Caramelo by Sandra Cisneros

Caramelo is the story of three generations of a family told in truths, half-truths, and outright lies and seen through the eyes and ears of young Celaya or "Lala."  The book is Cisnero's first novel since The House on Mango Street, a book I found to be much more fun to read than this one.  The book has a lot of Spanish in it and I grew tired of looking up the words.  I do recommend the book, but not as highly as I recommended Mango Street.  If you are interested, I also read and reviewed Cisneros' Woman Hollering Creek in an earlier post.

Woman Hollering Creek

I just finished reading Sandra Cisneros' collection of short stories Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories.  I really am not a fan of short story collections, but wanted to give this book a try.  I liked some, and found others dull.  I suppose that is a normal reaction to a collection of this sort.  I really liked "Woman Hollering Creek," "Bien Pretty," and "Little Miracles, Kept Promises."  It was difficult when it switched to Spanish; I only know a little Spanish.  I had to put some stuff into Google translate in order to read it, but not that much.  I liked The House on Mango Street much better.  I still have Caramelo to read. 

Sandra Cisneros

WOW!  I just read The House on Mango Street.  It is considered a teen book, but I would certainly not limit it to teens.  Sandra Cisneros tells a story in a series of vignettes of growing up Latina in Chicago.  I want to go and read everything she has written.  I will look into what the library owns and see what will be next.  I put a hold on Caramelo and on Woman Hollering Creek.  The other things she has are poetry and I do not know if I am ready for poetry at this time.