The House on Mango Street Review

Manufacturer: Vintage
Author(s): Sandra Cisneros

ISBN: 0679734775 EAN: 9780679734772
Binding: Paperback
Pages: 128

Average Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars

Retail Price: ~~$10.95~~
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Told in a series of vignettes stunning for their eloquence, The House on Mango Street is Sandra Cisneros's greatly admired novel of a young girl growing up in the Latino section of Chicago. Acclaimed by critics, beloved by children, their parents and grandparents, taught everywhere from inner-city grade schools to universities across the country, and translated all over the world, it has entered the canon of coming-of-age classics.

Sometimes heartbreaking, sometimes deeply joyous, The House on Mango Street tells the story of Esperanza Cordero, whose neighborhood is one of harsh realities and harsh beauty. Esperanza doesn't want to belong--not to her rundown neighborhood, and not to the low expectations the world has for her. Esperanza's story is that of a young girl coming into her power, and inventing for herself what she will become.

User Submitted The House on Mango Street Reviews

August 1, 2008
If you want a bed time story, this book will do the trick in half a page
This book is SO boring. It took me 2 weeks to get past the first 2 pages, then another 3 months to read half the book. I have to finish this piece of crap by the end of summer (school assignment), and the district is making us do an 8 page packet! However, this book is good for something. If your having trouble sleeping, don't take pills, read this book, I guarantee you'll be asleep by the end the fist paragraph.

July 22, 2008
Hairs!!!
Hairs chapter is my favorite.....it's short and sweet.....as a latina, i can really appreciate having immediate family so rich in differences....that is the beauty of being latino, is that we are so unique!

July 13, 2008
Disorganized and uncomfortable
I remember reading this book in seventh grade with my entire class. Perhaps I should have enjoyed it; it appears to be directed towards that age group exactly. Instead, I, an avid reader, struggled with this odd, rather poor book.

"The House on Mango Street" is recommended for girls in middle school, and point in fact, that's exactly when this teen read it, just a few years ago. Yet as I look back on those two months in English class, it occurs to me that perhaps the fault in this book lies there. It's written as though for young readers - simplistic, short, and pale - and yet the comments about the quality and importance are all things that even the smartest and brightest pre-teen readers would be entirely unable to appreciate and enjoy.

To me, these stories symbolized what was wrong with literature. This book is entirely disorganized, chaotic, and very difficult to follow. The writing style is stupid, simplistic, and simply confusing, providing no room for thought or even interesting analysis. Looking back on it, the stories probably have another level of meaning aside from the story themselves - symbolism or even just hard, cold facts. Yet this book, directed towards this specific age group (Amazon itself recommends this for pre-teens), simply fails to impress. The writing is the kind some might love and others hate. Most young readers will most likely hate it, as I did, failing to see how this could possibly mean something more.

I can see myself returning to this collection of random stories and appreciating it, understanding its literary worth and simplistic importance. And yet it is still a children's book masquerading as an adult book, or an adult book masquerading as a teen book. Either way, it fails to capture either audience.

I'd say absolutely NOT recommended to middle-school age kids, and for anyone else, do some extensive research before reading this loosely written, confusing collection of vignettes.

July 11, 2008
worst book i have ever read
this is by far one of the worst books i have ever encountered. Cisneros is a horrible author who knows nothing about writing a well organized book that actually makes sense. I wouldn't reccommend it to my worst enemy

July 8, 2008
Poverty, Cultural Isolation
The House on Mango Street / 0-679-73477-5

The House on Mango Street is a touching collection of short vignettes centering around the author's childhood and childhood home. The vignettes take a long, hard look at the lives of these children and young women who find themselves lost in a poverty and a culture which makes them feel reduced in value. Basic services such as a home, clothing, and education are provided, but without love - the children feel intensely aware of the fact that they are unwanted, the designated dregs of society (the white children tell them that they are leaving the neighborhood because too many of the 'wrong types' of people are moving in.

The girl children are also introduced - sometimes violently - to the painful realities of womanhood in a poverty stricken culture. One girl is denied by her much-older husband any right to leave the house, ever, because he worries that she might find a life, interests, even love outside of him. She wastes away slowly, trapped in a life of unhappiness and monotony. Other girls are coerced into sexual activity by their peers, and the parents turn a blind eye, figuring that it has always been this way and always will.

