Sunday, April 22, 2012

The House on Mango Street

I've seen this book around for years, but only read it today for Adolescent Literature tomorrow. It's not at all what I was expecting.

The narrative is not sequential at all, or if it is there's no indication. There aren't so much chapters as vignettes tied together by virtue of being narrated by the same character with a very slice of life tone. In short, it's exactly the kind of thing I would write were I so inclined to publish a book.

The kind of thing that is - I really enjoyed the format and the semi-lyrical style of the novels. However, the best slice of life stories infuse the everyday with magic, something this book didn't really do for me. It has its moments of course, and to be fair the everyday magic moments weren't really the point of it all; just a personal preference. I don't want to sell it short because it is quite good, but I'm measuring it up against a totally different set of standards.

I might post more after class discussion tomorrow.

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