hide a neighbour when alerted to possible Klan activity in the neighbourhood; another time she recounts the way a ‘powhitetrash’ girl taunts her grandmother, lifting up her skirts to insult her. Angelou herself is subjected to humiliation and racism. Working as a domestic servant to earn some pocket money, she is robbed of her name because Margurite (her birth name) isn’t considered by her white employer to be appropriate for one of her kind. When she experiences the intense pain of a rotten tooth and is taken to a dentist in the nearest town, he refuses to treat her because of her colour.

Set against this however is the way Angelou portrays the deeply held values of family, culture and faith in her community. And although much of what she relates is life at its most brutal, she is equally adept at describing its lighter moments whether its the uncontrollable laughter that bursts forth in the middle of a church sermon or the joy of discovering Charles Dickens, Shakespeare and James Weldon Johnson. It was through these authors and the careful nurturing of a family friend that helped facilitate her recovery from the traumatic effects of the sexual abuse and rape by her mother’s boyfriend. Angelou became mute for almost five years after that incident, convinced that somehow she was partly to blame.

I had sold myself to the Devil and there could be no escape. The only thing I could do was to stop talking to people….Just my breath carrying my words out, might poison people and they’d curl up and die like the black fat slugs that only pretended.

Much of the book is episodic, with events related in a non linear fashion, but the thread that holds them together is Maya’s growing sense of identity. She progresses from being a victim of racism with an inferiority complex to a self-aware individual with a strong sense of who she is and who responds to racism by refusing to acknowledge its existence. As a sixteen year old she becomes determined to be “in control of her fate’ by getting a job as a conductor on a trolley car, eventually becoming the first black person to hold such a job.

But though she matures, she reflects that the journey is not yet over for though she has graduated from school has beaten the odds to get some financial independence, and has become a mother, there is still a part of her that is unsure of what her journey has really meant.

I had gone from being ignorant of being ignorant to being aware of being aware. And the worst part of my awareness was that I didn’t know what I was aware of.

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings has long been on my bookshelf . I included it in my Classics Club list as a way of motivating me into actually reading it. And I am so glad I did, but only sorry I didn’t read it earlier.(less)

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Nov 17, 2012 Halie rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I know why the cage bird sings is a very confusing book at some points, and at others it makes scene. In the being of the story they are put on a train and ship off to their grandmas that lives in stamps. Which is a black town at the time white and blacks did not live together. They ran a store with their grandma and uncle. Marguerite did not understand why they were so different for the blacks. Bailey and Marguerite parents got a divorces and live in different towns. One day there father came i...more I know why the cage bird sings is a very confusing book at some points, and at others it makes scene. In the being of the story they are put on a train and ship off to their grandmas that lives in stamps. Which is a black town at the time white and blacks did not live together. They ran a store with their grandma and uncle. Marguerite did not understand why they were so different for the blacks. Bailey and Marguerite parents got a divorces and live in different towns. One day there father came into town and told they there mother wanted to see them. When they were with their mother Freeman rapes Marguerite. She does not know this at the time. When he does it again she gets sick and is about to die. There is a fight to see if they have to go back in to slavery or is it gone forever. They won there is no more slavery. When they went to celebrate Marguerite meat a friend named Louise. She had passed school and wore a yellow dress with everyone else. After a few months their grandma told them are getting to old and are going to live with their mother. The war started after awhile there did not notice that the Japanese where there. They then moved to a apartment building. Then one summer big Bailey told Marguerite she could stay with him and his girlfriend for the summer. She went and big Bailey asked Marguerite if she wanted to go to Mexico to get food. Then that night big Bailey and Dolores got in a fight. Big Bailey left Dolores stabbed Marguerite with scissors. He tells her he will be back tomorrow and leaves. In the morning she packed up some food and leaves. When she is walking she comes across a junk yard and spends the night. When she wakes up there are kids standing over here. They ask her why she is here. They let her stay but she has to help out. Marguerite goes back home. She gets pregnant and has a son. She does not got close to him for three weeks until she is force to sleep with him. Marguerite was scared to hole the baby so her mom teachers her.. I would not tell anyone to read this book it made no scene and very weird. The major theme in the book is racism between the whites and blacks. I would rate this book about a 2 out of 10 because of how it is worded and of the events that happened.

