Gather Together In My Name by Maya Angelou

Synopsis: Memoir of one of the most celebrated writer and literary figures in American history.

Writing Style: Traditional.

Pacing: Fast. 

Personal Highlights: This memoir bowled me over …for many reasons. Up top, her writing feels so effortless, so natural, like someone who didn’t have to try, who wrote one draft and was done. Makes her stories easy to read, relating to her insights and feelings and berth of experiences. 

Parts that grabbed me; the cultural differences she draws between her southern and northern experiences. Her leaving and returning to Arkansas said so much about that time, particularly that store incident and resulting events. Actually, and as a matter of fact, her stories were just plain rich. I was touched plenty and laughed often, as Maya has no problem laughing at herself. See the description of that split. Like, did she have to draw it out!?! Yes she did. Writing 101 at its finest. Freakin’ hilarious!!! 

She made me want to take a look at my own vocabulary. I had to look up “insensate” and “Atrophied”. 

The relationship with her brother …I cried, I laughed… their bond remains most touching. The way they cared for …and ‘jived’ with each other will never grow old on me. “He won’t have to worry about the big boy no more. Just one little boy. And tell him how little I am…” – funny, so unlike how she described almost losing her child. Woo! Also quite touching, and just as visual to boot! 

Spoiler Alert. Similar to ‘I Know Why the Caged Sings’, this one too is easy to curl up with …and that ending, kissed it, a true page-turner. Readers, perhaps who haven’t yet read ‘Gather Together in My Name,’ and enjoy memoirs that will have you seeing ‘how it was’, feeling, and laughing meanwhile, this is your book. A Must. Highly recommended. Read paperback 2009 copyright edition (first published 1974).