Mom and Me and Mom is the first book I ever read from Maya Angelou, and I don’t think it there is a better book to start reading this mighty woman. She may affect me with her every other book, but I am sure this book will always have an important place in my heart.
This is an excellent autobiography. When I couldn’t sleep in the middle of the night and started reading this, I knew from the first pages that I was in trouble. I wasn’t going to leave the book until I finish it. So, I kept reading until my eyes burned. I was only able to sleep after I promised myself to read the rest as soon as I woke up. So, I did.
Angelou describes all the terrible events that have happened to her as if they were so ordinary. Interestingly, this straightforward narrative increases the effect. With this book, you will witness how girls’ relationships with their mothers determine what kind of people they will become in the future. And of course, you will read about racism, being a woman and most of all, being yourself.
My mother’s gifts of courage to me were both large and small. The latter are woven so subtly into the fabric of my psyche that I can hardly distinguish where she stops and I begin.
Mom and Me and Mom – Maya Angelou
Angelou will grip you from the very first pages. Those incredible turns of her life will make you feel as if you are reading a novel. Besides, the simplicity of the language, the strange serenity of the narrative will make you read until the end. If you want to read a good autobiography, you’ll love this.
About the book: Mom and Me and Mom
‘In the first decade of the twentieth century, it was not a good time to be born black, or woman, in America.’
So begins this stunning portrait of Vivian Baxter Johnson: the first black woman officer in the Merchant Marines. Purveyor of a gambling business and rooming house, and mother to one of our most cherished literary treasures.
Anyone who’s read the classic, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, knows. Maya Angelou was raised by her paternal grandmother in Stamps, Arkansas. In Mom & Me & Mom Angelou details what brought her mother to send her away. And unearths the well of emotions Angelou experienced long afterward as a result. While Angelou’s six autobiographies tell of her out in the world, influencing and learning from statesmen and cultural icons. Mom & Me & Mom shares the intimate, emotional story about her own family.
About the author: Maya Angelou
Maya Angelou was an American poet, singer, memoirist, and civil rights activist. She published seven autobiographies, three books of essays, several books of poetry. And is credited with a list of plays, movies, and television shows spanning over 50 years.
Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
