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The House on Mango Street

3.48 of 5 stars 3.48 · rating details · 43,133 ratings · 3,056 reviews

Told in a series of vignettes stunning for their eloquence, this memoir (?) is Sandra Cisneros's greatly admired story of a young girl's growing up in the Latino section of Chicago.

Paperback, 25th Anniversary Edition, 110 pages

Published April 3rd 1991 by Vintage (first published 1984)

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May 17, 2013 Steve aka Sckenda rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: writers, freedom, place, latin-america, latino, children, first-novel, individualism, mothers-and-daughters, social-class, voice, writing, urban, fathers-and-daughters

"I like to tell stories. I tell them inside my head. I am going to tell you a story about a girl who didn’t want to belong."(109)

Where is home? Is your home the people who love you, or is your home a physical space where you are most free? This is the story of a woman who builds her own home in her head until she is able to escape and build a house of her own.

Sandra Cisneros has written 46 vignettes that form a story about the life of a Mexican-American girl in Chicago in the sixties. Cisneros...more

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Mar 05, 2010 Kim rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: mmx, frosh

It’s a little after 2am. I’m having the dreams.

The ones that blindside me and have that weird echo --- is or isn’t this real? Sleep isn’t going to happen. What’s new. I leave my room to check out the house. Doors locked? Check. Kids asleep? Check…whoa, hold up a minute. Em is awake. She’s sitting in the living room illuminated by a booklite. She’s got about 4 blankets piled on top of her and she’s….. reading. Reading? I’m used to the insomnia, on both our parts… we knock around each other, say...more
It’s a little after 2am. I’m having the dreams.

The ones that blindside me and have that weird echo --- is or isn’t this real? Sleep isn’t going to happen. What’s new. I leave my room to check out the house. Doors locked? Check. Kids asleep? Check…whoa, hold up a minute. Em is awake. She’s sitting in the living room illuminated by a booklite. She’s got about 4 blankets piled on top of her and she’s….. reading. Reading? I’m used to the insomnia, on both our parts… we knock around each other, say a few words and pretend to sleep. It’s routine by now. But, to see her reading? She looks up at me and there are tears in her eyes. Okay, now I’m really testing that reality theory.

‘Mom, have you ever read The House on Mango Street?’

Huh? I look over the book. No. Never even heard of it. ’A novel of a young girl growing up in the Latino section of Chicago.’ Okay… assigned to a freshman English class in Northern Vermont. Where ethnicity is reserved for the Somalian refugees that pepper Burlington, but hardly touch the suburbs. I’ll bite.

I pick it up, it’s maybe an hour’s read. Tops. “We didn’t always live on Mango Street.” Then, I’m lost. This is lyrical, this is heart wrenching. Words are married, sentences consummated, images borne that my white-bread, New England-raised mind can’t comprehend except on an emotional level. I’m in love.

“She looked out the window her whole life, the way so many women sit their sadness on an elbow.”

“You can never have too much sky. You can fall asleep and wake up drunk on sky, and sky can keep you safe when you are sad. Here there is too much sadness and not enough sky.”

“Everything is holding its breath inside of me. Everything is waiting to explode like Christmas. I want to be new and shiny.”

“You know what you are Esperanza? You are like the Cream of Wheat cereal. You’re like the lumps.”

“But I think diseases have no eyes. They pick with a dizzy finger anyone, just anyone.”

“There were sunflowers as big as flowers on Mars and thick cockscombs bleeding the deep red fringe of theater curtains. There were dizzy bees and bow-tied fruit flies turning somersaults and humming in the air. Sweet sweet peach trees. Thorn roses and thistle and pears. Weeds like so many squinty-eyed stars and brush that made your ankles itch and itch until you washed with soap and water.”

I’m caught in this world that Cisnero’s painted for me. I’m hugging Alice who sees mice and wishing that Sire would hold my hand. I’m drinking papaya juice with Rafaela and reading Minerva’s poems. I’m hiding from Red Clowns.

