I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings - Angelou

[Jgrace]

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings - Angelou
Audio performance by the author
4 stars

It was so wonderful to hear Maya Angelou reading to me in her deep, measured, carefully articulated voice. I felt she was in the room with me, on the road with me, making sure that I understood these events of her life as she understood them. It was wonderful, and it was awful. To hear her describe her own rape; her childhood shame and humiliation, was painful. Her voice became almost clinical and I felt her necessary emotional distancing. I felt that distancing again when she related her traumatic ‘vacation’ with her father and her solitary endurance of a teenaged pregnancy. I loved listening to her, but I think I felt more of the emotional content of her writing, and definitely more of the humor, when I read the text to myself.

[Book Concierge]

I loved the audio of this book!

[Jgrace]

Book Concierge wrote: "I loved the audio of this book!"

I loved it too, but I'd read the book years ago. I remember that it made me cry and kept me awake. I loved having her read to me, but I also felt she was holding back. Maybe I was just more sensitive to it when I was younger.