The bestselling coming-of-age classic, acclaimed by critics, beloved by readers of all ages, taught in schools and universities alike, and translated around the world—from the winner of the 2019 PEN/Nabokov Award for Achievement in International Literature. The House on Mango Street is the remarkable story of Esperanza Cordero, a young Latina girl growing up in Chicago, inventing for herself who … inventing for herself who and what she will become. Told in a series of vignettes-sometimes heartbreaking, sometimes deeply joyous-Sandra Cisneros’ masterpiece is a classic story of childhood and self-discovery. Few other books in our time have touched so many readers.
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The House on Mango Street is the remarkable story of Esperanza Cordero. Told in 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.
I like ‘coming of age’ books – when writers wright about their experiences growing up in communities – whether it is the South or the North or other parts of the world.
This book is about a young girl – Esperanza – and her experiences growing up and living in the house on Mango Street in the city of Chicago. We experience Life through her eyes – her world view of how living on that street was. We meet her friends and neighbors.
I seem to be reading, for me, lots of these kinds of books lately – this book – before that the Joan London book – last month the Jacqueline Woodson book. This is my favourite genre.
The House on Mango Street is a book to be treasured. It’s a book that needs to be read at least once a year and shared with friends who also like this kind of book.
Happily it is read in schools and universities all over the US. What I especially like is that the chapters are short. Because of that – the book is a quick read.
I know that this will not be the first time that I read it. I know I shall be reading it probably a dozen times – it’s THAT GOOD.
The only book I have read that represents and accurately depicts what it is like to be Hispanic. Brilliantly written!
I read house on Mango Street many years ago in college and feel it was a very important book in helping people relate to immigrant experience. Written from Esperanza’s point of view, this book was rich with many unique and fresh observations only a child could tell.
I love this book one of my favs.
Wow! Cisneros takes language and changes it into something magical. She tells the story of her youth in beautiful vignettes that wrapped themselves around my heart. I feel breathless thinking about her story.
The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros — I’ve read this in both English and Spanish, and it is a lovely story in both languages! Happy Reading!
This book can be found all over the bookstore, in several sections, including Memoirs, Story Collections and Novels, and Latin-American Lit. It’s the largely true story of the author’s family migrations back and forth between Mexico and Chicago throughout her childhood, and it uses houses as a metaphor for our human longing for independence, stability and permanence. The hero Esperanza just wants a real house, not an apartment above a pizza place or dry cleaners, which is all she ever gets when she’s growing up on Mango Street in Chicago. It’s a portrait of a whole constellation of Latinas — Mexican girls and women — who are trapped under the thumbs of a patriarchy, including fathers, husbands and brothers. A fear of the sullying effects of the world on a woman’s purity and chastity causes a whole culture to essentially keep its women under lock and key. The hero’s mother has lived here for years and has never used the subway. Esperanza’s hopes of beating this system and ever getting off Mango Street look doubtful. Though a worse trouble is afflicting her friend Sally whose father is grimly repeating the same tragedy he watched happen with all of his sisters. One by one, unable to endure the absolute control over their bodies inflicted by his own father, his sisters ran away, got pregnant, and got married, breaking apart the family. Now, despite his regular beatings, Sally seems determined to “turn out bad” also and it’s destroying them both. The writer manages to assemble this collection of dozens of lyrical episodes into a novel without our really noticing. As the incidents flow past, it’s clear that a sort of malaise or melancholy present on Mango Street is attaching itself to the hero and will always be with her. And though she may one day own a real house, she will always have to struggle to resist and overcome the downward drag on the female soul that is Mango Street.
i would really advise others to read the house on mango street i think its a very interesting book. I think it has a good plot to go along with real life problems people can relate to in many different ways. I think the author used a perfect amount of characters enough to have a good story but not enough to make you lose track of whats going on. The house on mango street shows that getting away from home and familiar places may be the best thing you can do. Support doesnt always come from your home town, street, or even family and the author expresses that in a great way. Overall i think this a great book which i think everyone should take a look at.
The book The House on Mango street by Sandra Cisneros and published in 1984 .The book is a story about a girl named Esperanza Cordero and her experiences growing up.She lives in a poor Latino neighborhood in Chicago and has Immigrant problems, technically living on her own, and having to meet different people when she moved.The characters in the story are memorable and quirky .I recommend you to read the story because it makes you feel for the characters and learn how she lived her life and get to learn stuff from a different perspective.The story is told in first person by the main Character Esperanza .”The fantasy of owning beautiful White House if first presented as a family dream -later Esperanza internalizes her mama and papa’s dream and make it her own.The book has so much emotion and and tells such a good story about a little girl and her life.
4 out of 5 stars to The House on Mango Street, a short series of vignettes published in 1984 and written by Sandra Cisneros. Picture it: Long Island, August 1995. 18-year-old college student receives a letter in the mail, revealing two books he must read prior to attending the freshmen orientation seminar on his first day of college later that month. Young kid says “They’re giving me work to do already? WT…” It went something like that. And it wasn’t that I didn’t want to read, and I was a good student, but seriously… I’m scared of going off to college and already being told to start doing some work. Can’t I have some break before I… never mind. So I read it. And wow, it’s fantastic. A short collection of stories about growing up in Chicago, learning how to live on your own (sort of). Meeting different people. Seeing other sides of life. Learning more than you thought was out there. Embracing change and culture.
Oh… I get it… that’s what’s about to happen to me! Wow… nice book. Thanks. So then I get to the orientation. And they want us to discuss it in a random group that was set up. So we get put in groups of 6. I’m with some weird-looking people. At 18, I looked about 12 still. For some reason, I got stuck with the other 18-year-olds who looked 28. I wanted to call them mom and dad. But I knew better. I kept my mouth shut. Sandra Cisneros has just taught me that. So… I’m very shy and don’t say a word. No one speaks. I realize I guess I must say something. So I said. “I liked it a lot.” Everyone nodded. I said something like “what did you think?”
I’ll save you the drama. None of them read it. I was the only one who did. How embarrassing for them! It was so good… but I played it cool and described the plot. It seemed to open up the conversation, but then we were asked to nominate a leader to step up to the stage and explain your group’s understanding of the book. Oh you know… vengeance… some day… payback…
My lesson. Don’t ever read a book again. JUST KIDDING! You must read this one. It’s a beautiful story and helps you embrace change and difference. And the characters are quite memorable and quirky. Quick read. Maybe 2 hours. You should definitely give it a chance.