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A review by nataliadelpilar
A House of My Own: Stories from My Life by Sandra Cisneros
5.0
"We find ourselves at home, or homing, in books that allow us to become more ourselves. Home 'is not just the place where you were born,' as the travel writer Pico Iyer once noted. 'It's the place where you become yourself.'" - Sandra Cisneros, "A House of My Own"
I can say with total assurance that this book has changed my life.
Throughout the month I spent reading A House of My Own, the novel became a home for me to stay in for a while. It was a safe and familiar space where I, along with the author, could reflect on my own memories, thoughts, and emotions as a Latina artist existing in that liminal space between two completely different cultures, two worlds of language. I would read this book on the train and zero in on a single, magically woven sentence that hit me so hard in the chest, I'd start weeping in public. (In one of these chapters, Sandra Cisneros describes a very similar experience she had while reading The Lover by Margeurite Duras on a public bus!)
I truly think that the best writing is the kind that pinpoints and names deeply felt emotions that you haven't been able to figure out a name for, or that you've been too afraid to name... the kind of writing that makes you gasp, stand up and say, "Yes! Me too!" A House of My Own did that for me, countless times.
Sandra Cisneros' writing is magic in its purest form. It cuts deep in places within you that you had no idea existed -- that is, until she describes them. Her voice is like that of a wise, profoundly honest, fiercely independent Tia telling me the incredible story of her life over un cafecito on a Sunday.
I am transformed because of this book. I feel seen, inspired, and changed as a creative, a daughter, a sister, a friend, and a member of the Latinx community.
Now, onward to read The House on Mango Street!
I can say with total assurance that this book has changed my life.
Throughout the month I spent reading A House of My Own, the novel became a home for me to stay in for a while. It was a safe and familiar space where I, along with the author, could reflect on my own memories, thoughts, and emotions as a Latina artist existing in that liminal space between two completely different cultures, two worlds of language. I would read this book on the train and zero in on a single, magically woven sentence that hit me so hard in the chest, I'd start weeping in public. (In one of these chapters, Sandra Cisneros describes a very similar experience she had while reading The Lover by Margeurite Duras on a public bus!)
I truly think that the best writing is the kind that pinpoints and names deeply felt emotions that you haven't been able to figure out a name for, or that you've been too afraid to name... the kind of writing that makes you gasp, stand up and say, "Yes! Me too!" A House of My Own did that for me, countless times.
Sandra Cisneros' writing is magic in its purest form. It cuts deep in places within you that you had no idea existed -- that is, until she describes them. Her voice is like that of a wise, profoundly honest, fiercely independent Tia telling me the incredible story of her life over un cafecito on a Sunday.
I am transformed because of this book. I feel seen, inspired, and changed as a creative, a daughter, a sister, a friend, and a member of the Latinx community.
Now, onward to read The House on Mango Street!