I’m nostalgic for my own childhood. For that freedom that kids today cannot relate to. They have curfews, and GPS chips in cell phones, and mini LoJacks® implanted in their neck. What do they know of freedom? What do they know about riding their ten speed through dark streets guided by the screams of their friends ahead of them? Will they ever hang out in vacant lots with their friend’s older brothers who hand them warm beer and try to feel up their shirts? Hell no, not on my watch.

So, thank you, Sandra Cisnero. Thanks for giving me back all those summer nights…

“They will not know that I have gone away to come back. For the ones I’ve left behind. For the ones who cannot out.”
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May 02, 2007 Kate rated it 4 of 5 stars

(Original pub date: 1984)
This is another one of those "reading list classics" that I figured I should try. Especially since it's really short! ;) The book consists entirely of vignettes from the author's childhood in a poor section of Chicago. The writing is beautiful and spare - no vignette is longer that 2 or 3 pages (and the font is huge and widely spaced). It reads like poetry, really - the words are potent and evocative rather than exhaustively descriptive.

My reading of this book actually h...more

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May 25, 2008 Jessica rated it 5 of 5 stars

The description on goodreads describes this as a novel. It is not a novel. It isn't a collection of stories either. The word is "vignette"--snapshots of significant moments, people, in young Esperanza's day-to-day life, sprinkled with her understanding that she will leave this House on Mango Street, and the Houses not on Mango Street that could be on Mango Street, and write, but that Mango Street will never leave her. There is no central plot line or conflict. Some characters go as quick as we m...more

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Jul 28, 2007 T G rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: in-my-library

She is a good poet who penned a mediocre "novel." I tell you, it is on the slim side of a novella. Physically, the book is short (maybe 5/7 the height of a standard paperbook), 12 point font, double-spaced, 134 pages long with 44 chapters and each one is set apart with its own half page. Oh, and the content? Just what you'd expect. Why, I bet Cisneros spent a whole afternoon writing what you could read in an afternoon.

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Mar 07, 2011 Christine rated it 4 of 5 stars

This slim jewel of a book establishes Ms. Cisneros as a major female Latin American writer in the U.S. The reader gains insight into the thoughts and lives of the people in Mango Street, vignette by vignette. The central character is Esperanza, a 12-year-old Mexican-American or chicana who deals with growing pains along with the pains of moving to a new house in a predominantly Latino neighborhood. Cisneros deftly lures the reader into the story with her masterful use of her chosen literary devi...more

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Nov 14, 2008 miaaa rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to miaaa by: Prima Rusdi, Icha & Vashti

Shelves: ophelia-s-library, fictions-others

Let me tell you one story my dear fellow readers. A story about a young girl who is able to portray her life as an immigrant in the most simple way. It's not an easy life I assume but the way she portrays it in simple descrptions cause a havoc in my brain. Born as a girl in the society where strong women are not acceptable, she inherites her great-grandmother's name but she refuses to inherite the defeat her great-grandmother had suffered. She's young, so are her little sister and her two young...more Let me tell you one story my dear fellow readers. A story about a young girl who is able to portray her life as an immigrant in the most simple way. It's not an easy life I assume but the way she portrays it in simple descrptions cause a havoc in my brain. Born as a girl in the society where strong women are not acceptable, she inherites her great-grandmother's name but she refuses to inherite the defeat her great-grandmother had suffered. She's young, so are her little sister and her two young girlfriends and somehow the quite crowded neighbourhood is not a safe place for them. Their ethnicity, their skin colour, their customs, somehow put them deeper in a troublesome world.

It begins with a house, a house on a Mango Street, although it's not her family first house. She then introduce us to her family members, her friends, the neigbourhood and the people who live there. You can identify the problems they have in the neighbourhood from her writings, the likes of a mother with lots of children to take care -alone- as the father left without a word. Of another mother who prefers ironing the shirts rather than saving her daughter who is with boys that want to take advantages on her. Or when a guy, drunkdard or not, molested her when she's waiting for her best friend.

