Book Review, Fiction, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Maya Angelo, SephiPiderWitch

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings – Maya Angelo

I Know Why the Caged Bird SingsYet another book that you have to take a deep breath before writing a review about.    If for no other reason that what can be said about it that has not already been said? I have been meaning to read this book for many years.  Looked for it when I could remember (I often forget to bring my notebook that has books I am supposed to look for that I think I want to read).  I finally came across it in a used bookstore and its been sitting on my shelf for about a year. All I can say is, if you have not read this book, you are missing out!  The book, the woman, is as amazing as everything you have heard about her and it.  The prose is lyrical, haunting, like dripping honey infused with lavender highlights that seep into your soul and speaks directly to it. For those that are not familiar with the story, its an autobiography of her younger life where she and her brother were left in the care of their grandmother in Stamps, Arkansas, life there in their country store, the racism and hatred that was part of the time, and even more so in a small Southern town.  Through her words, we are drawn into the little store, the home her and her brother share with their grandmother, her simple words, so perfect, you can smell the smells of the fires, taste the sugar lumps on their fingertips and smart at the harsh words of the white people who treat them as less than human. When her mother shows up and carts them off to California, she shows you a new world.  One that is changing fast with a new breed of colored that are finding a place in the world, a place where there is money and property.  Where, if like her mother, you are light enough to almost pass for one of the white women, doors open for you.  It is in this world that Maya is raped by her mother’s boyfriend. One of the most striking things of the novel is the lack of anger in the voice of the author.  The story is told in the gentle voice of a storyteller who is passing along a tale of how things were.  It is story to be savored by any willing to open its pages and promises sadness and tears, joy and laughter and an empowerment of the spirit.  It is the story of a child who rose from the dust of the South to become one of the greatest and most loved voices in American Literature. SephiPiderWitch 01/05/2015
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