The House on Mango Street
Emma Murawski
Hello! Recently, I finished a book called The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros. Written in 1984, its Mexican-American author immerses the reader in a world far different than their own.
The House on Mango Street does not necessarily have a set plot or storyline, and this makes this book so notable. Instead, Cisneros totally submerges the reader into the life of a young Chicana (Mexican-American) girl named Esperanza living in a packed Latino neighborhood in Chicago. Esperanza, telling the story from her point of view, explains almost every single aspect of her life on Mango Street in immense detail. The book is divided up into many chapters that vary from half of a page-long to many more. Each chapter delves into a different aspect of Esperanza’s life. She talks so much about what seem to be random features of Mango Street, yet they all make sense in the end and help the reader engage themselves even more into Esperanza’s world. For example, Esperanza talks about her neighbors who are never home, the dogs, and even her aunt that passed away. I actually really liked the chapter where Esperanza talked about her aunt. She states that she never really understood the gravity of her aunt’s illness. Instead, Esperanza, along with her siblings and cousins, would play a game sort of like charades. In the game, they pretended to be someone, usually a celebrity or a famous person all of them would know, and the rest of the group would have to guess who they were pretending to be. It seemed to start off harmless, until they started pretending to be people they knew and eventually even Esperanza’s aunt. In order to successfully act like Aunt Lupe, they would act limp as if they had her illness. When Aunt Lupe died, Esperanza began to analyze that behavior and wonder if that was insensitive.
By the time I had finished the book, I knew this was one of my favorites. The immense detail and unique format of the book had me hooked in the first few chapters. I truly do not think I have any formal complaints to make about this book. Cisneros did an amazing job writing the book that you feel like you are there in the story. You feel as if you experience what is happening to Esperanza. I would rate this book a 10/10 because it is just a fantastic read and it is pretty short too. Along with being a great book, just know that it does touch upon mature and sensitive topics. I would most definitely recommend The House on Mango Street to anyone who wants a quick read that is also an instant classic.
Hello! Recently, I finished a book called The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros. Written in 1984, its Mexican-American author immerses the reader in a world far different than their own.
The House on Mango Street does not necessarily have a set plot or storyline, and this makes this book so notable. Instead, Cisneros totally submerges the reader into the life of a young Chicana (Mexican-American) girl named Esperanza living in a packed Latino neighborhood in Chicago. Esperanza, telling the story from her point of view, explains almost every single aspect of her life on Mango Street in immense detail. The book is divided up into many chapters that vary from half of a page-long to many more. Each chapter delves into a different aspect of Esperanza’s life. She talks so much about what seem to be random features of Mango Street, yet they all make sense in the end and help the reader engage themselves even more into Esperanza’s world. For example, Esperanza talks about her neighbors who are never home, the dogs, and even her aunt that passed away. I actually really liked the chapter where Esperanza talked about her aunt. She states that she never really understood the gravity of her aunt’s illness. Instead, Esperanza, along with her siblings and cousins, would play a game sort of like charades. In the game, they pretended to be someone, usually a celebrity or a famous person all of them would know, and the rest of the group would have to guess who they were pretending to be. It seemed to start off harmless, until they started pretending to be people they knew and eventually even Esperanza’s aunt. In order to successfully act like Aunt Lupe, they would act limp as if they had her illness. When Aunt Lupe died, Esperanza began to analyze that behavior and wonder if that was insensitive.
By the time I had finished the book, I knew this was one of my favorites. The immense detail and unique format of the book had me hooked in the first few chapters. I truly do not think I have any formal complaints to make about this book. Cisneros did an amazing job writing the book that you feel like you are there in the story. You feel as if you experience what is happening to Esperanza. I would rate this book a 10/10 because it is just a fantastic read and it is pretty short too. Along with being a great book, just know that it does touch upon mature and sensitive topics. I would most definitely recommend The House on Mango Street to anyone who wants a quick read that is also an instant classic.
Nice review! This sounds like a unique, well written book, and I'm sure lots of people would enjoy reading it. It doesn't seem like the type of book I would normally read since there isn't a lot of action or suspense, but you made it seem like a really interesting book, so I might try it out. I've never read a book with a format like this book, so I might end up liking it. Overall, I thought you did a nice job summarizing the book and explaining why you liked it, so good job!
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