*4,5

Maya Angelou a une plume très détaillée. Sa vie semble remplie de rebondissements et de rencontres plus étonnantes les unes que les autres. En raison, des situations abordées, cette lecture me fait vivre toute sorte d’émotions et me fait réaliser que plus les choses évoluent, plus elles sont semblables. Cette autobiographie permet de « comprendre » (en tant que femme blanche, je ne pourrai jamais réellement comprendre) en partie la réalité des personnes noires dans les années 60. Maya Angelou est une femme forte et indépendante.

Utterly captivating. As usual, Maya is able to draw us into her adventurous life. Her writing allows us to immerse ourselves in the roller coaster of her emotions. I love her writing and story-telling and could read her again and again.

What kind of book is this? the BEST kind of book, one that is emotionally warm, intellectually stimulating and all that spiced with a touch of wisdom! The Heart of a Woman is a memoir by Maya Angelou, so far the only memoir of her that I have read and I understand she has written several of them. The events Maya describes in this book take place between 1957 and 1962 and in that sense this book is a continuation of her previous memoirs.

I didn’t mind the fact that this wasn’t the first one and I don’t think it is obligatory to read them in a chronological order. She does make references in this one to her previous ones, but you won’t have a problem following the story….and what a story it is!! The first time I wrote about this one was here (http://modaodaradosti.blogspot.ba/201...) and I still love it every bit as much.

I do admire Maya’s courage when it comes to blending literature with autobiography. It is not an easy task and only a few have really gotten away with it. To narrate one's life, any period of it, in such an intimate way demands great courage, but turning that narration into a literature takes a kind of discipline and self-restraint only great writers have, thought people generally don't realize how hard writing on this level really is. Let’s just say that many people have written memoirs and while many of them may be interesting to read, only a few of them can really be considered literature.

Years ago, I found a quote by Maya that really moved me but instead of looking her up immediately, I decided to wait. My intuition told me that a book by her will arrive at the perfect moment. Having read doctor Martin Luther King's autobiography earlier that year put many events in context.

However, this memoir is much more than a sum of events, it is a window to a heart of a woman. As much as I found the historical part of it fascinating, I loved getting to know Maya just as much. I could have missed that chance if haven’t had read King first because it was his writing that prepared me for this one. I greeted eagerly an opportunity to read this book with an open heart....and the heart of a woman I got to meet is exceptionally warm, unbelievably candid and wonderfully understanding. It has been a privilege and a blessing to read you. Thank you Maya!

Does anyone know what racism is? It is prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against someone of a different race based on the belief that one's own race is superior. By that definition, Maya was definitely racist. Against whites. Now I am not going to be too popular with this notion. But hear me out. Maya Angelou hated white people. She frequently referred to them in her books as 'white devils' and 'crackers', extolling the virtues of black people, but painting white people in the harshest possible light. Now I know she was raised in an era when she was oppressed by whites, denigrated, and ridiculed. But this backlash against all white people is unfair. I happen to know quite a few white people who are good people. You can't paint everyone in a negative light - it's just not fair. Yes, it's a given that most of the white people in positions of power did abuse their authority. And I'm familiar with the Ku Klux Klan. I just don't think that the issue of racism is going to be solved with..... more racism. It doesn't make sense.

Also frustrating in this book was her marriage to whathisface, during which she was none other than a slave to this man who just wanted her under his thumb, and obedient and such. Why was Maya, strongly opposed to slavery, so willing to be a slave in her own home? Don't tell me it was just the way things were back then. That's no excuse not to grow a backbone. She had a choice to enter that marriage. If, in that day, the institution of marriage was known to oppress and demean a woman, why submit to it? Maya had a choice. As a successful career woman raising her son on her own, she could have continued status quo and been quite happy, thank you very much.

Additionally, this third biography just didn't have the depth and range of emotion that the other two did have. I felt alienated by all the politics, especially in the beginning. It felt as though she was just reciting a series of events, rather than trying to pull us in as readers. It started off promising, with a visit from the lovely Billie Holiday, but went downhill from there. Mind you, the novel did pick up near the end, leading you to hope that the next biography would be better than this one.

