Fourth volume of Angelou's biography. Very good. Her adventures in Africa.

Incredible. I've always loved to read the memoirs of interesting people, and Maya Angelou was, in my opinion, one of the most interesting people in the history of America. She fought hard for what she believed in, she loved hard, and she should be an inspiration to us all. To top off all of the interesting events in her memoir, her writing style flows beautifully, making this very hard to put down.

3.5 Slow start but well written. I liked the honesty in her interactions with Guy.

I started to like the book more towards the end. The first one third was hardly interesting. It almost had nothing of any value. The second 100 pages got more interesting and the third and last 100 pages were the most interesting basically because it depicted old Cairo where Maya and her husband lived together. I loved the description of the Egyptian capital and Nasser's influence and the depiction of society and life then. Of course, as an African and an Egyptian, I related to most of these parts and small episodes.
All in all, it's a light novel, doesn't really carry much depth. It's style is not too literary and it felt like my aunt telling me stories from the past. It's familiar. It's a bit dull but it reads with ease. I don't know may be I loved Angelou more as a poet and a performer.
I might come back to it again later but only to hear grandma's tales coz I kinda felt like I made friends with her throughout the text and I missed her when I put the book down for a day or two. It's like a friendly chitchat. It's warm and honest and it reads with ease.
Three stars and I won't really recommend.

4.5 Stars!

I love me some Dr. Maya Angelou! I wish she was here right now, I feel like we need her wisdom and beautiful words today more than ever.

Dr. Angelou was wise and she got her wisdom the way everyone should....Through life experience. Dr. Angelou lived so many different lives. She went through the worst possible things and she never lost her sense of hope and humanity. I think the reason Dr. Angelou was so well loved and respected was because she always told her truth.

The Heart of a Woman is about something most of us have been through. Its about a bad relationship. In her case a bad marriage. Dr Angelou married a South African freedom fighter and she and her son moved to Cairo. Soon after arriving in Africa her husband changed and Dr. Angelou takes you through her fight to either save or leave her marriage.

This book was so filled with grace and tears. Its about fighting to regain ones self before its too late.

Recommended to EVERYONE!

It got slow and boring halfway through. Too many details about people I won’t ever remember and don’t really care about. The ending was more interesting and I liked the descriptions of African culture and her experiences there. Other than that, the writing felt somewhat flat and the details were way too long and strenuous.

So many punchlines!

The thing about reading memoirs is that it allows you to see through the author's narrative. Maya Angelou did a remarkable job in making her point understood through vivid encounters, heated conversations, musings, constant reflections, and cultural subtleties.

Maya is a poet, a writer, a singer, an artist, an activist, and most of all, a mother. As a black American woman in Harlem, she learned how to play the game. Braving the streets of New York and London, she speaks with renowned men fighting great battles, diplomats, ambassadors, officials, wives, and people who agree and disagree with her. Clad with her eloquence, intelligence, and beauty, she outwits people around her. She may fall, but she sure rises at the end of each.

Feeling as if you're walking on her shoes is an understatement. In as much as she paints Martin Luther King Kr. as strong, principled and passionate and Malcom X as bold and composed, Maya Angelou fought the battle as much.

Since late 19th century, racism and slavery were being fought against. It gained momentum since, but the struggle for freedom continues. Maya draws a clear picture of how this struggle has been carried during her time. From public speeches, negotiations, stand-offs, riots and petty encounters that should not have been waged if only for idiocy and hypocrisy of some people.

The hegemony of whites was appalling because it exploited the blacks - took them their rights, their freedoms. Maya echoes this characterization. But somehow, she managed to pose questions that challenged even her own views. For Maya, it's not that blacks and whites are humans too, both equally capable of hurting and getting hurt, and that they might have lived differently. But that whites are whites and blacks are blacks and that they're different. While it shows that Maya is strong on her resolve, it also shows the complexity of the conflict. Truly, there is power asymmetry, subjection and historical abuses, but racial discrimination isn't just that. Achieving middle ground may be hard, but sometimes, it's the best option. Understanding the core of humanity and what it means to be human is essential in breaking the deadlock. For Maya, in this battle it is being mother that she can free herself.

A slice from some years of Maya Angelou's life.

