"I know why the caged bird sings, ah me,
When his wind is bruised and his bosom sore,
When he beats his bars and he would be free;
It is not a carol of joy or glee,
But a prayer that he sends from his heart's deep core,
But a plea that upward to Heaven he flings---
I know why the caged bird sings!"
-from "Sympathy" by Paul Laurence Dunbar
When Maya Angelou passed away a few months ago I saw several tributes to her on TV and in the newspaper. Someone was quoted as having said that Maya Angelou never had an insignificant thought. That made me say Wow! And I realized I had never read any of her work. When we were looking for summer selections for the book club, someone suggested we read something of Angelou's in honor of her amazing life. I am not sure how this title came up but it turns out I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is the first, and probably best-known, of her series of autobiographical works. It will certainly not be the last one I read. I loved it! My rating is a 5.
Our group does not meet to discuss the book until the end of this month and I generally do not read so far ahead but I wanted to be able to pass my copy on and there is always sparknotes.com for a thorough review.
Maya was born Margarite Anne Johnson and was called Ritie by many in her family. Her older brother, Bailey, gave her the nickname Maya and it was interesting how that happened.
This book is so readable. It has a lot of humor but much pathos, as well. Racism and gender bias raise their ugly heads quite often. Family relationships are explored in very touching but sometimes maddening ways. Some of the very surprising and memorable parts of Maya's story are when she stopped talking, her driving "lesson" in Mexico and her time of living in a junkyard.
I don't want to give away too much of the story. I highly recommend you read it for yourself!
And speaking of Sparknotes, I took the quiz online and got 21/25 correct. I figure that's about a B+. If you remember details well, you will probably be able to top that score.
http://gsearch.sparknotes.com/search?q=I+Know+Why+the+Caged+Bird+Sings&searchbg=&template=default&output=xml_no_dtd&oe=UTF-8&ie=UTF-8&client=default_frontend&proxystylesheet=default_frontend&site=SparkNotes
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Our group met to discuss the book this past week and gave a rating of 4.4. Some thought parts of the story, especially the end, were not fleshed out enough. Most enjoyed Maya's writing style. We had a very lively discussion, much of it centering around race, both in Maya's early years and NOW. As we were talking, I found myself comparing this autobiography with Mildred Taylor's Logan family series, including award-winning Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, probably still my favorite book of all time. The setting is similar, rural South in the '30s. Of course, Taylor's works are fiction but my understanding is that she based much of her series on personal stories she heard from her father. I don't know why that didn't occur to me sooner. My recommendation: Read them both!
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