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Nov 12, 2012 halie rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I know why the cage bird sings is a very confusing book at some points, and at others it makes scene. In the being of the story they are put on a train and ship off to their grandams that lives in stamps. Which is a black town at the time white and blacks did not live together. Baily and Marguerite had stop calling her grandma after some time and stared calling her momma. They ran a store with momma and there uncle. Marguerite did not understand why they where so different for the blacks. Baily...more I know why the cage bird sings is a very confusing book at some points, and at others it makes scene. In the being of the story they are put on a train and ship off to their grandams that lives in stamps. Which is a black town at the time white and blacks did not live together. Baily and Marguerite had stop calling her grandma after some time and stared calling her momma. They ran a store with momma and there uncle. Marguerite did not understand why they where so different for the blacks. Baily and Marguerite parents got a divorces and live in different towns. One day there father came into town and told they there mother wanted to see them. When they where with there mother Freeman rapes Marguerite. She dose not know this at the time. When he dose it again she gets sick and is about to die. After she got better she did not talk for a long time even after they went back to stamps. Then she stared working for Miss Glory. Marguerite did not like it when she called her Mary. When she did she smash a plate and got fired. There is a fight to see if they have to go back in to slavery or is it gone forever. They won there is no more slavery. When they went to celebrate Marguerite meat a friend named Louise. She had passed school and wore a yellow dress with everyone else. After a few months momma told they are getting to old and are going to live with their mother. The war stared after awhile there did not notice that the Japanese where there. They then moved to a apartment building. Then one summer big Bailey told Marguerite she could stay with him and his girlfriend for the summer. She went and big Bailey asked Marguerite if she wanted to go to Mexico to get food. Then that night big Bailey and Dolores got in a fight. Big Bailey left Dolores stabbed Marguerite with scissors. Big Bailey drives her to a friends house where she spends the night, he gives her some money. He tells her he will be back tomorrow and leaves. In the morning she packed up some food and leaves. When she is walking she comes across a junk yard and spends the night. When she wakes up there are kids standing over here. They ask her why she is here. They let her stay but she has to help out. She stays for a month then leaves. Marguerite goes back home she has notices a change in her behaver over the past few months. Marguerite is worried they she might be a lesbian so she goes out and get a boyfriend. She gets pregnant and has a son. She dose not got close to him for three week's until she is force to sleep with him. Latter that night her mom told hey to get up but not move. Marguerite was scared that she has crushed the baby but found him in her arms. That the end of the book. I would not tell anyone to read. This book made no scene and very weird. The major theme in the book is racism. I would rate this book about a 1 out of 10.(less)

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Nov 07, 2012 Melissa rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: nonfiction

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. The author’s memoir of her childhood has long been revered as a classic, but I approached the book hesitantly. I was worried it would be one long, depressing look at her horrible upbringing. I was so wrong and I ended up enjoying every bit of this beautiful story.

Angelou has an incredible talent for painting poetic scenes of the simplest acts. She writes about everything from the deep connection between siblings to the loneliness that comes from abandonment. She describes the pure joy of uncont...more The author’s memoir of her childhood has long been revered as a classic, but I approached the book hesitantly. I was worried it would be one long, depressing look at her horrible upbringing. I was so wrong and I ended up enjoying every bit of this beautiful story.

Angelou has an incredible talent for painting poetic scenes of the simplest acts. She writes about everything from the deep connection between siblings to the loneliness that comes from abandonment. She describes the pure joy of uncontrollable laughter in the middle of a church sermon and the agonizing feeling of knowing you don’t belong. Each scene comes alive under the skilled pen and her poetic prowess is clear from the first pages.

The book starts with her early years when she and her brother Bailey are shipped to Arkansas to be raised by their Grandma after their parents split up. The family ran a local grocery store, but lived a cautious life. They were African American and the Klan was still in operation in the community.

Angelou was later moved between her mother’s home in St. Louis and her father’s home in California; each time having to adjust to a new environment and try and find some semblance of normality. As a teen she lived in San Francisco, an area that is now proud to claim her as one of its own.

**SPOILERS**
I think one of the main reasons I thought this book would be so dour is because I’d heard bits about the Angelou’s life. When she was only 8-years-old she was raped by her mother’s boyfriend. Later she lives in a junkyard after fighting with her father’s new wife. She went through some incredibly heartbreaking things, but she never lets them destroy her. She is so strong and she managed to survive everything life threw her way.

**SPOILERS OVER**

BOTTOM LINE: I expected to find a depressing story of persecution and bad luck; instead I found a coming-of-age tale with a powerful message of survival. She absolutely had bad things happen to her along the way, but her enduring strength and optimism and her ability to tell her story without lamenting all she’d been through was truly inspiring.

