The House on Mango Street : Book Review


Book Review

Title: The House on Mango Street
Author:Sandra Cisneros
Genre: Fiction

The House on Mango Street chronicles the story of 12 year old Esperanza Cordero who grows up in a hispanic neighborhood in one corner of Chicago. Set over a span of one year, the story goes in to describe how her family moves from a rented apartment to a house on Mango street. This is the first house actually owned by her parents. Yet its not what she had visualised. The House on Mango street is run down and cramped. The rest of the story entails Esperanza's journey, her friends, neighbourhood and her transformation as a person.

The book is structured as a series of vignettes narrated in first person from the point of view of Esperanza. The chapters are concise and do not tell the entire story. Some of them are merely observations of the narrator which reads like a diary entry. It gives the reader a view of the latino-amerciacn community and their lives. Clearly the setting depicts poverty, going by the narrator's descriptions of the setting. 

The book sees a patriarchal society where women are trapped by men and deprived of their freedom. There is a sense of the narrator wanting to escape her current scenario and go somewhere far where she experiences a sense of belonging. It also captures some of the horrors witnessed by the narrator that leads to her sexual and emotional maturity. In this aspect, it's a coming of age story. 

The House on Mango Street is compelling and mirrors reality in one of those honest and unabashed Hispanic narrative voices.



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