The Heart of a Woman by Maya Angelou

I got this book as surprise gift package from the book club that I belong to. This book is a sequel to Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. It is another of her autobiographical novel that gives detailed accounts of her life during her early thirty’s. I find this book very interesting and inspiring as well. I like her method of writing. It is as if you’re actually hearing her narrate her story. Her words are natural but brutally frank.

The timeline of her accounts are from the late 50’s to early 60’s. During this time, she was struggling to juggle her life as a single mother, as a breadwinner, and as a career woman. The setting of her story is not monotonous because it spans continents and varied landscapes, from New York to Egypt to Africa. What I like most in this novel is the fact that she bared it all. She didn’t seem to hide anything at all. I like how she showed her strengths and weaknesses in the book through the different situations she encountered. But the most important part of the book for me is her struggles and triumphs as a single mother raising a teenage son in a time where social upheavals and changes were occurring around them.

For someone who is not from the US, I find this book very enlightening and quite interesting. It gave me a slight idea of the kind of culture America had during those times. I especially like the small anecdotes about the famous people that she met during those times maybe because I like history and culture so much. If you’re into autobiographical books then this is a must read especially for women out there because it also deals with issues of empowerment in women.