The author's despair is evident in every word. She wants to escape, to get away, but she also feels guilty for hating so intensely her community and culture. She cannot separate the good parts of her culture from the bad parts which are less a matter of culture and more a matter of poverty, lack of education, and disease. In the end, she vows to leave, but to never forget - and, perhaps, someday to return, and help.

July 1, 2008
RUN!!!
i had to read this in school and it was THE WORST book i've ever read in my life. i HATED IT!!! it was confusing, pointless, and a lame sob story that didn't gain my sympathy in any way. at the end of the book (if i can even call this piece of worthless garbage a book), esperanza gets raped.

....wait, what?
and then that's it. they don't even mention it again. i think sandra cisneros was on crack when she wrote this. it has no direction, no theme, bizarre characters, and stupid, stupid, poop-worthy vignettes that are so random and out there that i think esperanza's on crack too. =D

June 27, 2008
Disappointing Given Its Remarkably High Praise
I like this book of vignettes about the Latino experience. My problem was that I didn't love it. Perhaps because my expectations were so high after reading some great reviews, seeing it on some lists of the best books in the last 25 years and several recommendations from friends.

Cisneros certainly has great command of language and several of the vignettes are deeply engaging. My main issue with the book is that I kept wanting more. I wanted more depth about Esperanza and the other characters Cisneros introduces us throughout the vignettes.

After I finished the book, I felt like I do after having a meal at a restaurant where the appetizer is delicious and then you get just an average entree. Cisneros whets your appetite but leaves you disappointment with your whole experience.

June 17, 2008
A Disappointment
Like many of my fellow reviewers, I was required to read this book for high school English. At first glance, the novel seemed promising, as shown by the glowing reviews from various newspapers and writers.

Then I started to read it.

By the end, several issues stood out: the grammar and the similes.

I understand that Cisneros intentionally broke away from traditional form, but this book needs an editing job. For example, "...the tortilla star, the one that appears early just in time to rise and catch the hind legs hide behind the sink..." The last part made me go, "Huh? Hind legs hide?" There were also some issues with run-on sentences.

The similes also bothered me. Some of the time, they were good: "...and sings all the homesick songs about her country in a voice that sounds like a seagull." I know what a seagull sounds like, so I could identify and imagine what her voice sounded like. Then, it gets ugly. "The Monkey Garden" was full of 'em. "Sunflowers big as flowers on Mars?" And the worst: "...dusty hollyhocks thick and perfumy like the blue-blond hair of the dead." That was a head scratcher. Blue-blond hair? What? Is this an allusion to some great work of literature that I should have read?

Also, there were way too many characters. By introducing character after character, Cisneros was able to paint a picture of Esperanza's world, but by the end of the novel I knew little of Esperanza herself; I was unable to care about any of the characters.

One other thing: the sexual assault scene. As I understand, this is a traumatic experience. One chapter, hardly two pages was devoted to it, no mention was made in the rest of the novel. Shouldn't Esperanza have been affected by it? At least several scenes alluding to its effects should have been included.

I was unable to identify with the world Cisneros created, as a result, I cared little for the characters and what happened to them. In addition, until I read the back of the book, I thought that the novel took place in NYC - how mistaken I was!

Overall, I was disappointed by the novel. If you like vignette fiction, I recommend "Sold" by Patricia Mccormick or "Speak" by Laurie Halse Anderson. The latter may not exactly qualify as vignette, but it's good.

May 22, 2008
Review in Spanish Language
Sandra Cisneros nació en los Estados Unidos en 1954, en la ciudad de Chicago, siendo la única hija, entre seis hermanos varones y padres mexicanos, con los cuales viajó a México en diferentes oportunidades, desde su barrio puertorriqueño en Chicago. La casa en la calle Mango (The house on Mango street) refleja esa experiencia de alguien nacido en Norteamérica, pero con una identidad hispana, y es quizás parte de la autora misma, en sus años infantiles, entre una cultura que la oprimía olvidando sus derechos.

