Rating: 
Summary: A Final Song
Review: We began following the life of Maya Angelou through her first biography, "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings." Now many years and several installments later we conclude with her latest work "A Song Flung Up to Heaven." Although, Angelou focuses primarily on a short span of her life in this book, she reflects over her entire life and at the end of the book the reader will surely feel as if she has come full circle. Angelou's path to success was a rocky one. As a child she was the victim of abuse and her young adult life was far from easy. She shares her experiences with candor and grace, I never felt as if she was telling the glamorized version of her experiences. She shared both her triumphs and her regrets, her successes and her failures. Her writing was conversational, and as I read through this book I felt at times as if we were sitting and chatting. Maya's relationships with such figures as Malcolm X, James Baldwin, and Martin Luther King Jr., were discussed at length in this novel and several other famous figures were featured with less detail. I appreciated that she didn't "dish dirt" about these people, instead she portrayed the people behind the work for which they were famous. This book continued the journey of Angelou's often difficult life, but I felt like I was left hanging. I respect her decision not to write about writing, but after reading about so many of the difficulties she had to overcome in her life I wanted to hear about her ultimate success as a writer. Still, I appreciated her openness and willingness to share her life's arduous journey with readers. I truly believe that her life symbolizes strength of character and perseverance in a manner that should serve as an inspiration to all, and particularly to women. As such, I highly recommend Maya Angelou's final chapter of her collection of memoirs.--Reviewed by Stacey Seay
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