The House on Mango Street (original 1984; edition 1991)

Characters:
Esperanza
Rachel and Nenny
Marin
Papa
Mama
Alicia

Setting: In a small house, racially segregated, and poor area.

Theme: Every culture is different in its own way and identifying oneself.

Genre: Coming of age.

Summary: This book is about young adult girl who is identifying herself through her cultures and her surroundings. While living in an apartment and moving to a house, which she has always dreamed of, her move wasn’t so expected. As the house is not as fancy or beautiful as she dreamed of. Instead, the house is small and run down. The story paces through different ages of her life from being young to going through puberty. The story also gives the perspective of how she views her community, culture, and her identity. As she continues to have a negative view of where she lives, her desire lies in the goal of leaving Mango Street.

Audience: Young adults and ethnically diverse students.

Curriculum ties: history, learning about different ethnicities, and language.

Personal response: Being born in Vietnam, my parents came over to America as refugees. This how I can relate to this book. The observations she makes of her community and culture are very interesting and critical. In the way it was written, in short paragraphs separated by detailed headings, helps the reader identify what the writer is going to describe. What I liked most about this book is how she describes herself as an avid reader and her education is what will ultimately get her out the circumstance she is in. This is very important, because it helps the read identify the importance of an education and how other cultures may view education. What I think was rough in this book, is the observation of putting some of her male figures in a bad light. But this could just be her observation of what was going on . Overall, I enjoyed reading the book and it is very good to see such a book that exposes the experiences of a not so well-off ethnically diverse family. ( )

I can't even begin to explain this book.
I had to read it as part of a class assignment and i had been told it was a really good book, but after having read it im not so sure i agree with that opinion.
The story in itself is good but the way the story was told was what i didn't like. It felt like i was reading some sort of journal, the kind in which you just jot down the first thing that comes to mind about certain experiences or your first thoughts on a person. At times, this was a good thing because most of the characters, with the exception of Esperanza (who was the main character and the one telling the story)just come and go. It seems that only three to four characters were really present throughout the story. However as i am writing this, i can't help but think that maybe it was done with the purpose of showing how people come and go in our lives, or in this case, Esperanza's life.
Still, in my opinion, it was a bit hard to understand. Maybe if i read it a second or third time i might get a different understanding and even change my review. But for the meantime, i'll leave it at that.

The House On Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros was an incredibly well-written book that is truly relatable, especially with teenage girls like myself. Though it was short, every vignette had a message that was shown clearly to readers. Those messages were powerful and really stuck with me after reading the novel. I also especially liked the first person narrative, from the perspective of a girl named Esperanza. She trusts readers and opens up to them, which to me, made the book much more meaningful. I felt like I was living Esperanza's life, and therefore, making her decisions. Her choices encouraged me to want to do something with myself, to do something that helped the world. ( )

"The House on Mango Street", by Sandra Cisneros was in my opinion one of the most influential books that I have ever read before. Although the easy read and simple structured language did startle me at first, I was able to then find and concentrate on the beauty within the book. Esperanza's narrations within the story portray many messages and themes that I am able to relate to myself. This made the book much more enjoyable as well as intriguing. ( )

Characters: Esperanza Cordero

Setting: Chicago the inner-city

Theme: Hispanic-Americans, Cultural change,and growing up in a city.

Genre: Fiction

Golden quote: "She looked out the window her whole life, the way so many women sit their sadness on an elbow. I wonder if she made the best with what she got or was she sorry because she couldn’t be all the things she wanted to be. Esperanza. I have inherited her name, but I don’t want to inherit her place by the window."

Awards: The American Book Award from the Before Columbus Foundation (1985)

Audience: Teenagers to adults

Summary: Thestory of Esperanza Cordero, this is a series of vignettes – sometimes heartbreaking, sometimes deeply joyous – it is the story of a young Latina girl growing up in Chicago, inventing for herself who and what she will become. Few other books in our time have touched so many readers.

Curriculum ties: History-Students can look at the impact that immigration has on American cities in this case Chicago. Also students can research the cultural clashes that the Mexican American families have across generations.

Personal response: This is a great book for teenage girls that feel like they live in two cultures and that one does not understand the other. It also helps Mexican girls feel like others have the same issues at home and that they are able to realte to others.