Customer Reviews

Woman Hollering Creek: And Other Stories

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1 star:		(1)

 

 

You will like this book...
IF you watch Lifetime television.
IF you consider yourself "socially conscious" and are interested in the "chicana" cause.
IF you read books on "the female experience"
IF you have worn or do wear birkenstock sandals with socks.

You will not like this book...
IF you enjoy fine literature.
IF you have read and enjoyed anything by Nabokov or Joyce.
IF you have already suffered through House on Mango Street.
IF you don't enjoy encountering paragraphs like the following...

"Except it's not me who I want to kill. When the gravity of the planets is just right, it all tilts and upsets the visible balance. And that's when it wants to out from my eyes. That's when I get on the telephone, dangerous as a terrorist. There's nothing to do but let it come." (Cisneros, Woman Hollering Creek p.83)

I apologize if this offends any Cisneros fans, however, I must risk being impolite in order to save people the discomfort of reading this book.

Sandra Cisneros is not a writer--she is a musician, and language is her instrument. Her stories are songs, the charecters relay their feelings in heart-rending arias; each bar is worked to perfection in melody and harmony.
Reading each piece is pure pleasure, and the stories are arranged so that the first few are about children and gradually Cisneros takes us through the Chicana life. The women include the girl who covets her Barbie doll despite its origins, the teen who finds herself pregnant, the abused mother, the artist in love with with the exterminator.
I only regret that there are not more books to sing to me. I saw Cisneros read about a year ago, and she reads with such vivid enthusiasm, I could hear her reading me each story. Her voice sings--I love it.

This is the book which made me a feminist during my undergraduate years, and on which I subsequently wrote my senior English thesis. No author of short stories can turn a phrase the way Cisneros can, and her poetic evocations of different stages of life from young girl to mature young woman shed a multi-faceted light on Hispanic women's experiences in which every paragraph becomes thought-provoking.

In addition, read as a whole thematically, this anthology can be seen as similar to the sort of artistic coming-of-age novels such as Hermann Hesse's Peter Camenzind. The key turning point in this development may be the story "Little Miracles, Kept Promises," which is a series of letters left at the shrine of La Virgin de Guadelupe. This reveals the many layers of the shrine, which is the site of an old Aztec goddess with whom Cisneros identified, and who allows for a new revelation of feminine power in the Mexican heritage which comes out for the rest of the work.

However you choose to read it, this is a collection which will both delight and challenge all who come prepared.

....from the famous Loose Woman of Literature. I particularly enjoyed her use of the Llorona theme in the title story; Chicana writers have done wonders with the Weeping Woman and Cisneros uses the legend to illuminate the tribulations of flesh-and-blood Latinas who fall within its shadow.

Woman Hollering Creek is a powerful collection of short stories from Sandra Cisneros. One of the main strengths of her writing is her ability to make her characters (especially her first person narrators) very accessable. She is able to get into the minds of, and portray, many of her characters in a very lifelike way. She seems especially adept at dealing with the children in her stories. For instance, the story "Eleven" (one of the many gems in this collection) is the account of a little girl on her eleventh birthday. It deals with helplessness of a child in the face of an authoritive adult. It also looks at a childs preoccupation with the opinion of his/her peers. Cisneros manages the tale in such a way that it seems inevitable that the reader will identify with the girl. That, in itself, is a sort of mastery of craft.

These stories range from impressionistic, two-page shorts that read like poems, to longer, more detailed accounts of relationships. As with any collection of short stories, there are those that are more successful than others (in other words those that you'll relate to better than others). However, all of the tales have a sort of vivid life to them; and, in all, I think that this is a very well rounded collection.

Perhaps the only real point of difficulty that readers may face in this collection is Cisneros' use of spanish phrases throughout the book. However, don't let such things discourage you. Many of these phrases can be understood within the context in which they are written (so they aren't too much of a stumbling block). Also, these stories are too good to let a few words discourage you from reading this book. I would recomend this book to anybody who is interested in the struggles of childhood (especially that of minority children), as well as the pains and pleasures of intimate relationships. I would also recomend this book to lovers of good, colorful short stories.

Cisneros brilliantly explores the longings of girls and women in this deeply compassionate work. Each story gives the reader an opportunity to explore her experience of womanhood as well as insight into the experiences we all share. Her poetic and richly flavorful style reads like a song. -Kaya McLaren, author of Church of the Dog

A beautiful window into the lives of Hispanic/American women; their suffering, joy, capacity to love and survive. These stories speak to all women, not just the Hispanice community. Cisnero's use of language is as delicious as the juice of a ripe peach. Slurp it in.

I have had the honor in meeting this amazing woman. Her books take you into worlds where girls must be tough as nails, as well as creative. If she can take you into a place of emotions with only words, can you imagine what else this lady can do? She is also very genrous in my hometown of SA. I am doing a report on her to introduce some of my classmates to her great work. We need more women like Sandra to let young chicanas know it's okay to express themselves and write so freely as she does. I recommend it to anyone who has ever felt creative and who has a heart for adventure.

This collection of short stories consist of a few intersting stories, however the majority of the stories were cluttered with over excessive drama, over worked imagery, aand repettion. A lot of her characters were reepresented in all of the stories, it was like yyou heard the voice of her characters in all her pieces. Not only were her characters over used but also her themes. A lot of her themes were focused on relationships between men and women and sex. Overall this book was a horrible extension of House On Mango Street.

Cisneros does not pull any punches and thankfully does not dwell in cliche. She presents the battles a young Latina fights with the idea of American beauty, Machismo, and life in general. Her book is for those who think. This is will not suit the "no-brainer" reader.