“Children’s talent to endure stems from their ignorance of alternatives.”

“He was away in a mystery, locked in the enigma that young Southern Black boys start to unravel, start to try to unravel, from seven years old to death. The humorless puzzle of inequality and hate. His experience raised the question of worth and values, of aggressive inferiority and aggressive arrogance.”
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Oct 16, 2012 Barbara rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: english-literature

I don't get this book. I mean I enjoyed reading it, or at least most of it but I don't get it.
I was made to believe that this book was an example of how bad life was for black people before the War. I was made to believe it was about a young black girl growing up with hardship and discrimination and fear of the KKK and lynching. However I got a story about a young girl who is dumped on her grandmother and uncle for reasons not really made clear other than that her parents are getting a divorce....more

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Jul 25, 2012 Renée Damstra rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I don´t have anything bad to say about this book. Simple and clean (no jumps in time, space or characters to impress, conceal or make it more interesting to the reader, no forced trying to impress anyway just writing it down the way it is), interesting in its own right, speaking to the senses, good metaphors, characteristic characters, sympathetic main character. Maya Angelou can probably write well about anything, it is not so much the content itself that does it to me.

When reading I kind of l...more

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Jun 24, 2012 Evelyn rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

See Maya Angelou's poem with the same title. After reading the poem and the book I come to the understanding that the caged bird as the young black girl (Maya) living in a rural town during an era of harsh racism wanting more. The bird sings a song of freedom. You feel emotion and rage of racism in the book as well as the poem.
"his bars of rage
his wings are clipped and
his feet are tied
so he opens his throat to sing"......
Filled with dimension and layer after layer of self discovery and even thou...more

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May 24, 2012 Alan rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I read Caged Bird in the seventies, and considered it ground-breaking, as decades later, still unsurpassed in the Angelou canon. In fact, by comparison her verse seems sophomoric, rhetoric in Yeats' definition: "Out of our argument with others we make rhetoric, with ourselves, poetry." Her poetry takes up arguments with others, assurance with herself; she embraces the poetics of identity and "feelings" which a reader of Chaucer, Shakespeare, Donne, Herrick, Moliere, Byron, Dickinson, and Yeats...more I read Caged Bird in the seventies, and considered it ground-breaking, as decades later, still unsurpassed in the Angelou canon. In fact, by comparison her verse seems sophomoric, rhetoric in Yeats' definition: "Out of our argument with others we make rhetoric, with ourselves, poetry." Her poetry takes up arguments with others, assurance with herself; she embraces the poetics of identity and "feelings" which a reader of Chaucer, Shakespeare, Donne, Herrick, Moliere, Byron, Dickinson, and Yeats would look for--in vain.
Angelou became a national spokesman even before Bill Clinton raised her to his inaugural stage, thereby proving he was no JFK. Pres. Kennedy I played "Rockets Red Glare" for at his Amherst College speech a month before he was shot, and whose fellow on the podium, Archibald MacLeish, I studied and corresponded
with. Kennedy had come to Amherst to dedicate the R Frost Library, in memory of the poet and of Amherst's appointing the first plenipotentiary poet to do what legions of poets now make their livings at. Frost had dignified JFK's inauguration since he was a fine writer, and a political opponent included on the podium.
Clinton chose a political supporter instead, and no great poet. He could have chosen one, Gwendolyn Brooks, who was also African-American. Of course, public poetry, classic "laureate verse" required of all the clergyman-laureates in England in the 18C, sets an abysmal standard. It necessarily fits Yeats' definition of non-poetry, rhetoric, argument with others. Perhaps inaugural poets should be required to recite from memory, as did Frost when his 88-year-old eyes could not read his specially-written poem. He turned to
recite "The Land was ours before we were the lands," his "The Gift Outright," which he wrote and memorized
decades earlier. In fact, why not require all poetry "readings" to be recitations--as would Homer, Catullus, the poet of Beowulf, Chaucer, Shakespere, Byron, Dickinson and Yeats. This would shorten them, and add pith.(less)

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Mar 28, 2012 Alexander rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Reminder to everyone this is my personal opinion!

I think that Maya Angelou's memoir "I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings" has a very strong message in it. It shows you how blacks were discriminated, and how life has its bad sides. Everyone thinks a lot about the bad side of life. Newspapers usually give us pessimistic news, because that is what makes us want to read it. The book ends with showing, how she understands the bright side of life, and how there is always a good side. You will find happine...more

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I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (Maya Angelou's Autobiography #1)

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