Mending the World by Rosemarie Robotham, et al, is an anthology of short stories, poems and memoirs written by award-winning African-American authors. Excerpts from four-time novelist Tina McElroy Ansa's, Baby of the Family; Jamaica Kincaid's, Annie John; and Tumbling, by Philadelphia native Diane McKinney Whetstone are just a few that make up this heartfelt collection of fiction literature.

Broken into five sections, the reader experiences the innocence of childhood in First Light; self-discovery and identity in Myth-Making; disappointment and loss in The Shifting Self; adversity and triumph in A Taste of Eden; and finally healing and kinship in Mending the World.

Instantly falling in love with the words that danced across the
pages, I read this book in one sitting. The Drill and Dear Aunt
Nanadine are two personal favorites, as these authors captured the very essence of a mother's love and protection and a child's pain and reconciliation.

In Breena Clarke's short story The Drill, told in first person, a mother struggles with the independence of her black teenage son in the perilous streets of New York City, while accepting his transition from boyhood to manhood.

Playwright, poet, and essayist, Alexis De Veaux's, Dear Aunt
Nanadine, confronts the all too familiar and painful light-skinned, dark-skinned issues in today's black society, after discovering a "red suit" in the back of her closet she was instructed to never ever wear as she was "too dark". These hurtful words birthed a compelling and intensely dramatic letter to her aunt of the shame and tears endured as a child.

Mending the World, introduced me to African-American authors which would have normally fallen outside of my reading genre. The written works featured evoked a sense of kinship, community, triumph and love as well as diversity and adversity in today's Black family.

Reviewed by Nicki Lancaster
APOOO BookClub

In my opinion, this piece of work was written very well, and Angelou's belief on her childhood is natural as well as superior. I think this novel gave the reader a good and detailed narration of what it's like living in the shoes of a black girl. I gave it 4 stars because at times the book got too detailed and a little confusing but that provided the reader with more beneficial information about the girl's background and her view of the whole situation . Maya Angelou's memoir portrays a young Southern woman's prejudicial and afflictive life through which she undergos rape and is rejected by certain family memebers during the early twentieth century. There was one event leading after another in this Maya's life, traveling from coast to coast and preparing herself for the differences in Stamps, San Francisco, and St. Louis. Maya's Aunt who she called "Momma" raised her in a religious, yet prejudice,traditional, and strict setting concentrating on Church and the Store. Compared to her mother's wild life and her father's distasteful ways some of the decisions she made changed her life. I think some of the events she stated appeared to be rough at times, but she demonstrated courage as an individual and her relationship with her brother, Bailey, was very touching. Overall, the book was very good.

First off, I'm a guy, so perhaps I'm off base on this book in terms of how "real" or "true" it is. My apologies for that. At the time I read it, I was a not-quite-but-almost-naive college junior, so perhaps I will learn in time.

But regarding this book, I thought it was pretty insightful. After countless late nights of sitting up and listening to the woes of my women friends, I could easily detect echos of FOF in the conversations.

This novel spawned at least three sequels. Perhaps someone with firsthand (rather than my secondhand) experience with the issues presented in those books could comment more specifically on them. I'll limit myself to saying that while I did not find Fear of Flying to self-serving or overly didatic, I did find its various sequels to be so, the degree worsening as the chronology did.

*Fear of Flying* is an Excellent Book, ladies and gentlemen. I highly recommend it men and women of all genders (who says we only have to have two?).

I picked up this book in my mother's garage about 3 years ago, when I was 18. I admit that I was interested in it because of the sexy cover quotes like "steamy!" and "shocking!"

I read it. And it's turned out to be one of my favorite books. Not because it got me hot and bothered.. it wasn't any more "steamy" than an episode of NYPD blue, but because I found myself identifying so much with Isadora's plight... her urge to find herself, to balance her love for her husband with her urge to find the "zipless f***" and to do it all in a society that frowned upon a healthy sexual appetite in women.

Some people have found that the novel is self-serving and self-righteous, but not a drop of that came through to me. As a matter of fact, I was shocked to hear it!

I loved the book and I think most young women would too - which is why you're hearing a heartfel reccomendation from me!

I bought this book when I was fourteen because I thought it would be sexy. I scanned the book for dirty parts, then shelved it when I couldn't find anything very steamy and returned to the bodice-rippers under my mom's bed. Many years later, I opened the book as a different person. Married, childless, and still confused about what I should do with my life, Isadora Wing spoke straight to my heart. I laughed at myself when I learned that FOF does have a few sexual encounters, but they tend to be awkward, disappointing, and often uncomfortable. No wonder I didn't notice them when I first thumbed through. I was looking for the descriptions of perfect and seamless couplings found in romance novels, and that sort of language just wasn't there, accept for in Isadora Wing's fantasies about the "zipless f---". Isadora has big ideas, firm convictions, passions, but is often held back with fear and insecurity. The plot of the book is not nearly as important or engaging as Isadora's ruminations on love, sex, hypocrise, and searching for good examples of women to look up to. I think every woman should read this book, especially if she is married and getting just a little bit itchy. If it's really bad, have your husband read it, too.

This book certainly reveals certain aspects of the small town south; but as descriptive and true as it may be, it is not a quality book. The character does not really evolve toward any end; she changes, but almost randomly. There is no thread connecting from page to page to chapter. The end (or lack thereof) is the worst part. There is not tying of loose ends, no final conclusion, no looking back. The book just cuts off.It utilizes excellent language to tell a poor story, and in the end, while Maya might know, the reader has no idea why the caged bird sings.

-s1desh0w

I found the casebook to be most intriguing because it shapes the context of which Maya Angelou writes. The interview and the various essays published give a greater insight into the dynamics of Angelou in her art and her voice as an African American women.

This book was very good. I liked the way the author described each moment in Maya's life. I'd just like to say that if anyone wants a good biography this is it.