Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

The negative reviews of Cisneros' book come mostly from teenagers unable to express just why they remain unimpressed and bored by it. Their reaction is typical of young readers: they know what they like, they know what they don't like, and there is very little ground in the middle. This makes them perfect readers, but poor reviewers. Allow me to help. The reason you don't like this book is because it is not very good. The reason it is not very good is because Cisneros does not know what a good book is. She knows only what good writing is; and good writing alone is boring, just as you thought. So why doesn't your English teacher know this? Because English majors, for the most part, give up their appreciation for story and wonder and character no later than their sophomore year of undergraduate. In the place of story, they've been taught to study theme; in the place of wonder, they've been taught to worship relevance; and in the place of characters, they've been taught to honor writers. And that is why you had to read this horrible little book. Cisneros writes to impress other writers whom she admires, or the "Olympians," as she calls them in interviews. She is not interested in the opinion of the general reader because, as she states, readers "don't know bad writing from good." Yes, that was an insult. Of course, she might be right. You and I may not know bad writing from good. But then again, who cares? We do know good books from bad, and in which category to put Mango Street. Like so many of the professionals she admires, Cisneros writes not to entertain, uplift, challenge, or enlighten. It isn't the story or characters she intends us to remember, but she herself, the writer, the little girl who finally got back at everyone she grew up with by tattling on them in print. Even better, she's been adopted by the family of self-admiring elites she so envied, the ones who would never have adopted her parents or siblings or schoolmates because they wouldn't be special enough. Yes, Cisneros is finally special. And no doubt she takes great satisfaction in writing so well that high school kids don't like it. The literary sin you've discovered is self-indulgence. This is what happens when a writer, disinterested in the world, chooses to explore herself in front of an audience. When we say yuck, she says we're prude. When we say we don't get it, she says we're dumb. PS - To read more bad poetry disguised as experimental prose, look in your English teacher's bottom left drawer, behind the box of Wheat Thins.