The House on Mango Street By Sandra Cisneros

I was suggested this book a while back by a writing professor of mine. I don't remember her exact reasoning on why she thought I would like it, but the title stuck out in my mind The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros seemed interesting and inviting.

When I finally came across a copy at the library I felt it was a destined read. It had been floating in my head for a few years and here it was staring me straight in the face. However, what I found was extremely dissatisfying.

The House on Mango Street is a coming of age story within the confines of the Hispanic section of Chicago. The house is nothing of her dreams and she's truly embarrassed by the rundown building her family calls home.

At the beginning of the book, it was very easy to read and understand, however as the book progressed I found myself avoiding it. While the book is short at only 110 pages I did not finish the last 10 or so pages because my mind was bored. Esperanza, the main character, became nails on a chalkboard with her life comparisons and no explanations. Her story has no conclusion for the reader and each chapter in itself is truly just a small story of a piece of time. There are no crossroads from one chapter into the next, vignettes, with random placement for Esperanza's story.

While Cisneros does a great job of describing the surrounds and characters with vivid expressions, I felt lost through most of the book. Each description was a vast comparison to what was truly happening. My frustration came to a head when Esperanza was describing her aunt and the day she died. I was lost in her descriptions until the part of mocking began, Esperanza's emotions became real when she expressed how they held their arms and laughed, not knowing that her aunt was dying.

All the fluff that Cisneros placed between the here and now facts felt like filler for a short story. Things that while beautiful by themselves became confusing in the storyline. I know that my review on this book is vastly different compared to those posted on GoodReads & Amazon, but truthfully I would not pick up this book again.

Mrs. Whippy By Cecelia Ahern

Have you ever experienced utter despair where you can't even think of the idea of functioning let alone find the courage to do so?
In Mrs. Whippy by Cecelia Ahern, Emelda finds herself at the depths of broken relationships and swimming in self-pity.

Emelda spent her whole life devoted to her husband, Charlie, and five boys. Suddenly her life is turned upside down with a divorce and the fight to find a balance between her new life, her difficult children, and her scathing ex-husband becomes all too consuming. Cliche to breakups, Emelda finds comfort in her only joy, ice cream, but with that Emelda soon finds something much more,

Emelda finds new pieces of herself in this remarkably well-written short story as she enters into a new life on her own.

This is my first piece by Ahern, best known for PS. I Love You. But after finishing this I quickly ordered a few others for my Kindle that will be read sometime throughout the year.

The Stepford Wives by Ira Levin

I have always been told that The Stepford Wives book was better than the movie. Truth be told I'm not so sure about that opinion now.

I'm a true fan of the movie version featuring Nicole Kidman and as I began to read Ira Levin's story I felt as though the plot was sticking rather well to the movie. But somewhere around the time when there was suddenly no details to the life within Stepford did I become increasingly lost. Yes, the daily grind that Joanna goes through is described along with the sudden fear in which she harbors, but this was not until the end.

The book felt empty compared to the movie. But more compounding was my utter confusion in the end. I understand based on the movie what happens, but there was no evidence of the robotic clones as evidence throughout the book. Do the women change? Yes, but without explanation, leaving the reader lost. The behaviors of these women just changed.

Could be drugs, hypnotism, or as in the movie computer chips. Could the missing pieces to allow for the reader to build their own story? What about the politics within the community? Maybe by watching the movie more times than I can count I found myself lost on this book.

Overall it's a good read, but I found so much to be missing that the ending was more confusing than it was fulfilling. I would have to say that the movie was better than the book this time around.

Snow by Maxence Fermine

Falling in love is one of the easiest and hardest things to do with life. Whether it's the love of an animal, child or your soul mate, there are boundaries that have to be crossed to allow hearts to collide.

Maxence Fermine writes a poetically beautiful novel about finding love in Snow: A Novel. This is a very quick read, with only 112 pages, but it is one that will take you on a journey of a young man coming into manhood in 1884, Japan.

Yuko Akita lives in Japan where his father informs him that it is time to find an occupation. Yuko, only 17 at the time, explains to his father his love for a poetry and has determined to turn this into a career. Yuko's father resist his son's wishes in the beginning, but as his son shows him his love of snow and the color white through his poems his father soon wants to help his son flourish to fame within the imperial court.

Yuko learns that while he can portray snow and white in elegant vibrancy, he has no color to his poetry. Afraid of failure in his love of poetry Yuko seeks out on an adventure through the snowy mountains of Japan in search for Soseki, who will teach him the missing pieces of art to complete Yuko's snow white poems.

What Yuko learns is the lesson in love is not one color and builds deeply even at the end of time on earth.

This was an extremely easy read, flowing through the pages very quickly I found myself falling in love with Yuko and his journey. A page turner for sure and I'm now on the hunt for more of Fermine's work.