Angelou juggles raising a kid alone, working in showbiz, navigating relationships--serendipitously, she falls into black activist work through which she'll meet MLKjr, Malcolm X--she'll marry a South African activist and move with him and her son to Cairo--become an editor of a weekly newspaper there--

Angelou's life beats in strong clear waves---she was a singer, an artist, a writer, a poet, an actor, an organizer, an activist, a mother---

How sobering that she died last year and virtually no progress seems to have been made on so many fronts she fought...

More than her preceding autobiographies, The Heart of a Woman intensifies its focus on the experience of black femininity, exploring its different facets through her experiences with motherhood, marriage, and work. There are three main plotlines in The Heart of a Woman: the place a woman has in marriage and society, motherhood, and -- as is addressed in all of Angelou's works -- blackness and racism.

Angelou's interactions with Guy vary, but his presence is always felt. Throughout the novel, Angelou makes the constant anxiety of being responsible for the existence of a child known to the reader. Even when she does not directly talk with Guy, she remarks on his presence: when Guy is hospitalized and she returns to an empty home, she imagines that he is still there to say good night to her. Angelou attempts to compensate for the extended period as she was touring with Porgy and Bess by protecting and monitoring Guy.

To Guy, Angelou's care feels restricting. He is no longer the child that once desperately needed his mother to survive in the world. Guy, though a teenager, has become a full grown man with an independent identity and motivations by the end of the novel. He had to grow up quicker than other children because he had no father, and because racism forces black children to adopt an attitude of maturity to shield themselves from a hostile and uncaring world. Guy spent his childhood closely attached to Angelou because his life was always unstable: he was constantly moving from place to place, and was afraid of being separated from Angelou due to her extended period of absence in Europe. As he becomes an adolescent, however, Guy forms his own identity and distances himself from his mother to offset his fiercely dependent childhood.

What is perhaps most interesting is that although Guy is initially depedendent, their roles are reversed, and Angelou becomes dependent on Guy. Guy points out that Angelou needs to be away from him to finally "grow up." Being a teenage mother meant that Angelou never transitioned from being a teenager into an adult. One moment she was a teenager, and the next, she was burdened with motherhood and adulthood. Her early twenties, which would have been years for self discovery, are instead used to care for Guy, so she never had the opportunity to "grow up." She was never able to just be an adult; she always had to be an adult and a mother. Her need for independence can be seen most clearly in Singin' and Swingin' when she describes her happiness at touring with Porgy and Bess. It gave a a newfound sense of freedom, to indulge in her creative interests away from the burden of childcare. Although Angelou develops into herself during her time with Porgy and Bess, she reverts into an extreme attachment with Guy at the end of Singin' and Swingin', which continues till the end of The Heart of a Woman. After witnessing her son's illness as a result of their separation, Angelou makes the vow to never be apart from him ever again. While her resolution does benefit Guy in the following years, it eventually becomes a hinderance as Guy attempts to assert his own freedom as a man. Angelou becomes the one who cannot be without Guy by the end of this novel. What is implied as The Heart of a Woman ends is that Angelou will finally be able to pave her way as a woman in the world without being identified by her relationship to men.

Angelou is the protagonist of her story, but she is not a hero. She more often makes mistakes than take a course of action deemed honorable. She often makes mistakes that we would harshly condemn people for. She decides to break off her betrothal to Tom because she falls in love with the African Freedom fighter Vus. The rationale behind her decision is simple to the point of being reasonable: she did not love Tom enough to choose him. However, her actions, however inevitable, are still insensitive. It deeply hurts Tom's pride that Angelou chose another man over him when she promised to be wed.

Her timidity is shown when she confronts Tom to break off their engagement. She does not step up to make the separation quick; instead of declaring that she has fallen in love with another man, she fumbles around for excuses, trying to blame the disintegration of their relationship on some vague necessity for her to be in Africa. She is afraid to face the consequences of her own actions, and even though her handling of the situation is not something we like seeing in our idols, it is deeply human.

