Cisneros' The House on Mango Street

Sandra Cisneros' The House on Mango Street is a short "novel of stories" revolving around the world of Esperanza, a young Latino teen in Chicago. The story tells of her growing up in the poorer, ethnic regions of the city and her aspirations toward the American dreams of living in your own house and fitting in.

Overall, The House on Mango Street is a good book, though I wouldn't put it at the top of my list. It has quality writing, well pieced together (though somewhat disjointedly) to tell Esperanza's youthful tale.

What really separates this novel from others is its language, which is poetic in approach, and, arguably, each chapter/story of the book could be considered brief prose-poems. Many of the chapters from this book have become anthologized in various college-level anthologies, perhaps do to the novel's quality and, also, because of the recent efforts to rejuvenate the "dead white male" literary canon.

Cisneros is of Latin American heritage, and her characters are likewise. If I remember correctly, Esperanza's family, the immediate characters of the novel, are of Mexican decent, and there is a chapter which deals with visitors from Mexico. However, the neighborhood is ethnically diverse, as Puerto Ricans and other "Latinos" are integrated within the community and book.

A unique thing about this book is its brevity. The 100-some pages of often half-typefaced pages read extremely quickly, and it is somewhat difficult to read as much into the novel as you could do if it were written more intellectually. However, I definitely do not object to this, as there is a lacking amount of quality literature available to younger age groups. For example, I glanced at one of the negative reviews of this book here at epinions, in which a reviewer mentions that he/she read the novel for a 9th grade literature course.

Do not dismiss the novel because of its language though; it is not merely "juvenile," but its poetic leanings multiply the word power.

I recommend House on Mango Street for anyone who wants to experience the coming of age of a young minority girl in Chicago, whose family is trying to assimilate, yet maintain their own identity within the diversity of american cities. The novel will only take 1-2 hours to read.