This memoir picks up right where the last one left off, and if you neglected to read 'I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings' you will be entirely lost. It feels less compartmentalized and progresses more slowly. Only about three years pass in this book and each chapter flows right into the next often with a longing for what happens next. In the previous memoir almost every chapter felt like it had a beginning a middle and an end. There was closure with each chapter as though they were each chapters of her life. This whole book, while shorter, only seems to describe a couple chapters in her life. The language in this book is still so smooth and beautiful, and some of the passages could be read a thousand times without diminishing in beauty. Unfortunately though she dwells on so many things and so she doesn't succeed in the verbal efficiency of the last book. Almost every line in the last book gave me something to think about, because of the beauty of the language and the meaning conveyed within. In this book it's more the situations that gave me something to think about. I guess I could best describe it as saying the first book is full of wisdom while this book is filled more with experience. I would also describe this more as a typical memoir where as her first memoir is in sort of a league of its own. Truly an amazing and full life this woman lived by the age of nineteen and it's so great that she bared it all out on paper so we could have it for posterity. I don't care who you are and what experiences you've had you can learn something or gain new insight by reading this book.