Graduada con una licenciatura en inglés de la universidad de Loyola y una maestría de la universidad de Iowa, Cisneros ha escrito otros libros como My Wicked Wicked Ways y Loose Woman, entre otros. La escritora es parte de un grupo de escritoras de origen chicanas y latinas que se hicieron conocidas a partir de las décadas del ochenta y noventa del siglo pasado. Estructuralmente vemos una denuncia a la vida de la mujer chicana dependiente de las decisiones patriarcales que la rodean, pero sin una proposición directa para resolverlas.

The house of Mango street es un libro que consiste de cuarenta y cuatro historietas descritas por una jovencita de solo doce años llamada Esperanza Cordero, quien en cada capítulo nos narra la infancia que tuvo mientras vivía en la calle Mango, sus sueños y esperanzas, rodeada de una barreada latina en la ciudad de Chicago, pero en un lugar que nos recuerda un área apartada, no por la distancia sino por su olvido en el spectrum político, relegada a la pobreza y la segregación racial. Sus sentimientos, falta de privacidad, hastío por lo que la rodea, y los anhelos propios de un humano que quiere ser feliz, la hacen crear el idílico momento en que un dia pueda tener su propia casa que realmente le pueda llamar hogar.

Ello me hace recordar en lo personal, vivencias del pasado, y cómo, en un país donde el consumo es parte de casi una identidad, muchos no consideran la importancia de un hogar donde crecemos, donde soñamos, donde podemos siempre retornar a la infancia aunque ya tengamos canas, y sin embargo se lanzan a la deriva del rastreo material y el elogio de vivir al dia con cuanta pacotilla se les anuncie obviando la realidad de que no vivimos mil años en este mundo, y lo que sembremos en el recuerdo, la experiencia y el futuro es todo lo que podemos hacer para llamarnos humanos.

A medida que Esperanza va creciendo y madurando va escribiendo sobre su vida y sus anhelos de salirse del mundo que la rodea, del barrio que emocionalmente la asfixia, incluyendo las historias de sus vecinos y de sus amiguitas chicanas Lucy y Rachel, su hermanita Nenny, y las aventuras que transcurrieron entre ella en ese pequeño mundo. En ese mundo que cuando somos pequeños nos parece inmenso y único, pero que mientras maduramos aprendemos a desafiarlo.

En ese desafío Esperanza va creciendo físicamente convirtiéndose en una señorita que gusta ser admirada y vista por muchachos que la ven bailar, conociendo a su nueva amiga Sally rodeada de varones que incluso la ayudan escapar de su casa y del supuestamente abusivo padre, pero abierta a tempranas relaciones sexuales.

Sally la empuja a relacionarse con un jovencito, contra la voluntad de la misma Esperanza, y es ahí donde finalmente es violada, abusada sexualmente, y más tarde ya crecidita, cuando encuentra su primer trabajo, un hombre de procedencia asiática, mayor en edad, la obliga a que le bese, mostrando la escritora el mundo masculino en el que Esperanza esta atrapada. Estas son experiencias bien traumáticas para la muchacha quien analiza las mismas situaciones a que las mujeres de su barrio se ven expuestas y es por esto que no cesa en sus adentros por ver el dichoso dia que pueda largarse de la calle Mango y rehacer su vida decorosamente, sin obviar que era necesario hacer algo.

En este intercambio entre Sally y Marín como personajes es posible que la escritora nos haya querido introducir el amor típicamente descrito aunque en realidad lo que vemos es un contraste entre ese amor familiar muchas veces perdido entre conceptos e idéas erradas y el amor romántico que puede ser pasajero y que con el cursar del tiempo puede perder pasión y hasta convertirse en odios y desavenencias, aunque ella no nos deja ver odio en sí misma, todo lo contrario, la sensación del marinero perdido en alta mar pidiendo el auxilio que nunca llega.

Igualmente vemos como el personaje principal va cambiando su humor periódicamente, revelándonos su lugar en ese mundo que la rodea, por ejemplo cuando esta de buen humor ella lo refiere como "our good day", cuando por el contrario el temor la absorbe o se siente violada es "red clowns" y así es posible ver también el crecimiento y madurez que va transformando al personaje desde su infancia a la pubertad y sus más intrínsecas esperanzas de libertad y justicia.

