Reviews tagging 'Sexism'

The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros

27 reviews

gildedspines's review against another edition

emotional reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racism, Misogyny, Violence, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Sexual assault, Sexism, Physical abuse, and Abandonment

_annika__'s review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, Chronic illness, Classism, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Sexism, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Physical abuse, Racism, and Sexual harassment

sweetsxrrxw's review against another edition

emotional reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

woah. this book was so good that i actually feel a bit frustrated because i don't know anyone who could read it and enjoy it as much as i did. 

first things first, if you are not a children of immigrants then you're probably not going to appreciate or even understand this story for what it is. and secondly, i think it was published in the 80s so its characters are definitely a product of its time and the society portrayed in the book might be unpleasant for you so, if you're way too sensitive to deal with that (which is okay, btw) then this book is not for you.

however if you come from a family of (specially poc) immigrants, then i'm sure there are lots of parts of this book that will ressonate with you. even if the book does not describe all of your experiences, i am pretty sure there will be at least one you, your siblings and parents can relate to. 

this book is divided by multiple short vignettes of a esperanza's live (the mc). she is a child, she is only about 12 years old and she is a mexican living in the united states and she dreams of owning a pretty big house of her own. however, because of her social status, she has to live in a segregated neighborhood with other latinos. 
the different vignettes give us a closer look to how is life in that neighborhood and in esperanza's house: the struggles of being a woman in these communities, of feeling like you don't belong in that place, of not having enough money and feeling like your dreams might not come true.  we also get to see different characters on the neighborhood and while their personalities and depth might not be complex because of the shortness of the stories, but they still hit home. some examples of these kind of stories are "geraldo no last name", "no speak english", "papa who wakes up tired in the dark", "a smart cookie" and many many others.

i love how the message of the story is that, even when you have this kind of life, you can always improve it and become better. but you will eventually have to come back, for those who can't. you don't have to be attached to your roots forever, but you can't allow yourself to forget them.  
i also love how the author decided to explain all of these stories and all of these lessons via a child's voice because it allows young and old readers to get into the story and it also makes it a little less raw, somehow.

it's true that some parts of this book might make it a bit confusing, like the lack of quotations or how sometimes it's not very clear who the narrator is. but in the worst case scenario, you can always look for an explanation or a summary of that specific chapter, lmao. 
 
but yeah, i am just really glad i decided to read this book since not only it helped me to get over my reading slump but it was also really relatable for me, a daughter of immigrants. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Child abuse

Minor: Xenophobia, Death, Sexism, and Suicidal thoughts

noodlebrie's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Misogyny, Sexism, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Racism, and Emotional abuse

stevia333k's review

dark sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

I'm not rating this because I feel like the era this book is from ended within the past 10 year. I feel like I'm late to the scene. I didn't read this as part of a class when that's been the common way of interacting with this book.

This book is very much of the baby boomer generation (I had to use an inflation calculator), the setting is a single year circa 1977-1984. I'm not sure how much is historically accurate. There's obsolete parts.

This had been on my to read list since I was a little kid. I finally got an audiobook copy from my library today & it was only 2h19m long. Circa 2014 i was reading chapters of this book out of order because i approached it as an anthology similar to "chicken noodle souo for the [fill in the blank] soul". Also my reading speed back then sucked. 

Um, let's just say there's a massive rape culture, massive domestic violence, and there's at least 1 murder. Also suicidality. There's a part in the book where the girls are parroting transphobic biological essentialism, but to be fair that part of the story kind of calls out the academics who do that as people with power making just-so stories in order to maintain how they outrank others (hence calling this sort of queerphobia as naive).

I feel like this book was presented way back in my day how "braiding sweetgrass" is these days. I'm not sure how to feel about that. The book "settlers" by j sakai was contemporary to this book. IDK why this book became the popular book for including Latinx/hispanic people in academia.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Xenophobia, Animal death, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Grief, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Lesbophobia, Medical content, Suicidal thoughts, Abandonment, Alcohol, Body shaming, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Murder, Car accident, Classism, and Excrement

zotty's review against another edition

challenging lighthearted reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment and Sexism

Minor: Suicidal thoughts

_bobatea_'s review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Terminal illness, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Classism, Toxic friendship, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Bullying, Child death, Abandonment, Physical abuse, and Xenophobia

tomato_bisque's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I think this book does a great job capturing child-like understanding of life without treating them like they are stupid. Esperanza has an intuition that remains with her that I don't feel like I see a lot in childrens/young adult books. The situations are vivid and I see parallels with my own childhood, especially one I experienced as a girl. Its short, tragic, funny, and sad. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Rape, Domestic abuse, Sexism, and Sexual assault

There is cases of rape and sexual assault of the book but they are not written in a way thay is graphic/trauma porn.

its_van_vulpen's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Domestic abuse, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, Classism, Pedophilia, and Sexual violence

spookybitch's review against another edition

emotional funny inspiring reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying

Moderate: Misogyny, Sexism, Rape, Classism, Domestic abuse, Death, Child abuse, and Pedophilia

Minor: Child death