A mango flavored house...

The house on mango street means a lot to me. I have read this book a few times before and every time it keeps speaking to me. I wonder each time how much of this was stylized and how much of it was true. It gives an amazing insight into what growing up in a poor area was like with a lot of other kids living through the same thing as well. I was a bit confused as of why it was placed on the reading list for the class, unless it was simply to give an insight into a poor persons coming of age possibly. This novel is more focused toward the poetry lovers and literary lovers in my opinion. It focuses on life in general and not specifically the coming of age for this one young girl. In this novel we see many different characters grow up and develop and some not in the best ways. I think we may get a clearer picture of how sally grew up rather than the main character. Sally goes through her childhood, development into the woman who was attracting all the boys, the girl who was abused, and then the married woman who is still abused. She was forced to grow up fast and dealt with things no child should have to do, but we hardly get to see the development in Esperanza. Maybe that’s what makes this such a good book then. The fact that we can still watch her grow up through her memories of her past that mostly focuses on other people. But still that makes for a harder discussion in this class I think. This book is wonderful when read in a poetry class however.