I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

Maya had an extraordinary childhood, to be sure, but I wish she had expounded on her teen years more. Her homelessness, sexual discovery, and pregnancy got a single chapter each. I'm pretty sure she was in church or in a sermon-like setting for close to eight chapters combined. I‘m always skeptical of non-fiction because real life is rarely as interesting as one's imagination, but this book was one of those rare examples. This book only covered 13 years of her 86 years of life and it was full of experience. Her outrage at her grandmother being disrespected, her guilt for misunderstanding her stepfathers abuse, her understanding and bond with her brother, every experience of racism, all remembered through the perspective of a child, made this book read like a study of humanity. (Or lack thereof.)