4/5
Maya Angelou yakın zamana kadar adını bile duymadığım bir yazardı. Pardon yazar mı dedim? Yazar, şair, ses sanatçısı, dansçı, oyuncu ve hatta sivil hak savunucusu cesur bir kadın demek istemiştim. Böyle söyleyince sizin de ilginizi çektiğimi düşünüyorum umarım öyle olmuştur. Her neyse adını duyduğumdan beri hayatını, mücadelesini okumak istediğim muazzam bir kişilik olduğunu biliyordum. Kafkaokur derginin bir sayısında da kendisinden bahsedilmiş ben de alıp okuma fırsatı bularak merakıma merak katmıştım. Yazarı anlayabilmek için başlangıç kitabı olarak otobiyografik kitabı olan Bir Kadının Yüreği kitabını okumak istedim. Kitabın otobiyografik oluşu “Acaba dili ağır mıdır, çok detaya inmiş midir, sıkılır mıyım?” diye düşünmeme ve kitaba önyargı ile başlamama sebep oldu fakat Angelou o kadar güzel ve duru yazmış ki okurken hiç de otobiyografi okuyor gibi değildim. Oğlu Guy ile birlikte sessiz sakin gözlerden uzak bir hayat yaşadıkları zamanlardan başlayıp Martin Luther King Jr. Ve Malcolm X ile birlikte çalışıp siyahilere yapılan zulme karşı durmaya kadar süren harika bir kitaptı. Bunun yanında Angelou’nun yaşadığı aşklar, aldığı kararlar, kurduğu arkadaşlıklar dolu dolu bir kitap okuduğumu hissettirdi bana. Yazdıklarını okumaya devam edeceğim harika bir şahsiyet. Size de tavsiye ederim.

Many years ago, I attended a Maya Angelou reading and afterwards, she signed one of her books for me. A lovely lady, she was outgoing and gracious. This memoir covers her early 30s. She meets and works for historical icons like Billie Holiday and MLK. I was surprised to learn some things about her I didn't know before, but I won't play spoiler and recount them here. She certainly had more than her share of heartbreaks and challenges. I thoroughly enjoyed the read.

maya angelou - phenomenal woman

This volume of noted writer Maya Angelou's memoirs is full of amazing experiences.
Angelou worked for Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Southern Christian Leadership Conference in its early years. She met Billy Holliday. She acted with the likes of James Earl Jones, Roscoe Lee Browne, and Godfrey Cambridge.
Then she fell in love with a South African freedom fighter and went with him to live in Egypt.
What an amazing life! She felt deeply and wrote well. Wherever she went, her son was her main concern.
This is an impressive personal history of African American politics as well as an intimate tale of life and love.

I’m still gushing at Malcom X iconic appearance in this book! What a time to be alive to be meeting him and other fascinating minds like MLK, Du Bois, Baldwin etc. This won’t be my last Maya Angelou autobiography. Although I doubt the “realness” of the Heart of a Women, nothing about it was boring. I can’t decide which one was more eccentric, Maya’s writing or Maya’s life - both I thoroughly enjoyed! Also, her mom in the Heart of a Women seemed like such an out of this world women, will definitely be picking up “Mom & Me & Mom” next.

This was my first encounter with Maya Angelou’s writing other than her poetry and I really enjoyed her style and storytelling. I read this sort of unconventionally out of order but nevertheless it was easy to follow. It was a beautiful celebration of Black artists and activists fighting for freedom in the 1960s.

wszystkie tomy tej autobiografii po prostu trzeba przeczytać, niesamowicie dużo uczą, dają perspektywę, pozwalają lepiej zrozumieć świat, biały przywilej i zmagania oraz walkę czarnoskórych w różnych częściach świata; dużo w tym tomie aktywizmu, kształtujących się poglądów, kobiecości, samotności i macierzyństwa. Maya Angelou to jedna z najwspanialszych pisarek i najbardziej imponujących, inspirujących osób, jakie dane mi było „poznać” <3