It ends with a house too, a house of her own away from the Mango Street. Somehow she manages to get away from that neighbourhood with her books and her writings. She let homeless people to come in, offer them the attic and ask them to stay, because she knows how it is to be without a house.

***

Aku punya satu kisah untukmu, sebuah kisah tentang seorang gadis kecil yang mampu dengan sangat sederhana menggambarkan kehidupannya sebagai seorang imigran. Menurutku pasti tidak mudah menjalani kehidupan seperti kehidupannya. Terlahir sebagai perempuan di masyarakat yang tidak menerima perempuan-perempuan kuat, dia mewarisi nama nenek buyutnya namun dia menolak untuk mewarisi kekalahan yang dialami oleh nenek buyutnya tersebut. Dia seorang gadis kecil, adik perempuan dan kedua teman perempuannya juga masih kecil dan menurutku lingkungan tempat tinggal mereka yang cukup padat itu bukan tempat yang aman bagi gadis-gadis kecil. Etnik mereka, warna kulit, kebudayaan mereka malah semakin membuat mereka terjebak dalam dunia yang penuh masalah.

Semuanya diawali oleh sebuah rumah, rumah yang terletak di Mango Street, walau itu bukan rumah pertama keluarganya. Kemudian dia mengenalkan kita pada anggota keluarganya, kemudian pada teman-temannya, lingkungan tempat dia tinggal dan orang-orang lain yang tinggal di sana. Saat mulai membacanya kita bisa langsung mengenali ragam permasalahn yang terjadi di lingkungan tersebut, misalnya seorang ibu yang memiliki banyak anak dan harus mengurus mereka sendirian
karena suaminya pergi entah kemana. Kemudian seorang ibu lain yang lebih memilih menyetrika pakaian daripada menyelamatkan anak perempuannya yang pergi bersama anak-anak laki-laki yang berusaha mengambil keuntungan darinya. Atau ketika seorang pria, pemabuk atau bukan, melakukan pelecehan seksual padanya saat dia menunggu sahabatnya di suatu tempat hiburan.

Kisah ini pun berakhir dengan sebuah rumah, rumah miliknya sendiri yang berada jauh dari Mango Street. Entah bagaimana caranya akhirnya dia bisa meninggalkan lingkungan tersebut bersama buku-buku dan semua tulisannya. Dia juga membiarkan para gelandangan masuk ke rumahnya, menawarkan mereka tempat di dekat perapian dan bahkan meminta mereka untuk tinggal karena dia tahu rasanya tidak memiliki rumah.(less)

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May 27, 2008 "that Guy" rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: people who enjoy really wierd book

Recommended to "that by: My spanish teacher

This was without a doubt one of the worst books I have EVER read. Now, before I go any further, I would like to say that when I read this book, I read it in Spanish. Because Spanish is not my first language, this created some difficulties understanding the material.

With that said, it was still a bad book. There was no actual plot, because this story was a biography of the author. In other words, if you swap out a few key names, it will be the story of the writer's life. In other words, the writ...more

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Dec 27, 2007 Kirk rated it 1 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Nobody

I must admit, out of all the books I've read, this is one of the worst. The writing style is boring, the story: not moving, and the premise is even sleepier then Ameno Acid injected into a Ronald Regan Film. Yuck.

