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A review by elliemcc11
Gather Together in My Name by Maya Angelou
4.0
I read I know why the caged bird sings a long while ago, and Maya Angelou told her remarkable life story. This follows on and it's equally well written.
In this book she's a teen mum living initially in SFO. She finds work as a cook, falls in love and it doesn't work out, and heads for LA before a diversion to San Diego and Oklahoma. She takes short term jobs cooking and waitressing to help her raise her son. Somewhere in this story she, at 18, runs a brothel.
The blurb tells you she dabbles in drugs and in Oakland she dabbled in prostitution before her brother brings her to her senses. She also falls in love left, right, and centre but all are bad news.
The story is again remarkable and very well written. If anything shocked me it was her leaving her son with virtual strangers for long periods of time whilst she worked. I guess times and communities have changed, at least they have in my experience, and now we don't have "mamas" who take in people's kids and virtually raise them, with the mother visiting on her day off. I liked seeing this reflection back to the past.
In this book she's a teen mum living initially in SFO. She finds work as a cook, falls in love and it doesn't work out, and heads for LA before a diversion to San Diego and Oklahoma. She takes short term jobs cooking and waitressing to help her raise her son. Somewhere in this story she, at 18, runs a brothel.
The blurb tells you she dabbles in drugs and in Oakland she dabbled in prostitution before her brother brings her to her senses. She also falls in love left, right, and centre but all are bad news.
The story is again remarkable and very well written. If anything shocked me it was her leaving her son with virtual strangers for long periods of time whilst she worked. I guess times and communities have changed, at least they have in my experience, and now we don't have "mamas" who take in people's kids and virtually raise them, with the mother visiting on her day off. I liked seeing this reflection back to the past.