United States · Literary fiction
The House on Mango Street
Esperanza Cordero grows up in a Chicago neighbourhood, watching the people around her while trying to imagine the life she wants for herself. Short vignettes follow houses, friendships, names and the expectations placed on girls as childhood begins to give way to adulthood.
Cisneros makes the neighbourhood through its voices rather than through a tour of landmarks. Poetic and direct, the book asks what it means to come from somewhere, to want to leave it, and to find a language that can hold both feelings.
Coming of age; Mexican American life; Identity; Women