I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

Maya Angelou's first autobiography, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, is a quick but intense read. The language flows the way you'd expect from a world-renowned poet. And then it cuts. The words are light enough to let you skip down the page and heavy enough to punch you in the gut and make you really feel it.

This book is less a cohesive story and more a series of vignettes that paint the picture of Angelou's childhood. It begins when she is three years old, being sent to live with her grandmother in Arkansas and ends when at the age of seventeen, she graduates high school and gives birth to her first child within a month. Along the way she moves between the strict discipline of her grandmother and the much more relaxed but empowering guidance of her mom. She encounters problems with her parents' lovers and learns how to rely on herself to get what she wants.

I had a slight problem with some of the sudden time jumps leaving me a bit confused. But mostly this is a beautiful, powerful book that every American should read. My mom was actually surprised that I hadn't read this in high school, and now I am too.

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