 Woman Hollering CreekA collection of stories, whose characters give voice to the vibrant and varied life on both sides of the Mexican border. The women in these stories offer tales of pure discovery, filled with moments of infinite and intimate wisdom. A little girl revealing secrets as only a child can; a witch flies at dawn over a small town -- these are just two of the scenarios presented by Cisneros in this collection of short stories. A writer of vivid imagination, with a very acute sense of mysticism and a witty poetic style, Cisneros not only entertains but leaves a lasting impression. A key work from a major Hispanic American writer; recommended for public libraries. (Library Journal) In this collection of Mexican-American stories, Cisneros addresses the reader in a voice that is alternately buoyant, strong, funny, and sad. The brief vignettes of the opening piece, "My Lucy Friend Who Smells Like Corn," are tiles in a mosaic. Taken together, these vignettes give a vivid, colorful picture of life on the Texas/Mexico border. Family ties are strong: aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents are all present. The stories are often about the romantic dreams of young girls longing to escape stifling small-town life who discover that things are not much different on the other side of the border. Cisneros has an acute eye for the telling detail that reveals the secrets and the dreams of her characters. She writes with humor and love about people she knows intimately. (Library Journal) Ranging from prose lyrics of less than a page to much lengthier (but still lyrical) fictions, these stories are eloquent testimonials to the status of Mexican-American women. Cisneros introduces a cast of Chicanas from the environs of San Antonio, Tex., letting us eavesdrop on a series of interior monologues as well crafted as they are expressive. She begins with the self-conscious yet spontaneous effusions of young girls ("You laughing something into my ear that tickles, and me going Ha Ha Ha Ha"), then turns to preadolescents and young women; her speakers evince a shared, uneasy awareness that their self-worth depends on a loyalty to Mexico strained, all the same, by the realities of their lives up North. The restless vamp of "Never Marry a Mexican" feels "ridiculous" as "a Mexican girl who couldn't even speak Spanish," and cultivates a contempt for her white lover ("nude as a pearl. You've lost your train of smoke") and his wife ("alive under the flannel and down, and smelling like milk and hand cream") -- but she is not sure just what she is envying. In this sensitively structured suite of sketches, however, Cisneros's irony defers to her powers of observation, so that feminism and cultural imperialism, while important issues here, do not overwhelm the narrative.
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Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories, by Sandra Cisneros
Woman Hollering Creek, by Sandra Cisneros
Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories, by Sandra Cisneros
El Arroyo de la Llorona y Otros Cuentos, by Sandra Cisneros, translated by Liliana Valenzuela
Woman Hollering Creek, by Sandra Cisneros