Let\u2019s cut to the chase. Everyone knows about this book, and if don\u2019t know about this book then that\u2019s proof enough to tell me that you weren\u2019t paying attention in middle school English class. It\u2019s okay. I wasn\u2019t either. But that\u2019s just to say that The House on Mango Street is more than just a part of your draining middle school English course. And if you spare me a few minutes of reading I\u2019m sure you\u2019ll understand why this book is so good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Firstly, I want to admit that I didn\u2019t like this book when I read it in my English class. My old English teacher gave us a quiz for every chapter, and that alone was enough to take me out of the novel. Even the amazing writing flew over my head because I was so focused on memorizing names and places for our next quiz. Then I got to writing school, started writing poems and novels of my own and realized that I didn\u2019t give that book a proper chance. So, a year ago, I dedicated myself to re-reading it. And I liked it so much that I re-read it again. And again. Now, I recognize it as my favorite book. This isn\u2019t a blog to persuade you to love it, but just to persuade you to read it again, because I promise you, it deserves a second chance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And if you haven\u2019t heard of this book until now, hopefully this blog can convince you to check it out. Now let\u2019s get into what I absolutely love about this book.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
1.Every character is so unique.<\/strong> How am I so sure? I\u2019ve read a lot of books, and no character has left such an impression on me the way Esperanza, Nenny, Rachel, Lucy, Cathy, Meme, Louis and more have. These characters bring so much life to the story that the reader is in for an instant refresher. We have Esperanza who wishes her family was not poor, yet she becomes friends with Lucy and Rachel who are slightly less stable than she is. And despite her distaste for living on Mango Street she longs for friendship and community. And then we have Cathy who loves cats and claims that she will eventually go to France to claim her royal bloodline, but truthfully, she is just teenage girl who wishes she were anywhere else but Mango Street. There are so many tactics that Cisneros use to make her characters human. Their hair type, their speech, their insecurities, their lies, their movements, their environment and more. Every person in this book is tailored in ways that leave you speechless. It\u2019s amazing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2. The writing style is God sent.<\/strong> For those of you who were taught this book in English class, did you ever notice how the writing was unique in comparison to other children\u2019s fiction novels? I\u2019m not sure how to word it but this book is narratively poetic. There are so many moments in this novel that sound like poetry to me, and I feel like that\u2019s what attracts a lot of readers. There\u2019s a lot of repetition and simplicity in this book. Plus, the chapters are short and juicy and could very well be some type of longer poetry. What really stands out to me about this book is the writing style. It has a journal entry style, where the protagonist speaks with their own dialect, rather than the added literary elements. By the writing style alone, we can see where Esperanza comes from, that she is only twelve years old, and that she doesn\u2019t have much experience. But she is very in tune with the world around her. This book is so interesting because the journal-entry style makes the story feel personal and real. It\u2019s also a good reference to study if you want to learn about writing from the perspective of children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 3. It will open your eyes. <\/strong>I feel like the main thing that I should\u2019ve mentioned earlier about this book is its roots in the Latino community. The writer is Latino, and this story is some testament to her experience growing up in a low-income and Latino neighborhood. There are mentions of the protagonist\u2019s heritage and where her family came from, the type of food they make, and how they celebrate certain holidays. Honestly, I\u2019ve learned so much more about Latino culture from reading this book. I think that\u2019s one of the most important take-aways from this novel. So, if you\u2019re looking for a good book to sink your claws into that is as interesting as it is informative, The House on Mango Street is a novel that you need to add to your reading list. And if you aren\u2019t too fond of it at first, try reading one chapter every so often. It doesn\u2019t have to be in order. What\u2019s important is that you\u2019re witnessing this amazing story unfold, happy reading!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Let\u2019s cut to the chase. Everyone knows about this book, and if don\u2019t know about this book then that\u2019s proof enough to tell me that you weren\u2019t paying attention in middle school English class. It\u2019s okay. I wasn\u2019t either. But that\u2019s just to say that The House on Mango Street is more than just a … Continue reading “Why you should re-read the House on Mango Street”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,5,3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22082"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/107"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22082"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22082\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22085,"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22082\/revisions\/22085"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22082"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22082"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22082"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}