Maya Angelou
1969
Around 290 pages
Maya Angelou was challenged by her mentor James Baldwin to write an autobiography that also functions as a work of literature. See, that's a much better partnership than Samuel Beckett and James Joyce. Anyway, she crushed the assignment and I was happy to read that she received due credit from JB.
The novel/autobiography takes us through the life of Marguerite, from the age of 3 to 17. She is sent to live with her grandmother and uncle in Stamps, Arkansas, where her family experiences racial aggressions ranging from the micro to the macro. And her life doesn't improve when her parents get more involved in her life.
I never felt like this was misery porn, despite the horrendous events that take place in Maya's life. She's entitled to hate the world, but she doesn't, and articulates her pain beautifully. She has the obvious ticks of a poet and you can tell she carefully measures every syllable in her prose.
Essential reading, so of course it's been banned many times in the U.S.
RATING: *****
Interesting Facts:
Interesting Facts:
Jazz vocalist and civil rights activist Abbey Lincoln suggested the title.
Appeared third on the American Library Association list of the 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990–2000.
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