Reviews tagging 'Hate crime'

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou

27 reviews

madamenovelist's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Death, Gore, Hate crime, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Medical content, Grief, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Car accident

A very thoughtful, caring, emotional memoir with exquisite prose, but mind the warnings. The way she describes being SA’d as a child is extremely graphic, disturbing, and heartbreaking. I am grateful for her honesty and bravery telling exactly how all the victims of such a horror have to walk a tightrope of expectations, and how adults often make it harder for a child to tell anyone if they are harmed. Best part is how much love overflows in the pages for everything dear to her. Maya Angelou is a wonderful soul.

asiamd's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

5.0

I loved this book! I expected to cry a lot more which I did in the beginning of the book but the manner in which she wrote the story felt so calm to me and not in a bad way. It just felt so sweet and beautiful but also at times sad and horrific. It kept me really engaged in a way that I couldn’t cry because I was so caught up in her story and what she was telling. For me this book kinda felt like a love letter to little black girls telling them look at my life and what I’ve went through and see my happy and sad moments and know you’re not alone. Even though this book isn’t technically a poetry book that’s what it felt like to me, to be able to read someones life and the obstacles they went through as a young child is so amazing to me and I can’t wait to read the next book in her autobiography series! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Hate crime, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Violence, Car accident, Murder, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, and Abandonment

bookish_bry's review against another edition

challenging emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.25

This is a fantastic book. Angelou has a wonderful grip on the English language and it made every story she told pop off of the page. This is an autobiography, so it doesn't have a plot perse, but she chose what stories to tell very well and made a cohesive story out of pieces of her life and  imparted a very personal but also socially important message.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Pedophilia, Racism, Rape, and Sexism

Minor: Pregnancy

georgie_mb's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective fast-paced

5.0

Binged this in a morning, who even am I 😂 

Beautiful, poignant, and heartbreaking. Maya’s story is incredible and you truly root for her every step of the way. Highly recommend the BBC audiobook of this, as they bring it to life as part audiobook, part radio play. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Hate crime, Pedophilia, Racism, Rape, and Pregnancy

tetedump's review against another edition

inspiring reflective fast-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, and Sexual harassment

a_bloom's review

challenging dark emotional funny informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.25

It took a little while for me to get used to the writing and actually interested in the story, but within a hundred pages it REALLY captured my attention. Her writing is beautiful and descriptive and painfully aware of how her younger self perceived the situation of her birth and life. However, the last few chapters come off awkward as it strays from the usual pacing, but considering she had more autobots it makes sense.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexism, Sexual violence, and Abandonment

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Death, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Sexual assault, Blood, Grief, Medical trauma, and Abortion

Minor: Gun violence, Hate crime, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Xenophobia, Pregnancy, and War

amandas_bookshelf's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Violence, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Alcohol, Colonisation, and Classism

Moderate: Death and War

Minor: Abortion

kemrick19's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Hate crime, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

michaelion's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective tense medium-paced

4.25

One thing that makes it hard to get through nonfiction is that it is often pure and objective fact, nothing but hard statements and the evidence to back it up, but Angelou writes in a way that doesn't just feel the way a memoir / autobiography would, like someone telling their life story, but in a way that is colorful and bright and fluid like fiction usually is. Well, good fiction at least.

And on a personal note a lot of moments hit a little tew close to home. I'm not gonna list them but not me and Miss Dr Angelou living the same life having the same experiences feeling the same feelings!!! I had to put the book down a couple times and cover my face!!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Racism, Rape, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Ableism, Body horror, Racial slurs, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Fatphobia, Hate crime, Police brutality, and Abortion

blainereads's review against another edition

reflective medium-paced

4.0

This is kind of tough as I’m reading it today, knowing full well that it changed the American literary canon and profoundly contributed to how we conceptualize race and identity in the United States—and I can easily see why, if considering it in the context of the 1960s/70s when it was initially published. 

Today, it falls a little bit flat and/or dry (though the trauma is, as it always will be, horrific); the instances of racism (towards Latinos and Asians) and implied homophobia, though understandable for the period, are still a bummer; and it is certainly not the most engaging memoir I’ve ever read, but I know that those incredibly compelling memoirs (often from marginzaled authors) only exist because of this one, so I suppose for that alone, it deserves at least four stars. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Violence