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Summary: I know why the caged bird sings.
Review: This book is a very good and brilliant book from a talented author.The plot is excellant. Maya knows how to tell a story.
I recomend her book to all readers.
Rating: 
Summary: I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
Review: Marguerite (Maya) has lived in Stamps, Arkansas for most of her life with her grandmother and out of the blue her father comes forward into her life. In this unexpected visit Maya and her brother are whisked to St. Louis to live with their mother. After awhile, Maya and her brother leave because her mother's boyfriend violates her. Time passes, and they are sent to California where Maya is shipped off to her father and his awful girlfriend. She finally runs away to a wrecking yard where she eventually goes back to her mother. After feeling "finished" with high school, Maya gets a job on the streetcars as the first African-American and some months later becomes pregnant. I really enjoyed this book and somehow could relate to it, even though I'd never been through any of the same experiences. Maya Angelou has a distinct writing style with an intricate slow pace which I usually dislike although in this book her vocabulary painted a picture which kept me interested. Maya's life has been really hard and reading this now, I wonder how you can overcome all of what she has went through. Her life with her parents was a wreck and yet she still held herself together, probably because of living with her grandmother who helped instill morals, stability, and how the world really worked. It's a remarkable story and that's just what it appears at first. The moral of her life shows how will and determination cannot change your inborn character, that you become stronger through it.
Rating: 
Summary: I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings
Review: This book is defintley a favorite pick of mine! After I finished reading this, I felt I knew Maya. I also HIGHLY recommend all of Maya's other books. They are WONDERFUL! Reading I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings prompted me to read the others, and I'm glad I did!
Rating: 
Summary: Predictable
Review: This is pretty much your average "Austerity During the Jim Crow Era" type book. I am totally against racism, rape and any form of bigotry, but in some of the scenes, the author seems to be complaining and dwelling about what happened to her, instead of moving forward with her life. Maybe it's just the way I read it, or maybe it has to do with my reactions to some Maya Angelou poems I've read which I didn't necessarily like. I respect her writing style, but it's just not for me.
Rating: 
Summary: Profoundly perfunctory
Review: An infantile, vindictive, and pretentiously polysyllabic account of unrealistically recalled formative years. One must combat the impression that Ms. Angelou presumes to speak for every African-American in her portrayal of "whitefolks" who are, without exception, either [prostitutes], greedy crooks, imbecilic, or just inherently mean-spirited. A 280 page exercise of almost vaudevillian absurdity in which the reader's boredom is only exceeded by the author's self-absorption.
Rating:
Summary: my rating
Review: in fact, it is a good book but as for myself, i find it too common to compare between maya angelou and other black authors. to be honest, richard wright and richard ellison and maya are in the same category: nothing different. on the other hand, it is a good book anyway.
Rating:
Summary: Great background about a Great Person
Review: A nice read. I enjoyed being able to read an accurate, first hand, historical account from a frank, honest, engaging author. Although I have not been there myself, I would venture to guess that Stamps, Arkansas remains today much the same as it was described in this book. I must admit that I was not completely overwhelmed by the writing style, but I do appreciate the matter-of-fact tone. The book was effective and educational. Especially inspiring is Maya Angelou herself and her list of accomplishments stemming from her first job experience at age 15.
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Summary: An amazing book by an amazing writer
Review: I read the reviews from other people conserning this book, one person deamed it 'racist' another that, Dr. Maya Angelou was 'sick' for including the story of her rape ordeal. I was ultimatly saddened by these comments. This book is simply outstanding, written with so much realism, the characters literally jump of the page. This woman is one of the most extraordinary writers to come out of America. To describe ths novel as 'sick' and 'racist' is a childish and immoral thing to say. I suggest these two reviewers stick to reading childrens books, it is obvious you have no understanding of the english language, and good literature as a whole. 'I know why the caged bird sings', stands as one of the most important books of the twentieth century, a testimant to a truly gifted idividual, who has overcome the heartache and trauma in her life, to triumph.
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Summary: RACIST!!
Review: RACIST! Has anyone ever noticed that every time "Black" is written in the book it starts with an uppercase "B" and every time "white" is written in the book (with the exception of being at the start of a sentence) the "w" is lowercase??? What is the deal with that? She is supposed to be some great humanitarian and she is still to this day perpetuating a racist message. I understand she had a hard time growing up, but come on now. This book should have not been printed, and it sure should not be read in our schools as some great literary feat. She is a racist, that's the bottom line. Don't give her another dime.
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Summary: My rantings and ravings on the worlds worst book
Review: Well first of all the only reason I read this book was because of my english class and boy, was it awful. First of all that scene where she was being molested by her mom's boyfriend was totally unnecessary...it just made a bad book worse. It seems to me that mya angelou has a real sick streak in her, she couldn't even start the book without describing in detail a time she peed her pants in church. Second of all I really had no sympathy for the characters at all. Angelou spent all her time complaining about how badly the world treated her and she never tried to do anything about it. All she did was talk about how evil white people are, which really offended me. It would have been okay if the book was about how she overcame her problems instead of her boo-hooing about them untill she finally gets pregnant as a teen and decides that she's happy with her life. How this POS ever became standard reading for school I never will understand. My advice: never read this book, EVER!!!!!!
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