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Type of bind: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN num: 9780679734772
ISBN number: 0679734775
Label: Vintage
Manufacturer: Vintage
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 128
Printing Date: April 03, 1991
Publishing house: Vintage
Release Date: April 03, 1991
Sale Popularity Level: 754
Studio: Vintage
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Editor's Notes and Comments:
Product Description:
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.
User popularity level:
Rated by buyers 
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i had to read this in school and it was THE WORST book i've ever read in my life. i HATED IT!!! it was confusing, pointless, and a lame sob story that didn't gain my sympathy in any way. at the end of the book (if i can even call this piece of worthless garbage a book), esperanza gets raped.
....wait, what?
and then that's it. they don't even mention it again. i think sandra cisneros was on crack when she wrote this. it has no direction, no theme, bizarre characters, and stupid, stupid, poop-worthy vignettes that are so random and out there that i think esperanza's on crack too. =D
Rated by buyers 
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I like this book of vignettes about the Latino experience. My problem was that I didn't love it. Perhaps because my expectations were so high after reading some great reviews, seeing it on some lists of the best books in the last 25 years and several recommendations from friends.
Cisneros certainly has great command of language and several of the vignettes are deeply engaging. My main issue with the book is that I kept wanting more. I wanted more depth about Esperanza and the other characters Cisneros introduces us throughout the vignettes.
After I finished the book, I felt like I do after having a meal at a restaurant where the appetizer is delicious and then you get just an average entree. Cisneros whets your appetite but leaves you disappointment with your whole experience.
Rated by buyers 
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Like many of my fellow reviewers, I was required to read this book for high school English. At very first glance, the novel seemed promising, as shown by the glowing reviews from various newspapers and writers.
Then I started to read it.
By the end, several issues stood out: the grammar and the similes.
I understand that Cisneros intentionally broke away from traditional form, but this book needs an editing job. For example, "...the tortilla star, the one that appears early just in time to rise and catch the hind legs hide behind the sink..." The last part made me go, "Huh? Hind legs hide?" There were also some issues with run-on sentences.
The similes also bothered me. Some of the time, they were good: "...and sings all the homesick songs about her country in a voice that sounds like a seagull." I know what a seagull sounds like, so I could identify and imagine what her voice sounded like. Then, it gets ugly. "The Monkey Garden" was full of 'em. "Sunflowers big as flowers on Mars?" And the worst: "...dusty hollyhocks thick and perfumy like the blue-blond hair of the dead." That was a head scratcher. Blue-blond hair? What? Is this an allusion to some great work of literature that I should have read?
Also, there were way too many characters. By introducing character after character, Cisneros was able to paint a picture of Esperanza's world, but by the end of the novel I knew little of Esperanza herself; I was unable to care about any of the characters.
One other thing: the sexual assault scene. As I understand, this is a traumatic experience. One chapter, hardly two pages was devoted to it, no mention was made in the rest of the novel. Shouldn't Esperanza have been affected by it? At least several scenes alluding to its effects should have been included.
I was unable to identify with the world Cisneros created, as a result, I cared little for the characters and what happened to them. In addition, until I read the back of the book, I thought that the novel took place in NYC - how mistaken I was!
Overall, I was disappointed by the novel. If you like vignette fiction, I recommend "Sold" by Patricia Mccormick or "Speak" by Laurie Halse Anderson. The latter may not exactly qualify as vignette, but it's good.
Rated by buyers 
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Sandra Cisneros nació en los Estados Unidos en 1954, en la ciudad de Chicago, siendo la única hija, entre seis hermanos varones y padres mexicanos, con los cuales viajó a México en diferentes oportunidades, desde su barrio puertorriqueño en Chicago. La casa en la calle Mango (The house on Mango street) refleja esa experiencia de alguien nacido en Norteamérica, pero con una identidad hispana, y es quizás parte de la autora misma, en sus años infantiles, entre una cultura que la oprimía olvidando sus derechos.
Graduada con una licenciatura en inglés de la universidad de Loyola y una maestría de la universidad de Iowa, Cisneros ha escrito otros libros como My Wicked Wicked Ways y Loose Woman, entre otros. La escritora es parte de un grupo de escritoras de origen chicanas y latinas que se hicieron conocidas a partir de las décadas del ochenta y noventa del siglo pasado. Estructuralmente vemos una denuncia a la vida de la mujer chicana dependiente de las decisiones patriarcales que la rodean, pero sin una proposición directa para resolverlas.
The house of Mango street es un libro que consiste de cuarenta y cuatro historietas descritas por una jovencita de solo doce años llamada Esperanza Cordero, quien en cada capítulo nos narra la infancia que tuvo mientras vivía en la calle Mango, sus sueños y esperanzas, rodeada de una barreada latina en la ciudad de Chicago, pero en un lugar que nos recuerda un área apartada, no por la distancia sino por su olvido en el spectrum político, relegada a la pobreza y la segregación racial. Sus sentimientos, falta de privacidad, hastío por lo que la rodea, y los anhelos propios de un humano que quiere ser feliz, la hacen crear el idílico momento en que un dia pueda tener su propia casa que realmente le pueda llamar hogar.
