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leannanecdote's review
4.0
Reading challenge categories:
-Book by a person of color
-Book where the main character is a different ethnicity than you
-Book written by someone you admire
-Book with pictures
-Book about an interesting woman
-Book by a person of color
-Book where the main character is a different ethnicity than you
-Book written by someone you admire
-Book with pictures
-Book about an interesting woman
eli_h's review
5.0
Alma Mia, what a beautiful book that found me in a desperate time. The right time. A voice--a spirit--comes alive in the text and soothes all the aching parts. Cisneros is an artist whose writing is like working with clay, only you are the brown slush and she spins you into shape, full and luminous.
I love you, Sandra.
I love you, Sandra.
adt's review
4.0
This is a book to listen to (read by the author) with the stunningly affordable (for the art-book paper and many full-color photos) hardback to follow along. I heard the author read "Natural Daughter" at inprint Houston last week.
mad_taylh's review
5.0
"We find ourselves at home, or homing, in books that allow us to become more ourselves."
lilcoppertop's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
3.0
lovelyandmorbid's review
5.0
Sandra Cisneros is an artful writer. Her command of language is inspirational and her story is fascinating. She opened my eyes about aspects of my own life I never thought about, made me fall in love with Mexican and Mexican-American culture, and even inspired me write my own poetry. This was every book I ever want to read: an memoir in the form of an essay collection written by a poet. I loved how she wrote about artists, culture, and the way she saw beautiful things. I too want to own a pink house and fill it with dogs and art and write. I fell in love with her and her life and her words. Thank you Senita Cisneros.
PS shout out to the physical book. My library copy had nice heavy pages and was printed with color images. Absolutely beautiful book. I would love to own a copy of this book *wink wink*.
PS shout out to the physical book. My library copy had nice heavy pages and was printed with color images. Absolutely beautiful book. I would love to own a copy of this book *wink wink*.
intjosh's review
2.0
Read by audiobook.
Disliked author;s voice, might have biased. Disliked author's personality.
Disliked author;s voice, might have biased. Disliked author's personality.
jezry's review
5.0
After years of hearing and seeing the name Cisneros, I finally made the life changing decision to actually read some of her work. Though I read this as an ebook (not my preferred medium) I thank the NYPL for their wonderful digital selection and now own a physical copy because I know I will return to this collection for wonder, grounding, resilience, joy and in times of uncertainty. This book brought me back to myself in ways I never expected.
ordinary's review
4.0
Aahh how I enjoyed this book. It's tender, candid and touched my soul. It was a treat to lose myself to Cisneros' writings and to read about her life experiences.
- Her time on Hydra Island in Greece was perfectly recounted. I felt her happiness and her insecurity and her youth so vividly through her words, I was right there with her and it was gorgeous
- Her portraits of her parents are so tender and loving. Both were imperfect and I can imagine it must have been hard to carve out space for desires and ambition with a traditional father and an overwhelmed mom. But not a word of complaint or judgment. Just pure love
- Her mom sacrificed her entire life for her kids. She was unhappy it sounds like and very angry. Gosh, how I relate. And yet, Cisneros talks about it with empathy and love. I aspire to be like this.
- Loved the piece about Huipil. About the indigenous mom who traveled miles with a bunch of kids back and forth. How hard life is for this population - how they are erased, despised and pushed further into poverty. My heart broke reading about it
- She spends a lot of time talking about her periwinkle house in San Antonio - how important it was to her to have a place of her own. This spoke to me on such a deep level. I related viscerally
- Her piece on Margaret Urrea - pure magic
- I thoroughly enjoyed her experiences with the supernatural. I love her deep spiritual connection with the universe/god whatever you might call it and her profound life experiences
- She candidly talks about the discrimination in Mexican society - how white is good and dark is bad. Reminded me so much of India and our rampant casteism/colorism/racism
I will think about this book for a long time <3
- Her time on Hydra Island in Greece was perfectly recounted. I felt her happiness and her insecurity and her youth so vividly through her words, I was right there with her and it was gorgeous
- Her portraits of her parents are so tender and loving. Both were imperfect and I can imagine it must have been hard to carve out space for desires and ambition with a traditional father and an overwhelmed mom. But not a word of complaint or judgment. Just pure love
- Her mom sacrificed her entire life for her kids. She was unhappy it sounds like and very angry. Gosh, how I relate. And yet, Cisneros talks about it with empathy and love. I aspire to be like this.
- Loved the piece about Huipil. About the indigenous mom who traveled miles with a bunch of kids back and forth. How hard life is for this population - how they are erased, despised and pushed further into poverty. My heart broke reading about it
- She spends a lot of time talking about her periwinkle house in San Antonio - how important it was to her to have a place of her own. This spoke to me on such a deep level. I related viscerally
- Her piece on Margaret Urrea - pure magic
- I thoroughly enjoyed her experiences with the supernatural. I love her deep spiritual connection with the universe/god whatever you might call it and her profound life experiences
- She candidly talks about the discrimination in Mexican society - how white is good and dark is bad. Reminded me so much of India and our rampant casteism/colorism/racism
I will think about this book for a long time <3