All in all, this felt like something thrown together to satisfy a contractual obligation to a publisher, not at all a Cisneros masterpiece. Cisneros’] prose reads like poetry, rhythmic and energetic; her poetry is as natural and effortless as plainspoken prose. Because what is a daydreamer if not another word for thinker, visionary, intuitive--all wonderful words synonymous with 'girl.

It’s actually tragic, because Cisneros is an important figure in American literary history, especially for Chicanas.Her new collection stitches together three decades of her unique life into a kind of rolling memoir. My criticisms are few: because the chapters were made up of already written pieces that were edited, there is some repetition.

Despite that, I still found at least one line in each essay that was beautifully written and rang so true I had to stop and savor it.From the author of The House on Mango Street, a richly illustrated compilation of true stories and nonfiction pieces that, taken together, form a jigsaw autobiography--an intimate album of a beloved literary legend.

The pages were glossy and felt really nice to flip and turn through on the hardcover copy, and the images looked crisp on the page. The great reveal of this book is found in they ways that Cisneros shares with us her most tender and quiet moments, her struggles and amazing humor, and the many people and places that move her. She goes into detail in the Greece essay about how she wrote and turned in the manuscript of The House on Mango Street on that little Greek island, and then she also describes when and where she wrote specific short stories or vignettes. Her classic, coming-of-age novel, The House on Mango Street, has sold over six million copies, has been translated into over twenty languages, and is required reading in elementary, high school, and universities across the nation.

Subtitled Stories From My Life, A House of My Own comprises 40+ writings spanning 30 years of stories of Sandra Cisneros’s life, some of which were first commissioned as lectures, essays, introductions to her own or other artists works, or appreciations and stories she wrote just-because. And I think, especially in this time, climate of fear, who better to travel between these two worlds than those of us who are mixed race, or mestizos.

And we just came to some nice peace, and there was nothing we had to say to one another in the last days of his life. These essays provide a multiplicity of perspectives on Cisneros, a place where each of these writings can talk with the others, where a conversation can take place while the reader eavesdrops. From the author of The House on Mango Street, a richly illustrated compilation of true stories and nonfiction pieces that, taken together, form a jigsaw autobiography—an intimate album of a beloved literary legend. Cisneros is the author of two novels The House on Mango Street and Caramelo; a collection of short stories, Woman Hollering Creek; two books of poetry, My Wicked Ways and Loose Woman; and a children's book, Hairs/Pelitos. More Hamburger icon An icon used to represent a menu that can be toggled by interacting with this icon.I remember every time I unlocked the door or locked it, I had this feeling of, wow, I'm paying for this with my pen. In this collection of essays and talks, however, Cisneros asserts that the memories she presents “are a way of claiming my real life and differentiating it from my fiction, since there seems to be so much out there assumed or invented about me. Cisneros] opens wide the doors to the house of her life, and we are all privileged to cross the threshold. Frank, accessible examinations of multiple subjects braided together in Cisneros’s personable, self-examining style.