When my dear friend Ali read and reviewed Maya Angelou’s “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings”, I remembered how I’d enjoyed reading this book several decades ago. My innocent question in her review’s comments about whether she was planning to read the rest of the series seems to have spawned a mini-reading challenge for the two of us – with no pressure and following our own schedule – to read them all through from start to finish. And look, there’s a lovely box set (though only available from the book supplier we don’t usually like to use, and not actually in a box). Anyway, fully aware that I’ll probably be reading two of them this month, I decided to catch up as quickly as I could, and I got this read last week.
Maya Angelou – “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings”
(April 2021)
You don’t have to think about doing the right thing. If you’re for the right thing, then you do it without thinking. (p. 309)
The fascinating and absorbing story of Angelou’s first 17 years, we follow her from a schoolgirl living securely at her grandmother’s house and store to a new mother in California who’d hidden her pregnancy for over 8 months and hadn’t really come to terms with the fact that being pregnant meant she was going to end up with a baby.
Maya and her brother Bailey are moved from pillar to post during their youth, thanks to the vagaries of their parents’ wishes. They’re shipped off alone on the train aged 3 and 4, labels attached, to their grandmother when their parents split up, then end up with their separate parents, who have an air of ineffable glamour, at different times. When things get tough, they tend to get sent back to the small town where they grew up helping at the store and bearing witness to other impoverished Black people’s lives. The travails of the cotton pickers, who gather at the store early and come back exhausted late are particularly detailed.
In cotton-picking time the late afternoon revealed the harshness of Black Southern life, which in the early morning had been softened by nature’s blessing of grogginess, forgetfulness and the soft lamplight. (p. 11)
I loved the everyday details of life as Maya and Bailey grow up, but obviously there are awful traumas, too, from their uncle having to hide when the Klan are in town to Maya’s rape by her mother’s boyfriend, but also the pain of rejection by their parents and the realisation of the lot a racist society is granting them. It’s so well and clearly written with the appropriate amount of detail, so nothing is too traumatic to read as such but it gives a clear and unadorned picture of what is happening. But the writing is also limpid and even beautiful at times. She’s also so good on the life of children, uncomprehending of what adults want of them and living separate lives, and that’s what I’d remembered from last time I read the book, too.
Maya and Bailey’s relationship is beautifully drawn, moving closer and further apart as the years and experiences wear on. I loved reading about his gift of a book on her school graduation day, thrown into horrible contrast by the hijacking of the ceremony by two White officials who tell them only that they can become famous athletes (and that’s just the boys) and nothing else in heart-breaking scenes she skewers from her position as an adult writing the book and looking back. But she prevails, for example becoming the first Black female worker on the San Francisco streetcars, underage at that. As she grows older she’s able to take her own initiative and make her own decisions, OK, not always from a position of sufficient knowledge, as when she decides to sleep with a boy for the first time. The touching scene at the end with her newborn son makes me want to carry on and read the next volume very soon. I know it’s not going to be an easy ride but I know she’ll write it so well.
Ruth
May 08, 2021 @ 15:38:08
I loved this book when I read it as a teenager and then again years later. I read all the volumes of her autobiography and although a difficult read at times, it was so beautifully written that I persisted. I learnt a lot. Reading novels has given me insights into lives I would otherwise know nothing about. I would encourage everyone to read this novel. Great review.
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Liz Dexter
May 08, 2021 @ 15:46:31
As far as I know, it’s a factual autobiography rather than a novel. But yes, it’s very worthwhile reading. I know I read the first two or three but then stopped, not sure why as the first five would have been out by then!
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Rebecca Foster
May 08, 2021 @ 15:52:28
I’ve read seven of these (all but And Still I Rise — is that a book-length poem?), most in 2008-10, I think. She’s ripe for a reread; I feel I didn’t fully appreciate her style or her story at the time.
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Liz Dexter
May 08, 2021 @ 15:55:19
I think it’s a book of her poetry. I feel like I didn’t fully appreciate her at the time I read her first, too, and it’s going to be wonderful working our way through them.
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Cathy746books
May 08, 2021 @ 16:01:57
It’s been so long since I read this one, I really could do with reading it again!
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Liz Dexter
May 08, 2021 @ 17:29:07
It’s definitely worth a re-read!
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heavenali
May 08, 2021 @ 19:40:45
Lovely review, I’m so glad you enjoyed re-reading this one. I am really looking forward to the next one. I think as you say the next installment might be tough going but I trust in her storytelling and the power of her resilience.
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Liz Dexter
May 08, 2021 @ 20:25:55
Agreed: I am confident that I trust in both, also she wrote it at a decent distance so will have had that nuanced view of things that’s not so easy during the times it tells of.
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kaggsysbookishramblings
May 08, 2021 @ 20:00:14
I’m not sure I’m tough enough for these right now, but will follow you and Ali’s progress with interest!
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Liz Dexter
May 08, 2021 @ 20:26:42
Even though there’s tough stuff in there she tells it with such wisdom, resilience and humour that it’s possible to cope with it. But they’re there when you want to come to them!
