Reviews with content warning for Abandonment - Yo Sé Por Qué Canta El Pájaro Enjaulado

Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

Yo Sé Por Qué Canta El Pájaro Enjaulado by Maya Angelou

50 reviews

hjb_128's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

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331bats's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

4.75

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librarymouse's review against another edition

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emotional informative reflective medium-paced

4.5

Hearing Maya Angelou tell her own story in her own voice was wonderful. She's a gifted storyteller and speaker, and her mastery of language creates a wonderfully vivid image of her childhood for her readers.

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leseratte69's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

4.0

Very beautiful and poetic despite there being some traumatising explicit experiences.

This book is one of its kind as a literary autobiography. As it’s a coming of age story, the chapters seem more like short stories. I found myself getting lost in the detail and so found it harder to be absorbed in the story.

Quotes I found wonderful were:
‘One girl, whose name and face have melted into the years’
‘He was forever dropping slangy terms into his sentences like dumplings in a pot’
‘Bailey was the greatest person in the world. And the fact that he was my brother, my only brother, and I had no sisters to share him with, was such a good fortune that it made me want to live a Christian life just to show God that I was grateful.’

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betag1013's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

5.0

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abception's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective fast-paced

4.5

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crybabybea's review against another edition

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emotional reflective fast-paced

3.0

This memoir is incredibly important for its time, and Maya Angelou continues to be an important figure in Black history, not only for her clear technical ability in writing, but for her bravery to speak unabashedly about her life as a Black woman in the Jim Crow south. Published during one of the many dangerous peaks of white supremacy, during a time when civil rights activists were being targeted, harassed, and murdered, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings stands out as one of the most important memoirs ever written.

Despite its importance, I found it a bit of a tough read; probably because of the older style of writing that came across at times as disjointed. As a coming-of-age story, it's enjoyable and easy to get through, with plenty of moments of unbelievably beautiful prose that really showcase Maya Angelou's poetic talents.

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