thetomatowriter's review
4.0
My mom passed down tons of Maya Angelou books to me when I moved to Louisville, but I actually didn't know that she had a series of memoirs (following I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings) and that I already own most of them. I just assumed that most of what I owned were poetry and essay books. So when I went out to start All God's Children Need Traveling Shoes, I realized that it was one of the latter books in the series and I still needed to read Gather Together In My Name.
I think this book came into my life at kind of the right moment. This book is about Angelou navigating new adulthood, trying to get solid footing both financially and individually. Trying to find love and belonging and often settling for less because she's so starved for it. Getting a sense of what she feels and believes about the world. Her early adulthood has been very different from my early adulthood, of course, but the heart of the book I think is very relevant. It has a little bit to do with her family, but less than the other books. This is about Angelou figuring out herself, and balancing motherhood with work and love and all the rest.
There's not much to say about it critically. She wrote some truth about her life. She wrote with the kind of conviction that the truth of it was undeniable. She didn't pull punches but she didn't dwell on only the dark, either. I mean, she's Maya Angelou. She's an amazing writer and person. I don't think there's much I can say about that that hasn't already been said.
I think this book came into my life at kind of the right moment. This book is about Angelou navigating new adulthood, trying to get solid footing both financially and individually. Trying to find love and belonging and often settling for less because she's so starved for it. Getting a sense of what she feels and believes about the world. Her early adulthood has been very different from my early adulthood, of course, but the heart of the book I think is very relevant. It has a little bit to do with her family, but less than the other books. This is about Angelou figuring out herself, and balancing motherhood with work and love and all the rest.
There's not much to say about it critically. She wrote some truth about her life. She wrote with the kind of conviction that the truth of it was undeniable. She didn't pull punches but she didn't dwell on only the dark, either. I mean, she's Maya Angelou. She's an amazing writer and person. I don't think there's much I can say about that that hasn't already been said.
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: Drug use, Adult/minor relationship, and Death
Moderate: Homophobia, Racism, and Sexual assault
Minor: Grief, Kidnapping, War, Rape, and Drug abuse
siria's review against another edition
3.0
I enjoyed this, but not so much as I liked the first volume of Angelou's autobiography, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. This volume covers Angelou's life from the ages of sixteen to nineteen, the period when as a single, black mother she faced incredible social and economic difficulties. Some of the individual incidents Angelou describes are compelling, and her prose has the same clear, ringing quality, but this installment just doesn't work as well as the first. The fragmentation of Angelou's life is reflected in her prose, and while it's still a book well worth reading, it seems at times rather disjointed and lacking in a narrative structure.
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: Death, Drug use, Alcoholism, Infidelity, Physical abuse, and Adult/minor relationship
stacey_franklin's review
5.0
5 stars
A beautiful continuing of a girl's journey into womanhood. Many times I was shocked at the turn Angelou's life had taken. I was embarrassed at the reflection of adolescent naivety all throughout the story. Angelou has become my favorite author of all time in just two short novels of her own truth.
A beautiful continuing of a girl's journey into womanhood. Many times I was shocked at the turn Angelou's life had taken. I was embarrassed at the reflection of adolescent naivety all throughout the story. Angelou has become my favorite author of all time in just two short novels of her own truth.