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    The House on Mango Street
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    The House on Mango Street
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    The House on Mango Street
    Audiobook2 hours

    The House on Mango Street

    Published by Penguin Random House Audio

    3.5/5

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    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    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.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateAug 30, 2005
    ISBN9780739322819
    Unavailable
    The House on Mango Street

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    Reviews for The House on Mango Street

    3.5/5

    2,172 ratings116 reviews

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    • 5/5
      Esperanza and her family didn't always live on Mango Street. Right off she says she can't remember all the houses they've lived in but "the house on Mango Street is ours and we don't have to pay rent to anybody, or share the yard with the people downstairs, or be careful not to make too much noise, and there isn't a landlord banging on the ceiling with a broom. But even so, it's not the house we thought we'd get." Esperanza's childhood life in a Spanish-speaking area of Chicago is described in a series of spare, poignant, and powerful vignettes. Each story centers on a detail of her childhood: a greasy cold rice sandwich, a pregnant friend, a mean boy, how the clouds looked one time, something she heard a drunk say, her fear of nuns: "I always cry when nuns yell at me, even if they're not yelling." Esperanza's friends, family, and neighbors wander in and out of her stories; through them all Esperanza sees, learns, loves, and dreams of the house she will someday have, her own house, not on Mango Street.
    • 5/5
      This book was beautiful. I read it in one sitting because I was engrossed in it - I could picture the whole neighborhood and everyone who lived there. The descriptions were vivid, with unique wording. Some of the sentences were so amazing, I felt like I had been punched in the stomach after reading them. My personal favorite: "I have decided not to grow up tame like the others who lay their necks on the threshold waiting for the ball and chain."
    • 5/5
      Cisneros writes this book with a perfect balance between the child who is discovering her world for the first time and the growing woman who can make sense of what she's seeing. In doing so, she invites us into her shoes without judging us for having lived outside of them. Deceptively simple, there is a great deal going on under the surface in these portraits of characters who are at once both intimate and distant. This is a uniquely poetic book.
    • 4/5
      Cisneros's vignette style (at least for this book) may not be for everyone, but I liked The House on Mango Street very much. Her background in poetry shines through here. It's not flowery, however, as the stories show the grittiness of one neighborhood in Chicago and the perspective of what it was like growing up Latina there. An evocative read.
    • 5/5
      Author presents vignettes of people populating the neighborhood of Esperanza Cordero just when she was coming of age and confused about whether she is a young adult or a child.Lovely, lively and visual descriptions make this small book a keeper. Her writing is poetic with memorable lines you'll want to jot down.
    • 5/5
      Loved it then, love it now.
    • 5/5
      Magical, mystical and wonderful - I could read The House on Mango Street over and over.
    • 4/5
      This is a multicultural book about a young girl and all of her experiences she has had while growing up on mango street.
    • 3/5
      The Two-Word Strategy Formal Review:Word 1: HomeWord 2: ProgressionI chose these words because throughout the story Esperanza's journal entries grow in depth. In the beginning her journal entries are rather surface level, talking about shoes and other similar topics, but later in the story her entries describe more explicit scenes of her being forced to kiss and older man and a sexual scene. I also chose the word home because Esperanza is seeking to understand the meaning of home to her throughout the story; whether it is physical or within herself. At the end of the story she leaves her physical home on Mango street but realizes that her memories there will never leave her.
    • 3/5
      A collection of snippets, as author calls it herself: "...just a jar of buttons..." Situations one has while growing up. The atmosphere feels threatening somehow, I expect bad things to happen, especially when men are around.The introduction in this edition is written by the author herself, some 20 years later, and is very important. It is essential, moving and positive, confirming what Virginia Woolf wrote in Room of One's Own: a safe and independent personal space in affirming surrounding is important for the ability to write and to live and everyone should have one. It is a relief to see that women are finally also able to organize their lives in that way, everywhere in the world. This is the only way forward.
    • 5/5
      The House on Mango Street delves into the mind of Esperanza who doesn't like her name or the house she lives in. It shows the inner struggles of a young girl and her neighborhood surroundings. Many people around the world desire more and therefore can relate to the main character.
    • 3/5
      **BOOK REVIEW**The House on Mango Street3 starsInteresting Told in the voice of a child, this coming of age story, with a series of vignettes describes Esperanza Cordero's life on Mango Street. Some of her experiences were touching. Some of the stories took me back to a time and place when similar situations happened to me. Not a great read but an ok read.
    • 4/5
      Double Dutch Time
      Is it a novel?
      YesNoMaybe

