It took several months to finish this, partly because I couldn't identify with the section where the narrator seems to be a young woman searching for her life in a lover. Wonderful imagery; in some stories the images are all there is.
'Salvador Early or Late' touched my heart with this portrayal of a young boy who is responsible for his younger siblings, growing up too fast, "grows small and smaller to the eye, dissolves into the bright horizons, flutters in the air before disappearing like a memory of kites." (p.11). I could feel the freedom in the woman who always shouted as she crossed Hollering Woman Creek, and the dawning of new possibilities in Felice, listening to her. But it is a long journey for the many women portrayed to get to the story where Lupe, living "with those two regrets like twin grains of sand embedded in my oyster heart, until one night listening to Carlos Gardel sing, 'Life is an absurd wound,' I realized I had it wrong" (p160) and took as her model "Those Women. The ones I've known everywhere except on TV, in books and magazines...Passionate and powerful, tender and volatile, brave. And, above all, fierce."(p.161) ( )

A collection of stories about the lives of Mexican immigrants and Mexican-Americans from the female perspective in the small border towns of Texas. I finished this book almost a year ago, and while I found some of the narratives interesting, I can't say that I remember much about any of the stories. The stories are well worth reading, just I wasn't in the appropriate frame of mind to appreciate them. ( )

I enjoyed some of these stories a lot, though it was a mixed bag and I like others less. I did appreciate the tone and voice of the stories reflecting Cisneros’ culture; the stories felt like ones I’ve heard my Mexican co-workers tell.

The title story was probably my favorite, though “Remember the Alamo” was the one that had the most impact on me. Very poignant. ( )

A kaleidoscopic view of Chicana life. Cisneros glides seamlessly from the POV of young girls to witches scorned in her short stories, with a cutting eye for slice-of-life anecdotes and subtle representations of the Mexican American community. There is chameleonic range in her writing style, each story crafted individually to showcase the voice of the featured character. My only wish were for some of the stories to go on longer so the window into that world wouldn’t be as fleeting. ( )

I enjoyed her novel The House on Mango Street and really liked one of her poetry collections, so I was not surprised to see that she can write some fine short fiction, as well. Most of these stories are about the Mexican or Mexican American experience, told mostly from a female perspective. Most are pretty short but there are also a couple of longer ones. This is from 1991. I want to find out if she wrote a later collection. ( )