There are often moments where Angelou fails to grasp opportunities for her to step up. However, the moments where she does assert herself are more satisfying because we clearly see the effort and the progression Angelou took to achieve them. One such cathartic moment is in the ritual Angelou is forced to participate in after announcing her desire to leave Vus. Her friends, rather than standing on her side, stand with Vus and demand that she explain herself. Though the situation is deeply unfair (she should not have to justify herself to others; she did not know she was going to participate), Angelou stands firm in her decision. When asked for her reasons, she rightfully calls Vus what he is: a womanizer and a misogynist. Her tongue is sharp: she sardonically remarks on the irony of how she has essentially become a "slave" in her relationship with Vus, possessing no power and being forced to pay the rent due to his carelessness. She remarks on his long running streak of infidelity, and though African culture is constructed to be deeply patriarchal and lenient toward men, no one can refute Angelou when she simply states "I have been faithful. He has not." Even more impressive than her conviction, however, is her forbearance. When asked to stay for six more months with Vus to avoid jeopardizing his political career, Angelou acquiesces. Vus is not a good individual, but he is indispensable to the African liberation movement as a whole. Angelou can see beyond her own fury, and sacrifice her dignity for the sake of a greater cause.

Angelou's relationship with Vus raises important questions about the power of men in marriage.
Marriage conceptualized by Vus and patriarchy, forces women into a binary. Either they are businesswomen or a wife. Either they are single with power, or married, without. Either they are meek and good, or overly brazen and disobedient. A woman can never be strong willed and a good wife at the same time, nor can they be a wife while being able to fend for themselves. Their identity is subsumed the moment they tie themselves to a man. Misogyny is built upon a fear of women gaining power. When Angelou gets a job as an assistant editor of a newspaper, Vus is not proud but furious that she did so without seeking his approval first. He tells her to immediately withdraw from the job, implying that his reputation would be damaged if she did not. Noticeably lacking, however, is any explanation of why Angelou should not have a job other than it being "improper" for an African wife. True, being married to a figure such as Vus means that any mistakes Angelou makes directly reflect his competency as a leader. What Vus actually wants is power, over Angelou. He is afraid that she will not listen obediently to his every order, and that her procurement of a job will raise her from the lowly position of a wife to a woman who can stand shoulder to shoulder with him. He wants a trophy that he uses for its beauty and nothing else, but Angelou's employment turns her into an actual human being. The patriarchal system that Vus succumbs to naturally inhibits the utility that women bring to society by treating them as nothing more than dumb pets shackled to their owners. Angelou, as we see, is very capable of work -- she has organized protests and directed organizations, all the while fighting against her underprivileged status of a black woman. Even disregarding the moral argument of equality, it makes no rational sense why women should not be allowed in any arena except for the home.

Most compellingly, Angelou is fair. When someone has done wrong, she points it out rather than lambaste. When she has done wrong, she acknowledges her own guilt. She describes events as they are and is unafraid to include the ugliest details of her actions and life. This unyielding, critical eye that allows for no obfuscation or pretense is what makes Angelou a great autobiographer. Her descriptions of celebrities and famous figures in the novel are sure to be unbiased and accurate depictions. Angelou meets many notables throughout the novel. The first celebrity to grace the pages is Billie Holiday. In Billie Holiday, Angelou describes a woman jaded and scarred by years of racism. She cannot stand before an audience without supposing that they must ridicule her. When Guy -- still a child at this point -- repeatedly interrupts her song about Southern lynchings, she doesn't hesitate to use the N-word to chastise him for his ignorance. Celebritydom, clear as it is, is not glamorous.

Angelou attempts to deconstruct many social phenomena. She posits that black people try to position themselves as sexual beings, opposite to the Christian abstinence of the white community, to claim ownership over their lives. Because they are oppressed in other ways, they take pride in their ability for sensual pleasure. This is an interesting rumination. Although it's possible that black people enforced the stereotype of black sexuality to reclaim power over their identities, black sexuality is often portrayed negatively in black stereotypes. The question is which came first: the stereotyping or the reclaiming? Black women and men have historically been sexualized to serve as foils to morally pure white men and women. Black women were characterized as "Jezebels" filled with sexual desire who would taunt slaveowners into having sex with them, and black men were often depicted as savage beasts who would indiscriminately rape women. Although Angelou posits that black people leaning into their sexuality is positive, it could also reinforce the negative stereotypes of black people as hypersexual beings.

