The house on the mango street
芒果街上的小屋
When I was in a Creative Writing class,
we wrote many vignettes
and if you are a student in Creative Writing
you have to get this book
and share it with your class and teacher.
It will help you understand
the importance of writing free verses,
for this is the best example of vignettes I have ever seen.
The voice of the author does not sound professional
or too fancy,
but like the ordinary words people say today.
it is a story of our time and a tale for all.
My only complaint is that it was too short!
I wanted to know more
about what Esperanza does and her wishes.
I also wanted to know what happened to her after the story.
講解
Even so, it is pretty plain to see that Esperanza
learned how to escape from her cruel world,
unlike the people who never knew where she went.
I haven't seen such an exquisite story of our modern times
since I read the "Joy Luck Club" about two years ago.
If you want to read a beautiful story about growing up,
living life, and with musical poetry,
you must read this book.
講解
Great Books by Women （ Jesse Larsen）
Esperanza and her family
didn't always live on Mango Street.
Right off she says
she can't remember all the houses they've lived in
but "the house on Mango Street is ours
and we don't have to pay rent to anybody,
or share the yard with the people downstairs,
or be careful not to make too much noise,
and there isn't a landlord
banging on the ceiling with a broom.
But even so, it's not the house we thought we'd get."
講解
Esperanza's childhood life
in a Spanish-speaking area of Chicago
is described in a series of spare, poignant,
and powerful vignettes.
Each story centers on a detail of her childhood:
a greasy cold rice sandwich,
a pregnant friend, a mean boy,
how the clouds looked one time,
something she heard a drunk say,
her fear of nuns:
"I always cry when nuns yell at me,
even if they're not yelling."
Esperanza's friends, family,
and neighbors wander in and out of her stories;
through them all Esperanza sees,
learns, loves, and dreams of the house
she will someday have, her own house,
not on Mango Street.
講解
A poetic story of growing up Latino（Michael J. Mazza）
"The House on Mango Street," by Sandra Cisneros,
is told in the first person by Esperanza,
a daughter in an urban Latino family.
The "About the Author" section
at the end of the book notes that Cisneros
was born in Chicago,
the daughter of a Mexican father
and a Mexican-American mother.
Cisneros tells Esperanza's story
in a series of 44 short vignettes.
講解
Cisneros' writing is really beautiful
full of wonderfully vivid imagery.
Many of the short chapters
are less than a full page in length
and read like prose poems.
Along the way we learn of Esperanza's family,
neighbors, school, rites of passage,
and dreams of the future.
Cisneros writes with a moving appreciation of beauty,
hope, and tragedy;
"Mango Street" is a richly realized world.
出版社：譯林出版社
出版日期：2006-6-1