The House on Mango Street: Sandra Cisneros

"Acclaimed by critics, beloved by readers of all ages, taught everywhere from grade school to universities across the country, and translated all over the world, 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.  Few other books in our time have touched so many readers."

Yet again, this is a book that was assigned for my Multicultural American Novel course I am enrolled in at my university.  This book was an extremely quick read for me, due in part because I am such a quick reader, but probably also because it was easy.  I don't mean "easy" in the sense that it was simply written in the "poorly done" sense, but that its structure was pleasingly simple to read.  As stated in the synopses above, it is told in a series of vignettes.  While I went into reading the book knowing this, I do not think I would have appreciated it nearly as much had I not read the introduction.  If memory serves me, the author stated that she intended for the book to be accessible to someone who does not have a lot of time to read.  The book was structured so it could be picked up sporadically and at any point, and the reader would still be able to understand and enjoy it.  I tested out this theory and opened the book to a random page before I began my initial reading of the work.  It was a little one-page passage and I was surprised that I understood--and even enjoyed it a little bit--without having any backstory or context.  As an avid reader and writer, this structure was an entirely new concept to me.  I believe that it is what made this book interesting.  To be honest, I think it's what made me finish it so easily.  Here I go again sounding like I don't really enjoy multicultural literature, but I feel like I've heard this "struggling Latina girl" story so many times before.  The fact that this one was told in a new fashion made it fresh.  There wasn't really a cohesive story being told, so I don't feel right in commenting on "plot" and whatnot.  I do believe that the snippets (that seems like an excellent descriptor here) were relatable and--while they seemed to sometimes chronicle the most mundane of things--they managed to maintain my attention because they didn't linger on themselves for too long.  The fact that they were most often not longer than a page meant that a new story would begin shortly; and, if I didn't like the one that was currently being told, then something else would start in a few lines.  Esperanza appears to be the story's narrator but, because of the unorthodox way this story was told, it makes it difficult to really know a lot about the other characters and get a "feel" for them.  I had a bit of a difficult time even determining who Esperanza was, other than the Latina girl who wanted to be free of the bad neighborhood.  Overall, this was not a bad read.  To those that are apprehensive, I want to remind you that this book is a quick read.  If you don't like it, it doesn't take up too much of your time.  I didn't think it was a bad read, but I don't think it was "excellent."  I know there are many out there who would disagree with me, but I DID give this book a chance and I believe I am giving Cisneros her dues for the unique and interesting writing style.