Esperanza muestra ser una persona que confía fácilmente en otros hasta el punto de poder ser manipulada. En este mundo de violencia Esperanza se acomoda de tal manera que lo trasmite como algo ordinario y normal, desde el punto de vista social dentro del barrio. El hecho de haber sido violada y no denunciarlos ya nos dice lo vulnerable de su situación sin más poder que el de tratar de abrirse un camino de escape. Ella nos revela su indignación sin incluso querer atropellar a su propia cultura, mostrando hasta cierto punto el sentido de lealtad de la escritora, su búsqueda de justicia pero no de revancha ni hostigación.

Hay simbolismos en el libro como cuando Esperanza se compara con los demás personajes mientras van madurando y a ella le parece que permanece inmóvil, o usando personificaciones como cuando se compara con los árboles, viéndolos como humanos ellos mismos, identificándose pues con ellos: "Four skinny trees. They are the only ones who understand me. I am the only one who understands them. Four skinny trees with skinny necks and pointy elbows like mine. 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" (p. 74).

Sandra Cisneros ha llamado a este libro una compilación de poemas vagos. Escrito en ese estilo, no son en realidad poemas sino "vignettes", historias incompletas con algún ritmo que los acerca a la poesía. El transcurso de la historia del personaje principal parece a veces ser superficial, solo narrando, sin tomar en consideración ninguno de los acontecimientos de manera profunda y detallada, sino como llevándolos de la mano desde un balcón a la distancia. La escritora nos introduce a otros personajes, algunos incluso solo momentáneamente sin volver a aparecer, pero todos sufriendo la estrechez del barrio en que viven y dentro de su papel en la historia misma.

Ella nos trasmite cuantos conflictos se van viviendo pero a su vez no nos ofrece una solución para resolverlos, sencillamente van a la deriva, al destino de cada cual, a entretenernos mientras denuncia lo que ella, el personaje, vivió y nos quiere trasmitir, quizás buscando que seamos nosotros quien visitemos el barrio y lo arreglemos como podamos, puede que rehaciéndolo.

A modo de conclusión pienso que es importante, no obstante, tener una vívida idea de lo que representa esta obra, la primera que le abre camino a la escritora y que quizás sea un testimonio escondido en el tiempo. Escrito por alguien que vivió igualmente en ese pequeño mundo donde todos giraban alrededor del núcleo patriarcal, los conflictos que son evidentes en nuestra sociedad, las divisiones culturales, las lealtades de un grupo contra otro, la vulnerabilidad, el sentimiento de olvido y alineación social, y el susto mortal de la pobreza que a veces bordea la miseria, pero sobre todo la miseria espiritual, la violencia y vergüenza que nos aleja del mundo al que debíamos pertenecer siendo humanos, y la vilificación de nuestra naturaleza hasta el punto de la degeneración.

Alejandro Roque

May 11, 2008
Written for Young Adult Crowd
This book delivers unique perspective of everyday events in the Hispanic barrio of Chicago where protagonist Esperanza lives -- of course on Mango Street.

Written in a meter similar to a pre-teen's or early teenager's diary entries, the book covers numerous topics about the life on the street where her parents finally have a house without neighbors, where she and her siblings do not need to share the yard, where the landlord does not beat the ceiling to request the noise be lessened, and where the life can be as silent as snow.

Certain passages lightly touch upon adult misapprorpriation of youthful trust -- where Esperanza is molested, although not in the worst way, by those who would otherwise not be suspected of such lewd behavior. You cry.

At other times, Esperanza and her friends act like elementary school children, make silly remarks and behave in silly ways, which make the adults about her laugh at her. You too must smile or laugh.

Ultimately, you must succumb to the fact that this young adult literature delivers a tale which may teach other young girls perhaps to be more observant of their own behavior so that they are not stepped on like Esperanza was when she mistakenly entrusted too many strangers too many times for too little reason.

The education of youth abounds within the confines of this extremely short book. Appearing to be a light and airy read, this novel touches some very heavy and introspective issues which we often think children cannot discern. But, they do. And, that is for whom this novel is meant to be written.

But, if an adult seeks to read it, please do. It will not take more than a few hours of your adult life. But, remember: This is not great literature written for the masses. Instead, it is a book written for a very much-in-demand young audience about an issue of their coming of age.

For more The House on Mango Street reviews click here.