Recently, I finished The House on Mango Street. I read this for an extra credit assignment for Global. Overall however, I did not really enjoy it. It was somewhat annoying to read because it is not really a story straight through. Instead however, it is written as a first person account of the experiences of a Latino girl living in a Latino dominated neighborhood in Chicago. Throughout the book, the girl tells the reader about her neighbors--she writes their stories (how they ended up living there) and her experiences with each and every one of them. She also expresses a constant desire to move from Mango Street. Her house on Mango Street is rented, and she longs for her family to own a nice, big white house. At one point she describes her ideal house: "Our house would be white with trees around it, a great big yard and grass growing without a fence" (4). She is ashamed of her living conditions and often times lies when people point to her house and ask her if it is hers. The book ends with her writing about how someday she would like to leave Mango Street forever.
The interesting thing about this book is how realistic it is. The story written is one that a lot of people experience. In addition, the stories of her neighbors and why they came to the United States and their situations with their families are also very very similar to real life situations.
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