The House on Mango Street - Sandra Cisneros

Lit Circle Book

I remember sitting in the reading corner of my English class in either 7th or 8th grade (it was the same room so I don't remember which grade) and picking this book off the shelf to read. I don't remember if I finished reading it at the time. I don't remember having read it but I remember seeing the cover and picking it up to read.

Reading this book as an adult, if I had read it in junior high I don't think I would have understood very much of it. There is a lot written into this short book - poverty, racism, domestic violence, rape, cultural indifference but most of it isn't spelled out and explained, it is written in away that assumes that these are common experiences and the reader just takes them as a matter of course. I find it a really interesting book to read.

In the last 7 or so years I have become directly aware of the "American Dream" and all the different things that implies. This book captures one essence of the American dream - the continued belief that we will rise above our current station.