Angelou wages a constant war between submission and action. As her story progresses, she gains more and more agency over her own being. In her preceding memoirs, it always seemed as if Angelou was at the mercy of the world, being buffeted around by winds beyond her control. However, by the end of The Heart of a Woman, Angelou has firm confidence in her value as a woman and an African American. Angelou and hundreds of blacks are standing outside a building where a UN meeting is taking place to mourn the assassination of an African official. They enter the meet and are driven out, but somebody was left behind. Angelou acts quickly, asking a random man to accompany her, and barging back into the building to search for the missing person. She is nervous throughout and almost breaks into tears when the doors out of the stairwell are locked, but she performs her duty regardless. In her most dire moments, she calls upon her mother Vivian Baxter for help. Her mother has always been her role model for what an independent black woman should be: Baxter charges into primarily white hotels without fear, asserting her right to exist. She is simultaneously tender and nurturing, willing to rush to Angelou's side the moment she is in crisis. In this scene, her immediate course of action almost recalls Vivian Baxter herself. Angelou is still unsure, but can play the role. Baxter becomes ill later on due to her alcoholic husband, and Angelou in turn becomes the nurturing one. She cares for Baxter as she regains her sense of self, and in a perfect conclusion to her journey, she takes on the role of Baxter to Baxter herself.

Maya Angelou's story can truly be taken to be representative of the black collective. Her experiences detailed in her autobiographies speak to black people of all classes and experiences. She has had the worst and best experiences that a black woman can have; from being a prostitute and a stripper to an assistant editor at a major publishing firm, a traveling dancer for Porgy and Bess, and a director for the SCLC, Maya Angelou's resume seems to be the amalgamation of all the possibilities a black woman can be.

Read this riding my 'I know why the caged bird sings' high. What struck me as the most different - and the most disappointing - part of this book was that it read more as a chronology.

Really exciting things happening in her life and the world at this time, but didn't have the same story-telling charm as caged bird.

Like it none the less.

This is the first novel I've read from African American author Maya Angelou. The book is a partial autobiography that spans about a decade from 1950's to mid 1960's. The story starts in California, moves to New York, then Cairo and ends in Ghana in Africa.

I've known of the name of Maya Angelou because I heard it a long time ago once or several times on American TV, but I've never seen a biopic or a documentary about her. Therefore, when I came across her book at the public library in Casablanca, I didn't hesitate in reading her story using her own words with no censorship and no editing. It is a unique auto-biography because the story starts when May is already a woman with a teenage son and not as a child and the story ends a decade later before she becomes the iconic legendary personality.

The novel combines 2 closely related themes:

1. The struggles/figths/actions by African Americans for freedom and justice against racism.
2. The personal life of Maya Angelou during this decade of 1950's and 1960's.

The novel contains History about the various fights and actions taken by many African American individuals and organizations to continuously fight for freedom and justice against official racism by white Americans. Some of the names of personalities and organizations I recognized because they were celebrities and/or movies were made about them (Malcom X and Martin Luther King). However, there are many names that I never heard of before. Some facts I didn't know of such as support of African Americans for Cuba and Russia even if not affiliated with them politically. Maya wrote about all this because she was part of the movements and even in the middle of the actions in many diverse ways. There were collaborations between Africans and African Americans fighting for the same things.

Unlike many autobiographies listing a series of facts, Maya wrote a very detailed picture of her personal and professional life. Readers feels all the emotions she had lived as if she was living them again in front of them. It seems that Maya wanted to show readers that before the iconic personnality she became, she was just a simple woman and a simple single mother like everyone else. She held many different jobs, moved around too much, had to pay for rent, food and clothes, and had to count on herself to meet ends meet. She had various relationships with men leading to nowhere. Securing a decent life for her son and herself was the most important thing for her. She had to juggle between her personal life and her professional life. She had to live her difficult personal life while also doing her share of the fighting for justice for the entire African American community.

One of the most important aspect of Maya Angelou's life (personal and professional) I respect is that she always said "YES" to new opportunities that life brought her her whether she felt confident or not about it or whether it will lead to something better.

Readers will enjoy learning about part of History we don't know and about the initimate and personal of Maya Angelou. By writing this autobiography, Maya Angelou did the best work of her life because she transmitted to future generations about what it was like to be African American in 1950's and 60's, what was being done by the communities to fight for freedom, and what real life is really about. It is up to new generations of readers to read this amazing autobiography and be inspired by it in any way possible.

Deep, honest and riveting. Love Maya. Her works are soulful and real.