12 likes · like · see review

Sep 16, 2008 George rated it 1 of 5 stars

This book was extreamly bad and while reading it I wanted to shoot my self, it was as bad as "To Kill A Mockingbird"

7 likes · like · see review

Jul 16, 2012 Dominic rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: favorites, modern-literature, classic-literature

The House on Mango Street is deceptively simple. And considering that is used for all sorts of ends within a wide range of English literature classrooms (I, myself, have used it at the 7th and 11th grades, as well as studied it at college and grad school), it is beautifully malleable. But despite its many "uses," ultimately this is a book about a girl who resists oppression and finds her voice. It deserves to be not only enjoyed for its rhythm and poetry, its humor and imagery, but studied for i...more

9 likes · like · see review

Jan 14, 2010 Carolyn rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: all-time-favorites, favorites

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Jun 15, 2007 Rachel rated it 3 of 5 stars

I've read this book twice. The first was by myself a few years ago, around fifth grade. That wasn't the right time to read it, because I couldn't appreciate the beauty and simplicity in Sandra Cisnero's writing.
This year, we read most of "The House on Mango Street" in English with my amazing teacher Mrs. Rudin. Before reading it, however, we read a poem (or incredibly short story - it was a page) by S.C. first, to get a sense of her writing. It was incredibly beautiful, about a boy. There is...more

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Dec 09, 2008 Alex rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: deserted-island-must-haves

I had the opportunity to meet Sandra in one of her book readings and I was so overcome with emotions I was part babbling, part crying and part laughing with joy. I had to thank her because there was finally someone in the literary world that understood me and was able to tell stories that were similar to mine growing up as a Mexican in Chicago. I adore this book because I finally felt like I wasn't alone! I've seen so many stereotypes of hispanic people and I never felt like I identified with an...more

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Jun 19, 2008 Rose Ann rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: young-adult

I did not care for the style of writing...each small chapter(1.5-2 pgs.)(vignette), is a snippet of what life is like on Mango Street for Esperanza. Tbe idea of these snippets (vignettes) is great, but they never kept my attention or painted a vivid picture for me.
It is not a continuous plot, that keeps you hanging. I'm not used to this style, so it really didnt "grab" me.
I was hoping that throughout the book I would connect with the character or "feel" something...I never did.
I was not impresse...more

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Mar 10, 2008 Kayla rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is my all time favorite--it's short and poignant. You can read it quickly for sheer enjoyment (it reads poetically) or you can dig your heels in and really take note of Latino culture. In all reality though, one of the reasons I love it so much is that it doesn't only discuss Latino culture but middle and lower class America. And Cisneros alsos really brings out slippery domestic issues women face everywhere. It's sweet, it's sad, It's a bit scary and funny--IT'S 100 pages or so of WONDERFU...more

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Aug 12, 2012 Sarah rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: non-kids-books, all-time-favorites, ya, literature, novels, best-of-ya, read-since-high-school, down-to-real, reviewed, to-understand-myself, gender-culture, class-society, coming-of-age

I'm not latino, but I grew up poor. I was lucky enough that my mom tried her best to keep us from being super aware of this fact. We got free lunch and sometimes she pretended she'd already eaten dinner, and our house was infested with cockroaches and didn't have enough insulation to keep warm in a Florida winter, and I could never go on any fieldtrip that cost money, but I didn't feel inferior to other people. Reading that whole list, I realize that I was independently a fairly innocent, blinde...more

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May 18, 2013 Cheryl in CC NV rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Judy

Shelves: read-for-mt-tbr-challenge

Read years ago when I was in college getting my BS in Elementary Education. What an eye-opener for this middle-America middle-class young white woman! Lovely & intense as I recall.

Reread Jan. 2013. Not sure which edition to choose, as mine was not the 25h anniversary edition which logo shows on all these. Only mentioning that because there may be additional content (in the anniversary edition) that I did not see.

It is as magical as I remembered. So refreshing to read prose that reads like po...more Read years ago when I was in college getting my BS in Elementary Education. What an eye-opener for this middle-America middle-class young white woman! Lovely & intense as I recall.

Reread Jan. 2013. Not sure which edition to choose, as mine was not the 25h anniversary edition which logo shows on all these. Only mentioning that because there may be additional content (in the anniversary edition) that I did not see.

