Gather Together in My Name (1974)

This Maya is so different from the Marguerite of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings; it was a very rough transition. ( )

In the second of Angelou's autobiographical novels, we see a young black woman with an emerging sense of her dignity and pride, but an almost incredible blind spot when it comes to men and what they will do for her. A compelling tale with a vivid narrator, well supported by forceful style of writing. ( )

I enjoyed this, but not so much as I liked the first volume of Angelou's autobiography, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. This volume covers Angelou's life from the ages of sixteen to nineteen, the period when as a single, black mother she faced incredible social and economic difficulties. Some of the individual incidents Angelou describes are compelling, and her prose has the same clear, ringing quality, but this installment just doesn't work as well as the first. The fragmentation of Angelou's life is reflected in her prose, and while it's still a book well worth reading, it seems at times rather disjointed and lacking in a narrative structure. ( )

The book club discussed Maya Angelou's second autobiography and was amazed at the scope of Maya's life experiences in the two short years the book covers. She had an amazing array of jobs including waitress, cook, madam and prostitute. She had heartbreaking love affairs and lost her child for a short time. We were inspired by her courage and tenacity though wondered at a few of the choices she made.

The book left us wanting to find out how she got from that place in her life to the enormously successful accomplished woman she is today. ( )

Bought this one at the Dar Al Hekma College bookstore. ( )