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tetedump's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, and Abandonment
beckyyreadss's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
medium-paced
4.0
I decided to read this book because I brought a poster with 100 books to read in your lifetime. I read the first book in the series and wanted to hug Maya so much. Once I learned this was a series, I had to read more.
This book is the second of seven volumes of Maya Angelou’s autobiography. It is a testament to the talents and resilience of this writer. She loves this world, but she also knows its cruelty. As a black woman she has known the discrimination and extreme poverty, but she also knows of hope and joy, achievement and celebration. In this first volume, Maya describes her teenage years and her being a single mother and trying to find her way in the world.
Usually I struggle with non-fiction books, I find them slow, boring and can just never really dig into them and thoroughly enjoy it. Even though this book is heart breaking, discuss heavy topics and is brutal, it was a book I managed to get into and I think this was due to Maya’s writing, it was almost as if she was writing about a fiction character in a storyline that I had to remind myself several times that she was the main character and she’s talking about her life. She was talking about the struggles of a woman in 1944 to 1948. The fact that people constantly doubt her and use her, just broke my heart.
I wouldn’t say this book has any weakness, but I think the last few chapters were very rushed. She went from slowly describing everything to the events of: she needed to get a job, she ran a brothel, she became a sex worker for a short time to help her pimp, she lost her job, she lost and then found her son and then the last chapter was a shock to the system about using heroin. I would have loved to read more about those few bits of her life. I think she did it for a “gripping” factor to get you to read the next book . . . to be fair, it worked because I want to read the next book.
This book is the second of seven volumes of Maya Angelou’s autobiography. It is a testament to the talents and resilience of this writer. She loves this world, but she also knows its cruelty. As a black woman she has known the discrimination and extreme poverty, but she also knows of hope and joy, achievement and celebration. In this first volume, Maya describes her teenage years and her being a single mother and trying to find her way in the world.
Usually I struggle with non-fiction books, I find them slow, boring and can just never really dig into them and thoroughly enjoy it. Even though this book is heart breaking, discuss heavy topics and is brutal, it was a book I managed to get into and I think this was due to Maya’s writing, it was almost as if she was writing about a fiction character in a storyline that I had to remind myself several times that she was the main character and she’s talking about her life. She was talking about the struggles of a woman in 1944 to 1948. The fact that people constantly doubt her and use her, just broke my heart.
I wouldn’t say this book has any weakness, but I think the last few chapters were very rushed. She went from slowly describing everything to the events of: she needed to get a job, she ran a brothel, she became a sex worker for a short time to help her pimp, she lost her job, she lost and then found her son and then the last chapter was a shock to the system about using heroin. I would have loved to read more about those few bits of her life. I think she did it for a “gripping” factor to get you to read the next book . . . to be fair, it worked because I want to read the next book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, and Drug use
Moderate: Homophobia, Racism, and Sexual assault
Minor: Drug abuse, Rape, Kidnapping, Grief, and War
sakisreads's review against another edition
dark
sad
tense
slow-paced
4.0
This was harder to read than the first installation of Maya Angelou’s biography 🥲 MANY content warnings that I will include below!
I was very touched by her descriptions of people though; they were so vivid 🥹 Imagine having an icon like Angelou write about you…
I have always loved Bailey (her brother) and got teary when he lost his partner 😫
I will give it some time before trying the next installation 🥰
I was very touched by her descriptions of people though; they were so vivid 🥹 Imagine having an icon like Angelou write about you…
I have always loved Bailey (her brother) and got teary when he lost his partner 😫
I will give it some time before trying the next installation 🥰
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Death, Drug use, Infidelity, and Physical abuse
kaimetcalfe's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-paced
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Sexual content, Kidnapping, and Grief
Moderate: Blood, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
alicia_c's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
fast-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death and Homophobia
Minor: Drug abuse and Grief