It is as magical as I remembered. So refreshing to read prose that reads like poetry, as lately it's been a fashion to write YA in verse form, even when the author isn't a poet. That is to say, breaking prose into lines of similar length so it looks like a poem doesn't do it. Cisneros knows this, and just writes with metaphor and melody and authenticity, so the book is poetic without being overtly so.

I like that these vignettes reveal lots of different characters and kinds of events - it's not just about one girl, but about the whole community and even, it could be argued, a large part of the Hispanic immigrant experience. I do see a resemblance to my current immigrant neighbors here in CC NV - especially, unfortunately, the sexism, the precocious girls replacing the trap of their fathers' houses for the trap of their husbands'. But it's not actually a sad book, because we know that the strongest children will find a way up and out:

"Four skinny trees with skinny necks and pointy elbows like mine. Four who do not belong here but are here.... Their strength is secret. They send ferocious roots beneath the ground. They grow up and they grow down and grab the earth between their hairy toes and bite the sky with violent teeth and never quit their anger."

"A House of My Own. Not a flat. Not an apartment in back. Not a man's house. Not a daddy's.... Only a house quiet as snow, a space for myself to go, clean as paper before the poem."

I think it's much like Julia Alvarez's The Woman I Kept to Myself

Btw. the rape scene only mentions forcible kissing. If a reader is sophisticated enough to realize that it's actual rape that is being referred to, that reader can handle it.(less)

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Mar 01, 2009 Lindsey rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: engl-7701

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I can remember using The House on Mango Street during my first year of teaching. I was teaching a sophomore remedial English class, and the book had been recommended by a few of my colleagues due to the fact that it was short. This is perhaps what I remembered most about the book. Each chapter was really short, and easy for the students to read in one class period. Unfortunately, the first time I read the book was when I was teaching it, and due to this fact, I wouldn’t even say that I really r...more I can remember using The House on Mango Street during my first year of teaching. I was teaching a sophomore remedial English class, and the book had been recommended by a few of my colleagues due to the fact that it was short. This is perhaps what I remembered most about the book. Each chapter was really short, and easy for the students to read in one class period. Unfortunately, the first time I read the book was when I was teaching it, and due to this fact, I wouldn’t even say that I really read the book. I was mainly watching the kids read the book while reacting to disciplinary problems. As a result, we never really stopped to talk about the content in the story, and since I hadn’t read it before, I wasn’t aware of how many things were worth discussion.
I’m happy that I took some time to reread this story. I certainly took a look at the book with new eyes this time around. I took active reading notes throughout each chapter, and I also jotted down instances where I could integrate things other than literature in the study. I have several grammar and organizational references written in my book.
As I was reading the story, I was surprised to find out how mature some of the topics are. One character is about fifteen years old and she prostitutes herself at night, while another girl – under the age of twelve – looses her virginity. There are quite a few references to abuse and poverty, but these topics are always discovered through Esperanza’s eyes in a truly innocent fashion. I was constantly motivated to keep on reading, primarily because each chapter was so short, but also because I wanted to find out who else lived in Esperanza’s neighborhood. Throughout my reading, I also found myself writing down names of songs and other stories that would relate to The House on Mango Street, such as Jennifer Lopez’s “Jenny from the Block” and Cheap Trick’s “I Want You to Want Me.”
By the time I was finished with the book, I almost wanted to pick it up and read certain chapters over again. I loved the fact that the protagonist is a Hispanic girl living in a ghetto. I think this is what most kids would want to hear more about, as opposed to other texts that feature characters that are harder to relate to. The content and characters act as fuel to keep the reader reading. Equally, I love the fact that this story concentrates on the lives and experiences of women. This text would be great to use if you wanted to teach the students about gender roles.
After reading the book, I decided to use it in one of my current classes. We have only read the first chapter, but we have explored so much already. Each chapter presents questions that the students can answer based on their own experiences. For example, the first chapter discusses the protagonist’s history when it comes to moving. Then, the house on Mango Street is described in great detail. Right after the first paragraph, I discussed relocation with my students by asking whether or not they have ever moved and what it was like. I was then able to tie in special organization by having the students draw a quick image of what Esperanza’s house looks like. In the fist chapter, we were also able to discuss when you notice something about yourself for the first time. On the last page of the chapter, a nun walks up to the protagonist, and is stunned when she finds out that the protagonist lives where she does. At this point, the protagonist learns that she is poor. Of course, this topic led to further discussion in the class.
Overall, this text is fabulous if you want to have an equal balance of reading, writing, and discussion within the course of one class period.

