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A review by ivanainthecity
Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories by Sandra Cisneros
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
medium-paced
5.0
~De poeta y loco todos tenemos un poco~ ❤️🔥
Some snapshots of my fave book so far this year, Sandra Cisneros’s WOMAN HOLLERING CREEK, a collection of short stories that provide snapshots into Chicana/Mexican women’s lives, focusing on the joys, hardships, and sacrifices that come with being a woman/femme, from their juventudes to adulthoods.
Some scattered thoughts:
❤️🔥 This book made me reflect on how so many traditional Latina names—Dolores, Soledad, Esperanza, Consuelo— have to do with struggle and yearning and giving... like that’s all that’s expected of us as women.
❤️🔥 I saw so much of myself, my friends, and my family in these stories. Cisneros has an uncanny ability to capture moments and people that are oddly specific but also universal. I saw my dad in Rogelio Velasco (real name: Flavio Munguía), a poeta mujeriego and exterminator for La Cucaracha Apacharrada Pest Control company. 🪳
❤️🔥 I read a lot of this book in class during independent reading time, and one of my students caught me underlining and jotting down notes so much that he was like, ~Are you seriously annotating the whole book?~ (We’re working on annotating in class) and I reminded him that annotating is a skill that you can use for life 🤓... and also, yes I annotated so I can revisit/reread this one next year
❤️🔥 A lot of people on this side of the internet talk about running laps after finishing books, stories, chapters, and while I’ve done that in the past, it’s mostly been because of a plot twist and not necessarily because of gorgeous writing... but THIS BOOK. It’s 165 pages and I had to put it down to breathe/take it in a lot of times. So much so that it took me over a month to finish it.
❤️🔥 Most importantly, this book continued showing me that writing can be ~simple~ AND beautiful cuz I’m so over gatekeeping and comemierdería in literary fiction circles. I love Cisneros’s no frills imagery and style because it can be read and enjoyed and felt by just about anyone.
Some snapshots of my fave book so far this year, Sandra Cisneros’s WOMAN HOLLERING CREEK, a collection of short stories that provide snapshots into Chicana/Mexican women’s lives, focusing on the joys, hardships, and sacrifices that come with being a woman/femme, from their juventudes to adulthoods.
Some scattered thoughts:
❤️🔥 This book made me reflect on how so many traditional Latina names—Dolores, Soledad, Esperanza, Consuelo— have to do with struggle and yearning and giving... like that’s all that’s expected of us as women.
❤️🔥 I saw so much of myself, my friends, and my family in these stories. Cisneros has an uncanny ability to capture moments and people that are oddly specific but also universal. I saw my dad in Rogelio Velasco (real name: Flavio Munguía), a poeta mujeriego and exterminator for La Cucaracha Apacharrada Pest Control company. 🪳
❤️🔥 I read a lot of this book in class during independent reading time, and one of my students caught me underlining and jotting down notes so much that he was like, ~Are you seriously annotating the whole book?~ (We’re working on annotating in class) and I reminded him that annotating is a skill that you can use for life 🤓... and also, yes I annotated so I can revisit/reread this one next year
❤️🔥 A lot of people on this side of the internet talk about running laps after finishing books, stories, chapters, and while I’ve done that in the past, it’s mostly been because of a plot twist and not necessarily because of gorgeous writing... but THIS BOOK. It’s 165 pages and I had to put it down to breathe/take it in a lot of times. So much so that it took me over a month to finish it.
❤️🔥 Most importantly, this book continued showing me that writing can be ~simple~ AND beautiful cuz I’m so over gatekeeping and comemierdería in literary fiction circles. I love Cisneros’s no frills imagery and style because it can be read and enjoyed and felt by just about anyone.