Book Thoughts: The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros

The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I feel like the last several books I've read (Hemingway's "The Old Man and the Sea", "The Fire Next Time" by James Baldwin), along with this one, are books/authors I've heard about, but never taken the plunge. For whatever reason, the last few weeks of this year has been a good time to finally get into these books.

"The House on Mango Street" is a book I've seen frequent reference to, particularly in today's U.S. political climate where the stories and situations of immigrants from Latin America have seen increased attention. The book is somewhat a stereo-typical coming of age story, though it centers on Esperanza Cordero and an Latino immigrant experience in Chicago. Esperanza, as she grows, is determined to leave the house on Mango Street, which comes to symbolize the impoverished old neighborhoods that Latinos moved into (while more affluent whites moved out).

The book reads quick, with very short chapters, and Esperanza, as a narrator, is quick with her observations and descriptions of other characters and events throughout the book. The book touches on aspects of the immigrant experience that is both universal to all immigrants, but also unique to the Latino experience as well. Its a book to read not only because it presents an interesting primary character, Esperanza, but because it provides exposure to the reader to the culture and thought of a different people and culture. Such exposure is one of the many goods one receives by reading, and this book delivers on that promise.

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