VOYA: 5Q4P
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Dec 11, 2008 Brin rated it 2 of 5 stars

The House on Mango Street to many people was viewed as this excellent book. People though it was appealing that there was an unreliable narrator and that they need to assume or figure out what the true meaning was. To me this kind of book does not appeal at all to me.
It is about a young girl growing up in a sort of Hispanic ghetto area and having to deal with the challenges of life. Although she is nothing but an average girl, in the book not so average and very disturbing, sad things happen.
...more

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Nov 30, 2008 Rosemarie rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: everyone

The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros isn't classified as a novel. In other words it was a type of book that included many different stories. I wasn't used to this way of writing because each chapter was less than four - five pages. Even though it was a new experience for me, I absolutely loved this book. I admired the way Sandra Cisneros uses metaphors and simalies to describe Mango Street. Esperanze the main character explains the meaning of how it feels to live in Mango Street a total...more

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Apr 18, 2013 Dayle Lynne rated it 5 of 5 stars

Recommended to Dayle by: Jared

Shelves: young-adult, literature, banned-challenged

I could have easily read this book in one sitting if I didn’t have mom duties and work duties and the inability to sit still for more than 5 minutes (okay, maybe more than 5 minutes . . . but not much), but I’m really glad I didn’t. I think I would have been disappointed to rush through this book. Sometimes I read 4 or 5 chapters, sometimes only 1 or 2 . . . and that made me appreciate them even more.

Each chapter in the book is a short (sometimes less than half of a page and I think the longest...more

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Mar 02, 2009 vylit rated it 4 of 5 stars

The House on Mango Street is obviously not for everyone. I do, however, think it is a good example of how Latina authors are playing with the concept of the novel. Cisneros changes the structure of the novel in order to tell her story instead of changing her story to fit the classic narrative structure of the novel. I think it works well, and the story flows beautifully and poetically with a young life captured in few words.

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Nov 21, 2011 Mia Claire rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, children-s-literature, classics

The House on the Mango Street is brilliant. With a catchy title and an innocent voice of a child, Sandra Cisneros tells us a story of a girl in a series of vignettes. Readers will be moved by the power of Cisneros’s words. From the moment I opened the book and read the first chapter of this book, I knew right away that it has a lot to offer…

“We didn’t always live on Mango Street. Before that we lived on Loomis on the third floor… and before that I can’t remember. But what I remember most is movi...more

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May 21, 2010 Kathy rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: grade-8-ir-book-rick

This book is GREAT ! This book is about a Mexican Girl named Esperanza. She is mexian american. She lives on a house on mango street. Basically Esperanza goes through stuff every teenage girl probably would go through. Shewnt through stuff like puberty, Making friends and more.

Theres one thing that happens to Esperanza that could change any teenager's life forever. At twelve esperanza was molested. Esperanza felt alone and sad. She felt like she didn't belong in this world.

I would rate this book...more

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Jul 11, 2010 Rashi Saxena rated it 2 of 5 stars

The book was unique. The way the book was organized into vignettes made the story a little confusing at times. Though it was confusing, I still enjoyed reading a few of the vignettes. Still, this book was not the best for me.

