The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros is a wonderfully written novel about a young Latino girl growing up in Chicago. Instead of writing the book as one long story she tells the story of Esperanza with short stories, written like a diary. Cisneros separates each story by going to a new chapter. The book follows Esperanza from when she is a very young girl until she is a young adult in high school. Cisneros does a wonderful job of starting out writing from the point of view of a young child and then gradually alters the writing to eventually reflect that of a teenager. Esperanza's growing up experience gives her many convictions. She does not want to live on Mango Street and be poor. Her goal in life is to succeed and then come back and help the people that continue to live on Mango Street. By observing the people around her she decided she does not want a man to run her life. Through Esperanza's experiences and convictions Cisneros brings up many of the hardships that immigrants undergo moving into the United States. As well as poverty Cisneros bring up the language barrier and adjusting to a different culture. She also depicts much of the Latino culture, examples being the role of women and the importance of family. The beginning of the novel could be difficult for some people to get into because the chapters start out so short and do not really flow into one another very well, but I would urge you to stick with is as the book is well worth it. I would highly recommend this book not just for entertainment purposes but also if you are interested in learning more about Latinos.

I teach English to speakers of other languages at the high school level. For the past five years I have been reading _The House on Mango Street_ with some of my classes. Not only is it the highlight of the year for me, but for my students as well.

Cisneros's magnificently lyrical prose forces us to see the world through the perspective of an adolescent Latina. Don't let the simple sentences and short chapters fool you. Beneath the surface lies a rich network of themes: poverty, child abuse, rape, spousal abuse, the importance of education, hypocrisy, and a host of others.

If you're looking for a linear story with a clearly defined plot, look elsewhere. Cisneros paints in broad strokes, and her canvas is multi-colored. Seen from up close, each chapter is a self-contained beauty. Seen from a distance, the chapters come together to reveal a masterpiece of Latino literature; it is by turns a feminist novel, a bildungsroman, and a chronicle of the will's triumph. The book has affected me profoundly, and with each new reading I find more to admire about it.

The book that I recently read and recommend, The House on Mango Street, is written by Sandra Cisneros. This book contains 44 short stories called vignettes. These vignettes are narrated by a little girl by the name of Esperanza Cordero, who just moved with her family to Mango Street (in the barrio). She hates this house on Mango Street because it is not a "real" house, like the one she sees on TV. Esperanza is forced to realize that she does not belong to the race or class of people who live in such houses. Sandra Cisneros, recipient of two NEA Fellowships for writing and a Dobie-Paisano Fellowship, through Esperanza tells about the ghosts (of poverty, sexism and racism) inside that haunt her. This book takes an honest look at these issues as faced by Mexican-American women. It also talks about the importance of education among women in order to succeed in life and have an equal say in a society dominated by men. House on Mango Street is full of characters that lack power - socially, politically, economically and sexually. This book is not a story of despair, but of hope, which is what Esperanza means in English. In order to see and understand the affects of being the only daughter out of seven kids in a Mexican-American culture and having your family move around a great deal and not be able to keep your friends, one must read this book. Not only is the language of this book simple, but the short stories are so short that they allow a person to read this book in many sittings. This makes the book much more easier to read, understand and enjoy among young readers. One of the main human concerns that is developed by Sandra Cisneros is the sense of belonging somewhere. Esperanza never feels like she belongs anywhere. This is due to the fact that her family is always moving from one place to another. She never gets a chance to interact with the friends that she makes as they move on to another place. In order for the Corderos to achieve their dreams, they must struggle against both poverty and racism. Another reason why she does not have a feeling for belonging somewhere is the fact that the house on Mango Street is in such a bad condition that she is afraid to admit that she lives there. She is afraid to call it her own house because this is not the kind of house that she hoped to live in. She compares her house with the ones that she sees on TV. This attitude of embarrassment tends to pull her back from progressing in life, especially when she was embarrassed by a nun. It was the nun, not someone from the barrio, who teaches Esperanza to be ashamed of her house. This makes Esperanza vow that someday she will have a beautiful house and offer help and shelter in her attic to passing bums because she knows how it is to be without a house. A real house that would give her privacy, space of her own where she could forge her identity, a place that she could be proud of and it would be a physical evidence that she belonged somewhere. This book is highly recommended by me for young readers because it teaches young readers about poverty and its disadvantages. From this lesson they will realize the importance and value of education and equality for all. Another thing that they will learn from this book is how the protagonist discovers that power and peace come from recognizing one's place in and one's duty to the community. The award-winning author makes it a great book to read also.

This book may not be for everyone. It is not written with a traditional plot structure or with regard to conventional punctuation, but Cisneros has captured a time and place in a girl's life with poetic language that goes straight to your heart. There is truth here and a great deal of beauty. I loved this book. Think a little bit outside the box (as Cisneros did), and you may as well.

I read some reviews for this book and I could not believe how underated it is and how many people didn't understand it. Some people say that it is just a collection of random thoughts, but that is not the case. You see, this book a whole story and instead of having chapters of episodes, it contains "vignettes" which the dictionary defines as "a short descrioptive literary sketch". Each vignette contains an important part of the story. The whole story describes the thoughts, feelings, and meories of Esperanza, an hispanic girl living in the poverty corner of the city, with dreams to escape her world. At the same time, she grows up and starts to leave her childhood, while learning about the fears and dangers of the world she never knew of before. Becomeing an adult turns out to be a hard challenge. The first vignette called "House On Mango Street" is meant to describe the setting. The second "Hairs" describes the looks and characteristics of the characters. The third called "Boys and Girls" tells the difference between genders, which is important because the story deals with men and women. The following vignette called "My Name" paints the image of self and the feelings of hope and the future. Therefore, these vignettes are not mere collections of random thoughts and uneducated language, but a poetic story with a well drawn setting, characterization, and gripping tone. Even though the story evolves around hispanics, this is a book for all races. The poverty and dreams of home remind me of the experiences of African-Americans and Chinese, as well as Caucasians. When I was in a Creative Writing class, we wrote many vignettes and if you are a student in Creative Writing you HAVE to get this book and share it with your class and teacher. It will help you understand the importance writing free verses, for this is the best example of vignettes I have ever seen. The voice of the author does not sound profesional or too fancy, but like the ordinary words people say today. it is a story of our time and a tale for all. My only complaint is that it was too short! I wanted to know more about what Esperanza does and her wishes. I also wanted to know what happened to her after the story. Even so, it is pretty plain to see that Esperanza learned how to escape from her cruel world, unlike the people who never knew where she went. I haven't seen such an exquisite story of our modern times since I read the "Joy Luck Club" about two years ago. If you want to read a beautiful story about growing up, living life, and with musical poetry, you must read this book.