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The House on Mango Street

The House on Mango Street

List Price: $9.95
Your Price: $8.51
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Good, but hard to follow.
Review: The House on Mango Street was a good book, it had its funny parts, its sad parts, and some action packed parts, but one thing was missing, logical order. The book kind of jumped around from chapter to chapter, and there were no real ties between them. Dispite this, and being required to read it, the book kept me reading and interested. With three stars this book is a rainy day, nothing else to do reader. Read it if you want, ummmm.....,that's all.
-Chinstrap

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: understood, but why bother?
Review: I had to read this book for school. Don't get me wrong, some required reading is good, some is great, but this...this is absolutely horrible. I totally understand what the book is about, and the her message, and even why she wrote the book in a semi-educated Latino point of view, but still this book is incredibly boring. I appreciate it for its themes, but hey, every book has themes, and this one does not make it stand out among the others.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: The House on Mango Street
Review: The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros is an interesting story about an adolescent Hispanic girl living in the barrios of Chicago in the 1980s. It is told in the form of viginettes that capture the essence of the main character, Esperanza Cordero and is told in a realistic, first person format. It is an excellent coming of age novel that depicts different sources of happiness and sorrow for the main character in each "chapter". "Those Who Don't" is one chapter depicting prejudice, both Hispanic and Anglo, and the reality of the barrios. The book can be easily read by many age groups, and each will find something different in the story to relate to. Do not read it just to finish it, however, because Cisneros has placed meanings below the surface of the novel. In "Four Skinny Trees" someone might find several different meanings; Esperanza's life, the Hispanic life, and the human condition are a few. There are a few slow chapters that prevent this book from recieving five stars in this review (such as "Bums in the Attic") but not much else can hinder the success of this already critically acclaimed novel.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: The House on Mango Street
Review: I thought this book was fairly interesting and could hold my attention. However, it is extremely easy reading, so it does not offer a challenge or any new vocabulary. The story does not have a plot that you can really follow either. This book tells of a young girl named Esperanza and her childhood in a barrio in Chicago in the 1980's. It is a story of Esperanza's coming of age as a Hispanic in America. One of the coming of age incidents is when she wanted to stay at school to eat her lunch b/c she thought that it was gonna be really cool. However, in the end the grass had just been greener on the other side, and Esperanza ended up sitting alone at a table at school eating her soggy sandwich. If you like an easy reading book that you can probably finish within an hour or so, then this is a great book for you.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Ugh...
Review: We have just finished reading A House on Mango Street in my English class, and I did not like it at all. I thought the book had no plot at all, and it seemed almost unfinished. Esperanza seemed a little immature and too innoncent for a 7th grader that lives in the ghetto of Chicago. Each chapter is an average of 2 pages, and each is a totally different story. I could not follow the plot at all, if there was even a plot. The characters are undeveloped and I didn't find any main theme throughout the book except that Esperanza wants to get out of Mango Street, and she will eventually come back because that's where her home is. (?) I would expect that someone *wouldn't* go back if they didn't like it there.

Overall, I was not at all impressed with the book, and I do not recommend it.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Good Book to Read
Review: The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros is a marvelously written book about a young Mexican girl growing up in Chicago. The book tracks Esperanza from when she is a young girl until she is a young adult in high school. Esperanza does not want live on Mango Street and be poor. Her goal is to succeed and then return and help the people that still to live on Mango Street.

I noticed the author, Sandra Cisneros, wrote the book in the book in short stories. I especially like the fact that she was changing her writing style so that it went from a child's point of view to a teenager's point of view. I really enjoyed reading this book and I do recommend it for those readers out there who are committed to fishing a book because this one is good from beginning to end.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Everyday life in the hood
Review: This was a pleasurable read complete with snapshots of neighborhood life. There is something for everyone in this true to life novel. We all have the strange lady on the block, the local friendly addict, neglected children, loving families with kind children, and those who look down on others even though their plight is the same as everyone elses. Enjoy this short, sweet, truthful look at life.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Poetic and elegant
Review: Sandra cisneros writes a wonderful story realting the struggles that young latin american minorities have to go through here in the united states. She has uses detailed, descriptive languge that colorfully illustrates what is occuring as she tells the story. At times it is a short novel of pain and suffereing but in the end "Esperanza" remains alive and continues on to succeed in life.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: House on Mango Street
Review: I teach this piece of literature to my Freshman classes of Intro to Literature. At first glance, this tiny novel is deceptively simple in its structure and format. Without serious looking at the novel, it would appear to be flat and empty. Most of the chapters are less than 1 1/2 pages. There is no strong plot line but mere episodes in Esperanza's life and neighborhood. Yet, if you read this piece of literature as Sandra Cisneros wrote it to be read as a extended poem rather than a prose work, you can begin to see the depth of the characters and the action in the novel. The uses of color, imagery, and simple language all make the poetic influence stronger. For example, in the chapter titled "Hips", Esperanza describes her hips as "Ready and waiting like a new Buick with the keys in the ignition. Ready to take you where?" (pg.49) House on Mango Street is a great piece of writing with many layers to it that teachers are always looking for instruction in a literature class.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: I really don't get the hype.....
Review: I'm not saying that this book is a total wash, but I really don't understand how people can recommend this book on a large scale other than it's hispanic in nature, and there's not many hispanic authors to speak of. Being written in vignettes makes it difficult to follow (if at all) as a storyline. Because of the vignettes, it's very teacher friendly---you can very easily ask a class the same types of questions you'd ask during a poetry unit. I would not recommend this book because to recommend a book is to not recommend another, and there are just too many books out there (yes, written by hispanic authors) that are friendlier to the reader.


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