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May 01, 2013 Ruth rated it 4 of 5 stars

This story is told in a series of vignettes, and follows the life of Esperanza Cordero, a young Latino girl who has recently moved into a house on Mango Street, a Chicago neighborhood filled with eclectic characters and rundown buildings. Esperanza is very observant and curious about the lives of everyone around her. The vignettes look at a number of the different people and experiences that fill Esperanza’s life as she dreams of her future, and feature the lessons she learns while acquiring all...more This story is told in a series of vignettes, and follows the life of Esperanza Cordero, a young Latino girl who has recently moved into a house on Mango Street, a Chicago neighborhood filled with eclectic characters and rundown buildings. Esperanza is very observant and curious about the lives of everyone around her. The vignettes look at a number of the different people and experiences that fill Esperanza’s life as she dreams of her future, and feature the lessons she learns while acquiring all of these different stories carry on throughout the book. She desires more than what she sees around her, and yearns to one day live in a large house far more grand than the one on Mango Street.
This book has a very distinct style to how it is written. This is important because the way the author uses this vignette form of writing almost makes the plot of the story secondary to how said plot is written. I really enjoyed how this book was written, but I fully understand how it would be hard to get through if you didn’t. I thought the series of vignettes were a creative way to allow the main character to tell you all about the different things she sees and thinks about. After all, a child is telling the story, and a child’s point of view is never as consistent as the plot of a regular novel. Each chapter is a quick blurb on what Esperanza is thinking about or dealing with at the time, such as when she dances with her Uncle at a wedding even though she is embarrassed that her shoes don’t match her dress, or when she talks about they boy in her neighborhood whose best friends are his dogs.
I think this book would be a perfect way to transition a classroom from reading a novel to starting a unit on poetry. The House on Mango Street has the length and separate chapters like a normal book, but is written in a style more similar to that of poetry. Each chapter is almost it’s own poem, but a little more straightforward and structured. Although this book contains vignettes about silly things like hair, and a woman who is “queen of the cats”, it also deals with some more heavy and serious issues. For example, there is a vignette about Esperanza’s friend Sally and her boyfriend who was physically abusing her, and her Aunt Lupe who died from a serious illness. Overall, I think this book has a lot to offer to its readers, from introducing them to a unique style of writing, to giving them an insight into the life of a young Latino girl.
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Jan 18, 2009 Christa Carter rated it 2 of 5 stars

This book that I read was a different kind of book. It wasn't your typical chapter book. Throughout the whole book it was more like series of short stories. The longest story was only two pages long!! The shortest was only a few sentences. This is a reflective piece of writing because of the way she is telling the short stories. Then near the end of the book, the stories begin to be told as a narrative writing. This book I can see either a guy or girl reading however a girl is narrating it so I...more

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Jan 16, 2009 Meng Qian rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2008-2009

This book is based on the life of a Mexican-American girl, Esperanza Cordero who moves to a house on Mango Street with her poor family. The house is located in a crowded Latino neighborhood in Chicago, a city where many of the poor areas are racially segregated. Through the book, Esperanza becomes more mature, and gains a lot of experiences; she makes friends (Lucy or Rachel), grows hips, develops her first crush, endures sexual assault, and etc. Later on, Esperanza meets another girl, Sally wh...more

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Jan 15, 2009 Jocelyn Kelly rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: novels

I once read “Linoleum Roses” in a short story anthology prior to reading the novel and, after reading the novel in its entirety, I can honestly say it’s much better served as a chapter than as a single story.

“The House on Mango Street” centers on the world of a young girl named Esperanza. Each chapter is very short, some shorter than 300 words, seemingly disjointed and loosely connected little memories of things and people. All told from first person narrative, of observational accounts of thing...more

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About Sandra Cisneros

Sandra Cisneros was born in Chicago in 1954. Internationally acclaimed for her poetry and fiction, she has been the recipient of numerous awards, including the Lannan Literary Award and the American Book Award, and of fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the MacArthur Foundation. Cisneros is the author of two novels The House on Mango Street and Caramelo; a collection of short...more

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