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lynnevan's review against another edition
5.0
I love Maya Angelou. I love her voice. I love her writing. I love her backbone, character, and wit. Over the years of my teaching, I introduced her to my students every year through her poetry. Years ago one of my former students called me and invited me to her college campus because Dr. Angelou was speaking there. That was a thrill for me on many levels and was the first of several times I had the chance to hear her speak in person. Her eloquence and wisdom inspire me. One of the reasons I love her story - especially the portion of her life related in this book - is the chance to see how people can be victimized by their history or challenged by it to become more. If ever someone would have had a reason to lie down in the gutter and whine "oh, poor me," it was Maya Angelou. But she didn't. As she said later in Wouldn't Take Nothing For My Journey Now, “What you're supposed to do when you don't like a thing is change it. If you can't change it, change the way you think about it. Don't complain.”
Besides using her writing to teach students about beautiful literature, I was able to use a teachable moment to teach a life lesson. One of the other things that this book sparked was a lively discussion on book banning. Always a strong advocate of the First Amendment and anti-censorship in any way, I take particular objection to people wanting to limit who can read this book. How can we look at another human being and tell her, "your life is too awful for others to even read about." What is obscene is not the book but the fact that there are children in the world, and especially here in the U.S., who have been subjected to the horrors and hatred that she experienced. Certainly these things can be and should be upsetting, but burying your head in the sand to the reality is no way to deal with it. Instead, read it, discuss it, learn from it, and share its message.
Besides using her writing to teach students about beautiful literature, I was able to use a teachable moment to teach a life lesson. One of the other things that this book sparked was a lively discussion on book banning. Always a strong advocate of the First Amendment and anti-censorship in any way, I take particular objection to people wanting to limit who can read this book. How can we look at another human being and tell her, "your life is too awful for others to even read about." What is obscene is not the book but the fact that there are children in the world, and especially here in the U.S., who have been subjected to the horrors and hatred that she experienced. Certainly these things can be and should be upsetting, but burying your head in the sand to the reality is no way to deal with it. Instead, read it, discuss it, learn from it, and share its message.
lsaidam's review against another edition
4.0
A vivid portrayal of Maya Angelous childhood, this book had me laughing out loud but also crying as Angelou seamlessly weaves together both the tragic and comedic components of her early life.
esthergreenwood_'s review against another edition
Llegué a este libro sin saber nada sobre Maya Angelou, y me voy queriéndola mucho.
arivnnv's review against another edition
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
libby_libaryon's review against another edition
5.0
This was moving! Tragic but had moments of humor. Glad I read it.
internetnomads's review against another edition
4.0
I enjoyed this book, and I do recommend it to others, but I also found it a little...cloudy. I understand Angelou's desire to bring a fresh perspective to the autobiography, but this book is tough going sometimes.
northstar's review against another edition
5.0
I read this book many years ago and it was a pleasure to reread it for book club, even though an April blizzard forced us to cancel our meeting. Because Minnesota.
This is the first in a series of memoirs and covers Angelou's youth. As children, Angelou and her brother were bounced between their parents and their paternal grandmother, finally landing with their parents in WWII-era California. The hard work and daily racism of life in Stamps, Arkansas, was buffered by the grandmother, a devout and tenacious woman who kept Angelou focused on chores and schoolwork. Her time with her parents in St. Louis was less structured and Angelou was raped at age 7 by a family friend, an event that shaped her worldview after she returned to Arkansas. But the combination of a strict grandmother and more freewheeling parents helped make Maya resilient and brave enough to be the first black streetcar conductress (her word) in San Francisco and to calmly approach motherhood at the age of 17. We know the rest of the story, but when Angelou wrote this book, she was about 40 and not yet famous for her writing. This is a glimpse into the early life of a talented and thoughtful American icon.
This is the first in a series of memoirs and covers Angelou's youth. As children, Angelou and her brother were bounced between their parents and their paternal grandmother, finally landing with their parents in WWII-era California. The hard work and daily racism of life in Stamps, Arkansas, was buffered by the grandmother, a devout and tenacious woman who kept Angelou focused on chores and schoolwork. Her time with her parents in St. Louis was less structured and Angelou was raped at age 7 by a family friend, an event that shaped her worldview after she returned to Arkansas. But the combination of a strict grandmother and more freewheeling parents helped make Maya resilient and brave enough to be the first black streetcar conductress (her word) in San Francisco and to calmly approach motherhood at the age of 17. We know the rest of the story, but when Angelou wrote this book, she was about 40 and not yet famous for her writing. This is a glimpse into the early life of a talented and thoughtful American icon.
kathyperry's review against another edition
4.0
My February book from Isabelle.
This is an autobiographical coming of age story of Marguerite Johnson - from very young being sent on a train with her brother (with their tickets pinned inside their coats) to live with her grandmother and uncle in Arkansas to age 17, a new mother who just graduated high school in California. What an adventure her young life was! So many characters, so many experiences (from very good to almost unbelievable to ‘how did you survive that?’ horrendous). Marguerite and her brother were shunted back and forth between her parents and her grandmother. Back and forth between the racially segregated south (Stamps, Arkansas) and the supposedly liberal north (Missouri and California). Despite the wisdom and exposure and experiences of the adults in her life, she seemed surprisingly naïve, even well into her teen years - perhaps a victim of the idea that not talking about things will protect you from them. But she was very clever, an avid reader and very perceptive which allowed her to navigate the muddy waters of racism and sexism as she made it through her youth in the 1930s and 40s.
This is an autobiographical coming of age story of Marguerite Johnson - from very young being sent on a train with her brother (with their tickets pinned inside their coats) to live with her grandmother and uncle in Arkansas to age 17, a new mother who just graduated high school in California. What an adventure her young life was! So many characters, so many experiences (from very good to almost unbelievable to ‘how did you survive that?’ horrendous). Marguerite and her brother were shunted back and forth between her parents and her grandmother. Back and forth between the racially segregated south (Stamps, Arkansas) and the supposedly liberal north (Missouri and California). Despite the wisdom and exposure and experiences of the adults in her life, she seemed surprisingly naïve, even well into her teen years - perhaps a victim of the idea that not talking about things will protect you from them. But she was very clever, an avid reader and very perceptive which allowed her to navigate the muddy waters of racism and sexism as she made it through her youth in the 1930s and 40s.