The House on Mango Street

By: Sandra Cisneros

Narrated by: Sandra Cisneros

Length: 2 hrs and 18 mins

Publisher's summary

Told in a series of vignettes stunning for their eloquence, The House on Mango Street is Sandra Cisneros's greatly admired novel of a young girl growing up in the Latino section of Chicago. Acclaimed by critics, beloved by children, their parents and grandparents, taught everywhere from inner-city grade schools to universities across the country, and translated all over the world, it has entered the canon of coming-of-age classics.

Sometimes heartbreaking, sometimes deeply joyous, The House on Mango Street tells the story of Esperanza Cordero, whose neighborhood is one of harsh realities and harsh beauty. Esperanza doesn't want to belong, not to her rundown neighborhood, and not to the low expectations the world has for her. Esperanza's story is that of a young girl coming into her power, and inventing for herself what she will become.

This audiobook is also available in Spanish.

©1984 Sandra Cisneros (P)2005 Random House, Inc. Random House Audio, a division of Random House, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Cisneros draws on her rich [Latino] heritage...and seduces with precise, spare prose, creat[ing] unforgettable characters we want to lift off the page. She is not only a gifted writer, but an absolutely essential one." (The New York Times Book Review)

Read by Author

Sandra reads this like no one else can. Great storytelling through and through. Definitely recommend, even if you’ve read the book before.

the book. was a little slow. I tried to listen

help the worst of her books I tried to listen 2,times. it just didn't come together.

A familiar story

Beautifully written, so much to identify with...it brought my own childhood memories and feelings back.

It’s good

Good very good book nice quality of book cool ya well good book the house on mango street

Terrific!

Sandra Cisneros is the perfect narrator for her own work. It's very touching, very effective.

gave me a voice

I love this book. I will gift it to all the latina girls i know. im 25 now and i wish i had this book growing up. thank you for writing this.

Child-like voice was annoying at times

And some parts, specifically when children are going back and forth about nothing, are boring or agitating to listen to.

Otherwise good story!

Outstanding cultural representation

A real depiction of just how many live and feel. The voice of a youth reflecting so many people's experiences.

Modern classic; worked well as an audio

Both of my sons have read this for their 8th grade English class, and enjoyed listening to the audio. I had read this book when it first came out but listened to it for the first time now with my younger son. He and I both felt that we got more out of the audio, especially with words and accents that might have been unfamiliar, since this is not our cultural background.

The book is structured as a series of vignettes. As a result, it works well in the audio format and you don't have to listen for a long time at a sitting.

I do still have my perennial concern that I wish the audible chapters corresponded to the book chapters.

My only real complaint is that I don't think the author should have done her own narration. While she has a lovely reading voice, her attempt at a child voice sounded forced and grating. Perhaps she could have read the book but just used her normal voice. I would listen to her read a different book.

Boring

I thought this book was very boring. There was no plot and it was just boring stories.