Summaries and Customer Reviews are supplied by Amazon.com
Summary:
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.
Customer Reviews:
Average Customer Rating:
Everyone grows up in there own way.
Customer Rating:
The House on Mango Street Sandra Cisneros
The House on Mango Street starts in a very unusual style, and it continues in that way for the entire story. Sandra Cisneros wrote the book in a simple and very up front style. The major theme/subject behind the story seems to be growing up and chasing you dreams, but never forgetting you roots, for without your roots you would have never grown and reached your potential. Cisneros teaches life lessons through vignettes (short, usually descriptive literary sketches) and with every vignette, Esperanza learns and grows a little more.
Esperanza is the main character of The House on Mango Street, and the entire story is focused on her maturing process. The majority of the story is seen through her eyes, with Esperanza acting as the narrator for the other characters comments. She has a very simple perspective on things we would find unfamiliar, and is not much of a thinker. However, she has her eyes set on what she wants and everyday is just one step on her long journey up the ladder to her dream.
Summary: Sandra Cisneros starts the story at a slow pace beginning with a few informative vignettes, describing Esperanza, her family and their previous homes. However, she jumps around very quickly, as she begins painting a picture of nieghbors and the way things work on Mango Street. Through tales of marriage, children, kids playing, abusive/controlling husbands/fathers and mistake after mistake; the author paints a picture of a life Esperanza wants nothing to do with. As the story comes to a close, there is a noticeable difference in Esperanza's maturity as she begins piecing the puzzle of her life together. During the wake of her friend's younger sister, she meets 3 older women who begin reading her palm and preaching to her that she will be very successful and do great things, things that people around her will have no chance of doing. Then older lady with the marble and blue-veined hands takes her aside and reminds her to always come home for the ones who cannot leave as easily. She pounds the idea into her middle-school brain, the idea that she must remember to come back for the others. Shortly after this talk, Esperanza really begins understanding her potential and her duty to her neighborhood. Through a boring job, creepy old men, and unhappy women Esperanza learns what must be done to make her life what she has always wanted it to be.
Reaction: At first look, I wasn't sure if I would enjoy The House on Mango Street, it seemed liked a dull read, and one that wouldn't appeal to a male reader. After all, the main character is a teenager girl. However, I gave it a chance and by the time I was half-way through the book I was on the ropes and couldn't decide whether I liked it or not. Eventually though, by the final few vignettes, I had become dissolved into the book along with Esperanza's journey. I fell in love with the young girl's realistic attitude. I began turning the pages faster and faster as I could not wait to find out what tale she learned from next and how she would use it.
Conclusion: Sandra Cisneros wrote it as simply and as complexed as she could have, creating a complex situation but conveying it through simple phrases. She brought Esperanza to life and taught me that no matter where you go, always remember where you came from, because without them you would still be waking up in the same bed in your same sprint out of the black tunnel towards the light. So take your life in stride, but every once and awhile, slow it down and remember to tell your father you wish you can be just like him. Don't make fun of you brother or sister for a day. And always tell you mother you love her. "You can't erase what you know. You can't forget who you are" - The marble handed sister
Recommendation: Now that I have taken a few moments to look back upon the book, and the message behind it, I completely recommend you sit down and spend some time reading The House on Mango Street. It is a great read, and will have you reviewing your life and finding ways to improve it. Remember you cannot go any where without starting somewhere.
a sad, sad excuse for a book
Customer Rating:
i honestly don't know what the hype is about this book. i just finished reading this for my high school english class and i must say, it was horrible and discusting. the general story is about a mexican family of eight moving into a crumby house. the wholoe book is a compilation of short stories with one of the daughters as a narrator. each story is on average two pages long and either contains the theme of sexism or having a horrible life. every story is either extremely depressing, or contains some form of rape. it is the worst book in the world and should never be read for any class. it should not even be allowed to see the light of day.
A book with a power like a stack of dishes falling...
Customer Rating:
Poignant, poetic, and refreshingly sincere, I liken this book to To Kill A Mockingbird sometimes, in that the child narrator is able to paint vibrant pictures of racism, sexism, abuse, prejudice, poverty, loneliness, cruelty, justice, maturation, and love with subtle (and often comical) strokes. Cisneros remains one of my favorite authors--in no small part to this book, which inspired me to become a writer and to aim somewhere near her standard of storytelling...
Jenny's seventh grade review
Customer Rating:
" In English my name means hope. In Spanish it means too many words. It means sadness. It means waiting." Esperanza has always lived in places she feels like she doesn't belong. She wants her own yard, no breaking pipes, and no landlords getting mad because of the noise level. She wants a house to herself. The little red house on Mango Street isn't exactly what she hoped for. No sharing yards, no landlords, but the house is run down and the neighborhood is faced with poverty and violence. Mango Street is in a Hispanic neighborhood in Chicago. People emigrated from Central America thinking there were plenty of opportunities for a great life. However, the neighborhoods are racist and it is hard to find good jobs. People from other neighborhoods are afraid of each other just because of their race. People end up living in poverty and are not always safe from racism and violence. Esperanza and her family are faced with these problems every day. Esperanza is shy and hates being trapped where she doesn't belong. She knows what she wants, but she doesn't yet know who she truly is. I thought this book was very good. It showed that racism and poverty exist through the eyes of a young girl. I thought Sandra Cisneros' way of writing Esperanza's thoughts and pulling them together into a great story was very smart. I think every will love this book. It really teaches you to try to overcome the past and realize who you truly are.
Jenny's seventh grade review
Customer Rating:
" In English my name means hope. In Spanish it means too many words. It means sadness. It means waiting." Esperanza has always lived in places she feels like she doesn't belong. She wants her own yard, no breaking pipes, and no landlords getting mad because of the noise level. She wants a house to herself. The little red house on Mango Street isn't exactly what she hoped for. No sharing yards, no landlords, but the house is run down and the neighborhood is faced with poverty and violence. Mango Street is in a Hispanic neighborhood in Chicago. People emigrated from Central America thinking there were plenty of opportunities for a great life. However, the neighborhoods are racist and it is hard to find good jobs. People from other neighborhoods are afraid of each other just because of their race. People end up living in poverty and are not always safe from racism and violence. Esperanza and her family are faced with these problems every day. Esperanza is shy and hates being trapped where she doesn't belong. She knows what she wants, but she doesn't yet know who she truly is. I thought this book was very good. It showed that racism and poverty exist through the eyes of a young girl. I thought Sandra Cisneros' way of writing Esperanza's thoughts and pulling them together into a great story was very smart. I think every will love this book. It really teaches you to try to overcome the past and realize who you truly are.
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