3+

At the part where the producer said he wouldn't pay for the songs for the play because Maya and Ethel 'just sat down at the piano and made it up' I nearly screamed WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK COMPOSERS ACTUALLY DO?
Maya's writing is amazing - so good - lean and evocative. I don't actively go in for autobiographies but I will be looking out for her other books for sure.

In 'The Heart of a Woman' Maya Angelou leaves California with her son, Guy, to go to New York, where she enters the world of black artists and writers. She begins to share her writing and performs at the Apollo Theater in Harlem; but the momentum of the story lies in her part in the struggle of black Americans for freedom: she is appointed Martin Luther King's Northern Coordinator. She takes a leading role in Genet's The Blacks, with a notable cast (including Godfrey Cambridge, Roscoe Lee Brown, James Earl Jones, Cicely Tyson, Raymond St. Jacques, and Lou Gossett).

In her personal relationships with men, she finds herself torn between a New York bail bondsman she was intending to marry and newcomer South African freedom fighter named Vusumzi Make, who sweeps her off her feet - she moves with him, via London, to Cairo. As she gains more independence as the first female editor of a magazine, her marriage crumbles. The most powerful relationship in Maya's life remains that which she had with her son who is becoming a man.

Maya continues to be a triumph!

This book was fascinating! I knew Maya Angelou was brilliant and wise, but she lived a life full of risk and fight! I wish I had started with her first memoir, but this was a great reading experience. The prose is clear and beautifully written. Definitely worth reading! 5 stars

“Years before I had understood that all I had to do, really had to do, was stay black and die. Nothing could be more interesting than the first, or more permanent than the latter.”


With severely limited book supply in my part of the world I still somehow managed to get hold of this one. I haven’t read part 3, and I couldn’t find it for now, so I just decided to go ahead with part 4, The Heart of a Woman. I swore to myself I will not bore you all over again by confessing my undying love for this woman, rather only talk about the book in question, but not all promises are meant to be kept, are they? So here we go! I don’t think I can ever place any limits to my love for Maya, for every time I feel I can not love this woman more, she proves me wrong again. 

I avoid reading anything about her life outside books to keep the information she would relay in the books a surprise and afresh. Learning so may things about her iconic life is an unmatchable experience. If this book was not an autobiography I would have considered it ridiculously fantastical. For all she went through in her life, couldn’t possibly be faced by one person. But I believe you can not become Maya Angelou without living all that she lived. 

In her poetic language and in honest narrative she relates terrible facts about her life and the life of all the blacks living in 1960s USA, the time period this book covers is between 1957-1962.

I guess there couldn’t have been a better time to read this book then now, as a new wave social justice movement for Black Rights have hit USA all over again. Reading the struggles and discriminations faced by Blacks then has given a completely new perspective to their struggle now and also hit me with a realisation that not much has changed after all this time.

“... how the black parents in America could let their little children walk between rows of cursing, spitting white women and men, en route to school? What would happen to the children's minds when uninformed police sicked dogs on them just because they wanted to get to class?”


The emblem of Black Resistance in USA, Martin Luther King and Malcolm X were running two parallel movements for black rights at the time and Maya found herself right in the middle of those movements, polishing her resume with some great work for the movements and for herself. Along with a detailed view of white racism Maya has also briefly touched the patriarchy of the African men in this book.

“When he took my hand, he said quietly, “You've made a good impression. I'll call you later.”

“I had said nothing, done nothing, shown no intelligence, wit or talent. Was I to assume that was the good impression?”

Apart from her professional life, the main focus of the book is her personal relations. Throughout the book she is relating the challenges of raising a black teenage boy, without a father in his life, in a racist America. Her lovers and friends take the second place.

Interesting to note, that even though she is already a woman in her mid 30s, she is still nowhere near the fame she was meant to reach. But her life experiences are without a doubt grooming her for all those times to come.

WHAT A BOOK. Na I know why the caged bird sings bleef Angelou verrassen met haar vlotte, aansprekende schrijfstijl en haar super intrigerend levensverhaal. Zo veel geleerd over zwarte geschiedenis en ook zo veel zin gekregen om er nog veel meer over te leren.

I cannot put these down

How did she get so revered? Self centered, manipulative,name dropper

Don't know what it was exactly about this one, but I loved it even more than the first. It was phenomenal, Angelou's writing is just so

I literally started and kept reading. Angelou is one courageous, outrageous woman. And this portion of her autobiography covers the late 50's and early 60's, a tumultuous time in this country with a great deal of similarity to the unrest we're currently living through, though the presenting issues seem different. (I'm not so sure they are, and the characters and mindsets seem the same to me.) For anyone who's interested in a creative life lived at full throttle, and/or who has questions about what it was like to be an activist in the 60's, this is a grand must read.

This is an absolutely delightful book. It covers the period of Maya Angelou's life during the height of the Civil Rights movement. She has experience with all of the main players: Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, Bayard Rustin, Sidney Poitier, James Baldwin. Her experiences are intriguing. She works as a singer, writer, actress, community organizer and lives literally all over the world during this period. Her writing is open and honest and keeps you turning the pages.

Absolutely gripping, fabulously written, heartbreakingly honest. This book grabbed me by the throat and held on. Angelou lived in interesting times and writes about both personal and societal turmoil. She makes her experiences accessible and does not flinch from the difficulties that she faced (and overcame). Cameo appearances by famous people felt like a cool scene in a movie rather than mere name dropping. Watch for James Earl Jones, James Baldwin, plus meetings with Martin Luther King, Jr., and Malcolm X. Highly recommended.