      Is it a classic?
      YesNoMaybe

      Did I like it?
      YesNoMaybe

      About midway Esperanza,the narrator of The House on Mango Street, and her friends are skipping rope and talking about the development of hips. They begin to make up new rhymes with hips and walking with hips as the theme, and ending with the classic Yes,No, Maybe...a childhood variation of fortune telling. The word that you trip up on is the answer. As far as this books status, even its actual genre, I really think it is going to be a question of where you trip up with it.

      First of all, it is a novel in the slenderest of ways. The basic narrative is the coming of age of a young Latina, Esperanza, who is growing up in a Chicago barrio. While poverty is the rule there, Esperanza's family is lucky in that they own their own house. Poverty, abuse, sexual exploitation, which runs both ways, are some of the threads of the story. But these are countered with threads of hope, friendship, family, and dreams. Together the author weaves a poetic braid of sombre and gay strands.

      Here's my problem. The vignettes which make up the novel too often fell flat for me. If you aren't going to develop a scenario, then it had better have slap-you-in-the-face power. These 1-2-3 page vignettes were not at all well developed, nor were they quite as vivid as they should be. Where they should have exploded on the page, they sort of just hung there leaving me without a clue as to what to do with them. Sort of like New Year's decorations after New Year's. "Well, they're still sparkly enough. I think they might do for next year's party. But.. maybe I'll throw them out." Worst of all I never developed a keen sense of Esperanza or her world.

      I also have a problem with repetition. The repetition of phrases and words instead of adding a poetic flavor just annoyed me and made the prose seem juvenile. There is poetic prose and there is prose that should have been written as poems. This for me was the latter.



    • 4/5
      I read this book in two days. It's a short book, a sort of quasi-memoir, written in little vignettes which draw you into Cisneros' world. I love books that take me into a neighborhood, a culture where I can be invited in but not feel awkward, b/c of course, I'm not physically there, yet I can feel the mood, listen to the conversations, picture everyone so well. I want to read Cisneros' other books now.
    • 3/5
      I recommend that you read it, if you're on the fence about it.
    • 4/5
      I loved the different stories that were included.
    • 3/5
      Very interesting set of short stories. The forward by the author describes how her personal background and the desire for authentic telling of her own stories led to her writing. The audio version is read by the author. This packs a lot of meaning into the stories.
    • 1/5
      Just didn't connect with this one. I forget why I even had it in my collection. Stopped 1/2 way through the book
    • 3/5
      Short novel of a teenage Mexican-American girl in Chicago. Good insight into her life.
    • 2/5
      It was ok, but because of the nature of it (short vignettes) I found myself forgetting what I'd read. Each clip has some great things in them, but I like being able to tie things together and these were all unrelated.
    • 4/5
      Lovely, simple stories. Their value lies in what isn't said about the poverty and grimness of Esperanza's surroundings.
    • 5/5
      A short novel written from the perspective of a young girl. She shares the struggles she went through in her life, and the events that occurred while living on Mango street. The short stories reflect her experiences as a young Latina growing up in low socio-economic environment.
    • 5/5
      "The House on Mango Street", by Sandra Cisneros was in my opinion one of the most influential books that I have ever read before. Although the easy read and simple structured language did startle me at first, I was able to then find and concentrate on the beauty within the book. Esperanza's narrations within the story portray many messages and themes that I am able to relate to myself. This made the book much more enjoyable as well as intriguing.
    • 5/5
      This book was definitely worth the read, I enjoyed it from page one till the end. I especially liked how you could pick up the book from understand exactly what was going on, even though it had a continuous storyline. It was very easy to get yourself immersed into the storyline, and the world of Esperanza. You almost felt like you were living on Mango street, in the house that wasn't a home.
    • 4/5
      The House on Mango Street was a great book if you would like to read a quick, short,and enjoyable book. It is also a very empowering and inspiring novel. I did not enjoy the format of the book as it is made up of multiple very short chapters which are not connected to the others besides the fact that they all are about Esperanza and her life on Mango street. However if you want to just flip to a chapter or read a short story, instead of a long flowing novel, this book would be great. It is also a good read for everyone, especially young people who can connect to the main character Esperanza. The book will also make you rethink things in your own life as you read about Esperanza's.
    • 3/5
      Not sure what to make of this one. I didn't find this book boring, since each chapter stands almost completely alone and is very short, so you don't need a long attention span to read it. It's just a bunch of the narrator's random memories of life as a kid in a Hispanic Chicago neighborhood. The whole thing is very poetic. But I couldn't figure out what the point was to this book. I'm pretty dense when it comes to that kind of thing. I gave it three stars because the author seems to have accomplished her goal (stated in the introduction) of making her writing accessible to everyone. I think I enjoyed the author's introduction more than the text itself.
    • 3/5
      "My mother says when I get older my dusty hair will settle and my blouse will learn to stay clean, but I have decided not to grow up tame like the others who lay their necks on the threshold waiting for the ball and chain.
      In the movies there is always the one with the red lips who is beautiful and cruel. She is the one who drives the men crazy and laughs them all away. Her power is her own. She will not give it away.
      I have begun my own quiet war. Simple. Sure. I am the one who leaves the table like a man, without putting back my chair or picking up the plate."
    • 4/5
      The House on Mango Street was the last book I read before Birdie was born, so it goes without saying that it was mostly chosen based on the slimness of the spine. Cisneros wrote a series of vignettes that, tied together, make up a coming-of-age story. Her writing is easy to read and the prose is pretty but for some reason the book as a whole didn't grab me as much as I expected. It was a good read but I probably won't reach for it again.