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JacquiWine
May 09, 2021 @ 08:09:56
Beautiful review, Liz. It seems there is a lyricism to Angelou’s prose in spite of the darkness of some of the experiences she has to cover…
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Liz Dexter
May 10, 2021 @ 09:11:27
Ah, thank you! And yes, indeed, the simple power and beauty of the writing makes reading what she writes about bearable.
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Wendy
May 09, 2021 @ 18:09:53
I’m ashamed to say that I’ve never read this book. But it is now on my TBR list. Sounds timeless! And she’s so amazing.
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Liz Dexter
May 10, 2021 @ 09:11:59
There’s no shame in never having got around to a particular book! But do read it if you can, I think you’ll get a lot out of it.
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hopewellslibraryoflife
May 10, 2021 @ 15:43:14
I read all of her memoir volumes one year as an adult. The Ghana years were the ones that stayed with me. I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings seared itself into my brain through all the trauma inflicted on her. I can still hear her giving her recitation at Bill Clinton’s Inauguration–so wonderful.
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Liz Dexter
May 10, 2021 @ 15:51:46
How wonderful! I think we’ll have then done within a few months as I certainly can’t wait to get to the next one. I only did two or three when I read them in my early 20s so never got to the Ghana bit as far as I recall.
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Lory
May 10, 2021 @ 17:48:14
So glad you are doing this project! Each book has a unique flavor and is a window onto one facet of a remarkable life. Enjoy the journey.
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Liz Dexter
May 10, 2021 @ 17:50:45
Thank you so much! Lovely to be doing it with a good friend, too!
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buriedinprint
May 10, 2021 @ 19:27:06
This is such a gorgeous book; I reread it a couple of years ago and went on to read the rest of the series too. As I recall, the most demanding emotional bits are in this volume, so maybe that’s some consolation; there is a lot of unsettledness and some difficult decision-making to come, but nothing quite like Caged Bird. (And if you are determined to put your book-buying dollars on the side of essential workers, keep in mind that a community bookseller can order any book in print with the ISBN…although it won’t be same-day delivery. Not like anyone reading this doesn’t have something else to read until a book delivery arrives! Heheh) Enjoy your new project!
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Liz Dexter
May 11, 2021 @ 05:22:54
That’s good to know – I did seem to remember the really traumatic bits were all in this one but I’ve only read up to about number three before. Can’t wait to go all the way through now!
And regarding where I bought it, we don’t actually have a local bookshop I could have ordered it in from in that way though someone might have been able to get it and post it for me. We have a little tiny one about three miles away but I’m not sure they’re set up for that. I usually buy from bookshop.org now and send the profit to that one, one I love but can’t get to in Cornwall or one run by an acquaintance in Derbyshire. I’m afraid I was attracted by the good price of the set as opposed to buying individually this time – but then that means I have more money to send to the indies next time!
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Grab the Lapels
May 10, 2021 @ 19:29:22
I had a hard time with this book and did not end up finishing it. There was something about the audiobook that made it hard to follow along. It felt like the timeline didn’t just move forward, but circled and skipped around, so not seeing her work on the page possibly hindered me.
Also, when I was in 10th grade, my English teacher told me she didn’t respect Maya Aneglou because she chose to be “a lady of the night.” I didn’t realize it for a long time, but my teacher’s judgmental attitude made me feel leery of Angelou for a long time, like she might be a bad person, until I made up my own mind. Can you imagine being mad at a woman for choosing prostitution to feed and house her child?
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Liz Dexter
May 11, 2021 @ 05:25:00
Oh goodness me! That teacher, that’s shocking. You should read the books then send them a review! I don’t think the narrative loops that much in itself, but they do have a fairly confusing back-and-forth life and there are sections of exposition on the position of people, bits in detail then bits sketched over. I can’t really comment as I’m hopeless tracking books on audiobook but I know you do those as a matter of course and are usually fine, so it just must be one of those it’s better to read on paper.
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Jasmine Zust
May 10, 2021 @ 20:34:12
I have not read this book in a long time! I had to read it in high school and I did not enjoy it. This makes me want to read it again!
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Liz Dexter
May 10, 2021 @ 20:42:25
Welcome to my blog! Oh dear – I do have to say that quite a few passages reminded me of reading comprehension exercises we had to do at school and university because it’s so well-known. But it’s such a powerful and moving book: I do encourage you to try it again! Let me know what you think if you do!
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Jenny
May 11, 2021 @ 18:27:37
I enjoyed this review and the comments! Funny how so many great books are ruined by having to read them in school. It’s crazy but I’ve never read this, but now I will. Thank you!
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Liz Dexter
May 12, 2021 @ 08:45:56
I’m still amazed I love Thomas Hardy, given I did two of his at school, and indeed Shakespeare – two at school and a whole term, Stratford visit and dissertation on him at university, plus I did work in the basement of the Shakespeare Birthplace when I was a librarian! Oh and do read it – and let me know what you think of it when you do.
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