La casa en Mango Street

Esperanza Cordero is a young Latina growing up in a poor Chicago neighborhood, in a rented house on Mango Street that is not the home she dreamed of. Sandra Cisneros tells it in a series of brief vignettes, each one a snapshot of neighbors, family and friends: Marin, Alicia, Sally, her aunts and the older women in the community. Esperanza watches how women are trapped by marriages and men, and decides that she will write and one day leave, while also coming back for those who cannot. The prose is spare, lyrical and rooted in the speech of her neighborhood.

It's a popular classroom text, and good for teens and adults interested in coming-of-age stories, Latino life in the US and the way writing can give someone a way out. You can read it in a day, but each vignette is worth rereading.

Inward-looking, contemplative and thought-provoking; a moderate read.

Best for readers like The Mindful Reader. Which reader are you?