      (three and a half stars) <-- totally pointless note: I'm not sure why I hyphenated the "x and a half" for so long; I'm not going back and correcting them all, though. I KNOW THIS WILL AFFECT YOU PROFOUNDLY.
    • 4/5
      I read this to fulfill an assignment to read a banned or challenged book. I'm not really sure why this was challenged. Chicago in the 1950's is tough for minorities. This short book of vignettes tells of poverty and struggle from the view of a young hispanic girl. It was written by the author using experiences from her own life and the lives of acquaintances.
    • 5/5
      Esperanzo is a Latino girl who lives in Chicago. She is narrator of the novel The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cineros. Esperanzo tells the story by introducing her neighbors. Each neighbor is unique. It's fun to learn about their personalities. It made me realize that although people live in one area very close together no person is really like the other individual. I discovered that it's the very oddities of our natures which make our existence together like a fun stroll through a foreign market place. There are so many neighbors in the novel doing their own thing. I tried to remember different ones to write about in the book review.I might as well talk about Esperanzo. Esperanzo hates her name. I loved her name immediately. I think Esperanzo will grow up and move away and become a successful lady. She's very intelligent. Not all children would observe their neighbors so well. Cathy is a lady on the block who loves cats. She is the QUEEN of CATS.This is Esperanzo's description of Cathy. "...cats and cats and cats. Baby cats, big cats, skinny cats, sick cats. Cats asleep like little donuts. Cats on top of the refrigerator. Cats taking a walk on the dinner table. Her house is like cat heaven."Just from reading this one description of a neighbor it's easy to tell how well Sandra Cisneros writes about this Latino community in Chicago. I like to think that some of these people in the neighborhood are real people Sandra Cisneros might have known.I also liked the description of Esperanzo's house. It's a red house. One of the sad facts about Esperanzo is her family moves constantly. She is never in one place for long. That means making new friends, going to a new school, etc. "We didn't always live on Mango Street. Before that we lived on Loomis on the third floor, and before that we lived on Keeler. Before Keeler it was Paulina, and before that I can't remember. But what I remember most is moving a lot...The house on Mango Street...small and red with tight steps in front and windows so small you'd think they were holding their breath." Esperanzo has a brother and sisters. She also lives with her mom and dad.Really, there is nothing I didn't like about The House on Mango Street. I would like to visit the little red house. The neighbors? I've met quite a few of them on a block or two in Philadelphia while growing up. I would like to end my book review with one more neighbor's description. Her name is Ruthie. "Ruthie, tall skinny lady with red lipstick and blue babushka, one blue sock and one green because she forgot, is the only grown-up we know who likes to play. She takes her dog Bobo for a walk and laughs all by herself, that Ruthie. She doesn't need anybody to laugh with, she just laughs." sandracisneros