Ello me hace recordar en lo personal, vivencias del pasado, y cómo, en un país donde el consumo es parte de casi una identidad, muchos no consideran la importancia de un hogar donde crecemos, donde soñamos, donde podemos siempre retornar a la infancia aunque ya tengamos canas, y sin embargo se lanzan a la deriva del rastreo material y el elogio de vivir al dia con cuanta pacotilla se les anuncie obviando la realidad de que no vivimos mil años en este mundo, y lo que sembremos en el recuerdo, la experiencia y el futuro es todo lo que podemos hacer para llamarnos humanos.
A medida que Esperanza va creciendo y madurando va escribiendo sobre su vida y sus anhelos de salirse del mundo que la rodea, del barrio que emocionalmente la asfixia, incluyendo las historias de sus vecinos y de sus amiguitas chicanas Lucy y Rachel, su hermanita Nenny, y las aventuras que transcurrieron entre ella en ese pequeño mundo. En ese mundo que cuando somos pequeños nos parece inmenso y único, pero que mientras maduramos aprendemos a desafiarlo.
En ese desafío Esperanza va creciendo físicamente convirtiéndose en una señorita que gusta ser admirada y vista por muchachos que la ven bailar, conociendo a su nueva amiga Sally rodeada de varones que incluso la ayudan escapar de su casa y del supuestamente abusivo padre, pero abierta a tempranas relaciones sexuales.
Sally la empuja a relacionarse con un jovencito, contra la voluntad de la misma Esperanza, y es ahí donde finalmente es violada, abusada sexualmente, y más tarde ya crecidita, cuando encuentra su primer trabajo, un hombre de procedencia asiática, mayor en edad, la obliga a que le bese, mostrando la escritora el mundo masculino en el que Esperanza esta atrapada. Estas son experiencias bien traumáticas para la muchacha quien analiza las mismas situaciones a que las mujeres de su barrio se ven expuestas y es por esto que no cesa en sus adentros por ver el dichoso dia que pueda largarse de la calle Mango y rehacer su vida decorosamente, sin obviar que era necesario hacer algo.
En este intercambio entre Sally y Marín como personajes es posible que la escritora nos haya querido introducir el amour típicamente descrito aunque en realidad lo que vemos es un contraste entre ese amour familiar muchas veces perdido entre conceptos e idéas erradas y el amour romántico que puede ser pasajero y que con el cursar del tiempo puede perder pasión y hasta convertirse en odios y desavenencias, aunque ella no nos deja ver odio en sí misma, todo lo contrario, la sensación del marinero perdido en alta mar pidiendo el auxilio que nunca llega.
Igualmente vemos como el personaje principal va cambiando su humour periódicamente, revelándonos su lugar en ese mundo que la rodea, por ejemplo cuando esta de buen humour ella lo refiere como "our good day", cuando por el contrario el temour la absorbe o se siente violada es "red clowns" y así es posible ver también el crecimiento y madurez que va transformando al personaje desde su infancia a la pubertad y sus más intrínsecas esperanzas de libertad y justicia.
Esperanza ... Read More
Rated by buyers -
This book delivers unique perspective of everyday events in the Hispanic barrio of Chicago where protagonist Esperanza lives -- of course on Mango Street.
Written in a meter similar to a pre-teen's or early teenager's diary entries, the book covers numerous topics about the life on the street where her parents finally have a house without neighbors, where she and her siblings do not need to share the yard, where the landlord does not beat the ceiling to request the noise be lessened, and where the life can be as silent as snow.
Certain passages lightly touch upon adult misapprorpriation of youthful trust -- where Esperanza is molested, although not in the worst way, by those who would otherwise not be suspected of such lewd behavior. You cry.
At other times, Esperanza and her friends act like elementary school children, make silly remarks and behave in silly ways, which make the adults about her laugh at her. You too must smile or laugh.
Ultimately, you must succumb to the fact that this young adult literature delivers a tale which may teach other young girls perhaps to be more observant of their own behavior so that they are not stepped on like Esperanza was when she mistakenly entrusted too many strangers too many times for too little reason.
The education of youth abounds within the confines of this extremely short book. Appearing to be a light and airy read, this novel touches some very heavy and introspective issues which we often think children cannot discern. But, they do. And, that is for whom this novel is meant to be written.
But, if an adult seeks to read it, please do. It will not take more than a few hours of your adult life. But, remember: This is not great literature written for the masses. Instead, it is a book written for a very much-in-demand young audience about an issue of their coming of age.
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