I KNOW WHY THE CAGED BIRD SINGS (Maya Angelou) - July 11/14

A book one admires more than one enjoys, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is an episodic telling of Angelou's childhood and teen years. There are certainly a number of harrowing stretches here - eg her rape at the age of 8 - but Angelou is unable to infuse the narrative with a flow or momentum designed to keep the reader interested. There's an extreme unevenness here that's simply impossible to overlook, and it doesn't help, either, that Angelou, particularly towards the end of the novel, employs overly flowery language that exacerbates the arms-length feel. ** out of ****