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Summary: a neighborhood brought to life
Review: I greatly enjoyed this mosaic of the people and incidences on Mango Street, where a young Latina girl finally has her first house. Her relationships with her sister and some neighbor girls who are also sisters are true-to-life and even cut across cultural lines when they have their uarrels as young girls always have. Other stories were a bit saddening, like the pretty young wife whose husband locks her up at home so she won't run around on him, even though she has never given her any reason to believe that she will, except for the fact that she is so beautiful. (Hello -- fire safety!) It's like Cyndi Lauper sang in 1984 "Some boys take a beautiful girl and hide her away from the rest of the world." This is a great little book, especially when there is not that much available from Latina authors that doesn't mirror the overplayed chick-lit genre. Very good.
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Summary: Forced to read this in school
Review: I was forced to read this in English class as a study in Latino culture. As I read the book, the writing style was very child like by telling a chapter indirectly so you have no idea what they are trying to say. I think my school waisted their money in buying this book. I have read much better books. If you are going to buy this book then buy a cheap used paperback.
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Summary: Simple and memorable
Review: A series of short vignettes bring to life the beauty and the sadness of a poor Latino neighborhood. Simple and memorable.
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Summary: The House On Mango Street
Review: This book is HORRIBLE! It's too confusing and it talks about rape TWICE!
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Summary: Pity me this, Pity me that
Review: Don't spend your time on a book that's depressing and meaningless. We've all had bad expeiriences. Sandra Cisneros chooses to make the worst of things. "I live in a house. I hate it though." That is basically her attitude. She acts like she has had a terrible life when there are people with no food or homes whatsoever. Take it from me and pass this pity story up. Pick up some fantasy or something that was written to entertain. On a side note, the whole vingette excuse or whatever is old. Just because you make some mistakes doesn't make you an artist.
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Summary: Very choppy
Review: I had to read this for english. It was a quick read through a poor girl's view. Most of my classmates hated this story, but I didn't really hate it. I thought it was interesting, the bunch of stories that purged into one. The story had a strong meaning behind it, and taught you things about life and what not. I wouldn't suggest this story, but if you have to read it, than go ahead.
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Summary: Your english teacher was wrong; this book really is bad
Review: The negative reviews of Cisneros' book come mostly from teenagers unable to express just why they remain unimpressed and bored by it. Their reaction is typical of young readers: they know what they like, they know what they don't like, and there is very little ground in the middle. This makes them perfect readers, but poor reviewers. Allow me to help. The reason you don't like this book is because it is not very good. The reason it is not very good is because Cisneros does not know what a good book is. She knows only what good writing is; and good writing alone is boring, just as you thought. So why doesn't your English teacher know this? Because English majors, for the most part, give up their appreciation for story and wonder and character no later than their sophomore year of undergraduate. In the place of story, they've been taught to study theme; in the place of wonder, they've been taught to worship relevance; and in the place of characters, they've been taught to honor writers. And that is why you had to read this horrible little book. Cisneros writes to impress other writers whom she admires, or the "Olympians," as she calls them in interviews. She is not interested in the opinion of the general reader because, as she states, readers "don't know bad writing from good." Yes, that was an insult. Of course, she might be right. You and I may not know bad writing from good. But then again, who cares? We do know good books from bad, and in which category to put Mango Street. Like so many of the professionals she admires, Cisneros writes not to entertain, uplift, challenge, or enlighten. It isn't the story or characters she intends us to remember, but she herself, the writer, the little girl who finally got back at everyone she grew up with by tattling on them in print. Even better, she's been adopted by the family of self-admiring elites she so envied, the ones who would never have adopted her parents or siblings or schoolmates because they wouldn't be special enough. Yes, Cisneros is finally special. And no doubt she takes great satisfaction in writing so well that high school kids don't like it. The literary sin you've discovered is self-indulgence. This is what happens when a writer, disinterested in the world, chooses to explore herself in front of an audience. When we say yuck, she says we're prude. When we say we don't get it, she says we're dumb. PS - To read more bad poetry disguised as experimental prose, look in your English teacher's bottom left drawer, behind the box of Wheat Thins.
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Summary: Stupid Book
Review: Sandra Cisneros wrote proably one of the most annoying books in the whole world. The parts about her mother and her going to school are pointless and the only good part about it was the descriptive part. The book and all the hispanic heritage behind just did not do it for me. The only reason I read the stupid book is becuase it was a book we had to read for class. If you are looking for a book to read for fun do not pick this one.
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Summary: Give yourself this wonderful experience!
Review: In The House on Mango Street Sandra Cisneros paints a picture for us of life of a Mexican-American girl growing up in the Hispanic section of Chicago. We learn that, for this little girl, Mango Street is not a place of dreams which would " have running water and pipes that worked. And inside it would have real stairs, not hallway stairs, but stairs inside the house like on T.V." Instead, the house on Mango Street is "small and with tight steps in front and windows so small you'd think they were holding their breath." The house on Mango street iss the place she and her family moved to when the pipes broke in their last apartment and the landlord refused to fix things. The book is written as a series of vignettes by Esperanza Cordero. The short essays/articles that make up the book have a flavor of a journal or diary entries. Rather than a single story, these journal entries are a series of vignettes which alternate stories of things that happened with description of people and things. As we read, we not only learn about the house, but the neighborhood of Mango Street and the people who inhabit it. Though not preachy in the least, the book brings us into a reality of life for a poor Latina child facing the challenges of living in a tenement, the differences in life based on class and gender. She comes face-to-face with the reality of racial enmity and some self-hate for her own differences. As she learns about life, we are hearing her voice and we are learning, too. Esperanza means hope in English, and this is a good name for our guide through this book. She rises above the circumstances and the oppressive surroundings in which she lives. She keeps hope for us. Though I wanted to cry for Esperanza at times, I was delighted and moved by this book. I read this book in a single evening. At 110 pages, that's not hard to do. I can guarantee I will be rereading this book again. The House on Mango Street will leave you moved. Other titles I recommend are The Mambo Kings Sing Songs of Love by Oscar Hijuelos, The Losers' Club by Richard Perez
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Summary: A poetic story of growing up Latino
Review: "The House on Mango Street," by Sandra Cisneros, is told in the first person by Esperanza, a daughter in an urban Latino family. The "About the Author" section at the end of the book notes that Cisneros was born in Chicago, the daughter of a Mexican father and a Mexican-American mother. Cisneros tells Esperanza's story in a series of 44 short vignettes. Cisneros' writing is really beautiful--full of wonderfully vivid imagery. Many of the short chapters are less than a full page in length and read like prose poems. Along the way we learn of Esperanza's family, neighbors, school, rites of passage, and dreams of the future. Cisneros writes with a moving appreciation of beauty, hope, and tragedy; "Mango Street" is a richly realized world.
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