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Sandra Cisneros: The House on Mango Street (1991, Vintage Books) 4 stars

Acclaimed by critics, beloved by readers of all ages, taught everywhere from inner-city grade schools …

Many Vignettes

3 stars

I'm not overwhelmingly a fan of using vignettes in this fashion; it's not something I prefer to read, even if it's easy to do so quickly. The majority of my criticism really hangs on the style more than the content.

There were parts where I wished there was more, that I felt there were other things to say, pieces to include; I found I liked the longer 'chapters' because they felt more complete and cohesive and that the only times I liked the shorter ones were when they fell between two longer pieces and connected them in a fashion, even if they were also their own stories.

It was hard for me to start this, even if it was a short book; it felt like it went to too many places and then nowhere in particular for a few pages, and I wasn't sure when it would go somewhere. I think, for all the hype that I've heard and all the teachers who have openly praised it to me, I expected a lot more from it.