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A review by beckyyreadss
Singin' & Swingin' & Gettin' Merry Like Christmas by Maya Angelou
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
I decided to read this book because I bought a poster with 100 books to read in your lifetime. I read the first and second book in the series and I’m just inspired by her. Once I learned this was a series, I had to read more. Even though this book has Christmas in the title, this book is not based around Christmas, so I don’t feel less guilty about reading a book with Christmas in October.
This book is the third 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 book, it is focusing on her music and her son. She is on the edge of a new marriage, understanding show business and going on tour with Porgy and Bess.
Usually I struggle with non-fiction books, I find them slow, boring and can just never really dig into them and thoroughly enjoy it. This book still discusses difficult topics but within this book it’s her journey with music and 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 1949 to 1955 and that is a young girl in her early twenties – the same age as me. The fact that people constantly doubt her and use her, just broke my heart. This book wasn’t as heavy as her other two books, and I think that’s because she was discussing her career rather than her personal life. I would love to have seen or have a dual POV from her son and to see if he remembered what happened during this time.
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 needed a secure job to look after her son, she wanted a husband so she could stay at home, she goes on tour and men are interested in her, she feels guilty for leaving her son, her son is sick and then she wants to kill herself and then ends up in Hawaii. 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.
Usually I struggle with non-fiction books, I find them slow, boring and can just never really dig into them and thoroughly enjoy it. This book still discusses difficult topics but within this book it’s her journey with music and 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 1949 to 1955 and that is a young girl in her early twenties – the same age as me. The fact that people constantly doubt her and use her, just broke my heart. This book wasn’t as heavy as her other two books, and I think that’s because she was discussing her career rather than her personal life. I would love to have seen or have a dual POV from her son and to see if he remembered what happened during this time.
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 needed a secure job to look after her son, she wanted a husband so she could stay at home, she goes on tour and men are interested in her, she feels guilty for leaving her son, her son is sick and then she wants to kill herself and then ends up in Hawaii. 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: Body shaming, Homophobia, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, and Cultural appropriation