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Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories
A collection of stories by Sandra Cisneros, the winner of the 2019 PEN/Nabokov Award for Achievement in International Literature.
The lovingly drawn characters of these stories give voice to the vibrant and varied life on both sides of the Mexican border with tales of pure discovery, filled with moments of infinite and intimate wisdom.
The lovingly drawn characters of these stories give voice to the vibrant and varied life on both sides of the Mexican border with tales of pure discovery, filled with moments of infinite and intimate wisdom.
192 pages, Paperback
First published April 3, 1991
About the author
Sandra Cisneros
91 books3,782 followersSandra Cisneros is internationally acclaimed for her poetry and fiction and has been the recipient of numerous awards, including the Lannan Literary Award and the American Book Award, and of fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the MacArthur Foundation.
Cisneros is the author of two novels The House on Mango Street and Caramelo; a collection of short stories, Woman Hollering Creek; two books of poetry, My Wicked Ways and Loose Woman; and a children's book, Hairs/Pelitos.
She is the founder of the Macondo Foundation, an association of writers united to serve underserved communities (www.macondofoundation.org), and is Writer in Residence at Our Lady of the Lake University, San Antonio. She lives in San Antonio, Texas.
Cisneros is the author of two novels The House on Mango Street and Caramelo; a collection of short stories, Woman Hollering Creek; two books of poetry, My Wicked Ways and Loose Woman; and a children's book, Hairs/Pelitos.
She is the founder of the Macondo Foundation, an association of writers united to serve underserved communities (www.macondofoundation.org), and is Writer in Residence at Our Lady of the Lake University, San Antonio. She lives in San Antonio, Texas.
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August 4, 2017
Last year I read Sandra Cisneros' House on Mango Street and felt an affinity toward her as I discovered that she grew up on the northwest side of Chicago and attended the University of Iowa Writers Workshop. Mostly an autobiographical account, Mango Street detailed the coming of age of a Mexican American girl in Chicago. Since debuting with her novella, Cisneros paved the way for a generation of Latin American women who I refer to fondly as las amigas. After moving to San Antonio, Cisneros rose to prominence as a Chicana writer. Woman Hollering Creek is her second novella collection and speaks of life as a Tejana woman on both sides of the border.
As in Mango Street, Woman Hollering Creek is a series of interlocking vignettes that all talk of one theme, here being Tejana women. Most of the stories are as short as two or three pages yet all contain Cisneros combination of wit and humor. In Barbie-Q we return to Chicago, showing how some Mexican immigrants can barely afford luxuries and have to salvage for toys at flea markets. Mericans demonstrates how one speaks English or Spanish depending on how a situation warrants it and which language is more advantageous to the speaker at time. Later, in Never Marry a Mexican and Little Miracles, Kept Promises, Cisneros urges her comadres to get an education and a decent job and not just settle for the first Mexican man they lay eyes on, no matter how tempting it is.
Two stories show Cisneros growth as a writer. The title story Woman Hollering Creek features a pregnant Mexican woman who came to Texas to have her baby. Her husband beats her and at a maternity appointment, her doctor and nurse urge her to have the courage to leave him, taking it upon themselves to drive her to San Antonio. On their trip into the city, the women cross La Gritona Creek-- Woman Hollering Creek. La Gritona for La Llorona touches on centuries of the double standards of Latina women and men dating from before Cortez. Cisneros couples this with Eyes of Zapata which take the reader back in time to the Mexican revolution and how peasants were falsely promised land that the government eventually took. Weaving in magical realism that I enjoy, Eyes of Zapata was a joy to read.
Cisneros finishes her collection with Bien Pretty. In a story that could be construed as autobiographical, an artist has rented a house in San Antonio while she moves there on a year long fellowship. Here a Mexican American artist named Lupe meets a Mexican man named Flavio in a bar and a sensuous relationship ensues, complete with references to Latino culture from Carlos Gardel to telenovelas. While the story is one of love lost, it also contained Cisneros' humor as she fluidly switched from English to Spanish and back, including Spanglish phrases as well. In a story that shows the pressure to assimilate to mainstream American society while also hanging onto Chicano culture, Bien Pretty was my favorite story of the collection, even though it came at the end.
Sandra Cisneros along with Cherrie Moraga and Gloria Anzaldua are trailblazers as modern Latina writers. Known as las madrinas of the movement, they set the stage for many writers I read today. With an eclectic mix of cultural writing, wit, and humor, Cisneros in Woman Hollering Creek has demonstrated her growth as a writer since House on Mango Street. Her work is always a joy for me to read as I rate this collection 4.5 stars.
As in Mango Street, Woman Hollering Creek is a series of interlocking vignettes that all talk of one theme, here being Tejana women. Most of the stories are as short as two or three pages yet all contain Cisneros combination of wit and humor. In Barbie-Q we return to Chicago, showing how some Mexican immigrants can barely afford luxuries and have to salvage for toys at flea markets. Mericans demonstrates how one speaks English or Spanish depending on how a situation warrants it and which language is more advantageous to the speaker at time. Later, in Never Marry a Mexican and Little Miracles, Kept Promises, Cisneros urges her comadres to get an education and a decent job and not just settle for the first Mexican man they lay eyes on, no matter how tempting it is.
Two stories show Cisneros growth as a writer. The title story Woman Hollering Creek features a pregnant Mexican woman who came to Texas to have her baby. Her husband beats her and at a maternity appointment, her doctor and nurse urge her to have the courage to leave him, taking it upon themselves to drive her to San Antonio. On their trip into the city, the women cross La Gritona Creek-- Woman Hollering Creek. La Gritona for La Llorona touches on centuries of the double standards of Latina women and men dating from before Cortez. Cisneros couples this with Eyes of Zapata which take the reader back in time to the Mexican revolution and how peasants were falsely promised land that the government eventually took. Weaving in magical realism that I enjoy, Eyes of Zapata was a joy to read.
Cisneros finishes her collection with Bien Pretty. In a story that could be construed as autobiographical, an artist has rented a house in San Antonio while she moves there on a year long fellowship. Here a Mexican American artist named Lupe meets a Mexican man named Flavio in a bar and a sensuous relationship ensues, complete with references to Latino culture from Carlos Gardel to telenovelas. While the story is one of love lost, it also contained Cisneros' humor as she fluidly switched from English to Spanish and back, including Spanglish phrases as well. In a story that shows the pressure to assimilate to mainstream American society while also hanging onto Chicano culture, Bien Pretty was my favorite story of the collection, even though it came at the end.
Sandra Cisneros along with Cherrie Moraga and Gloria Anzaldua are trailblazers as modern Latina writers. Known as las madrinas of the movement, they set the stage for many writers I read today. With an eclectic mix of cultural writing, wit, and humor, Cisneros in Woman Hollering Creek has demonstrated her growth as a writer since House on Mango Street. Her work is always a joy for me to read as I rate this collection 4.5 stars.
October 5, 2020
"Because those who suffer have special powers, don't they? The power of understanding someone else's pain. And understanding is the beginning of healing."
Ow.
No one writes like her.
Ow.
No one writes like her.
March 30, 2010
This is my favourite fact about Sandra Cisneros: she bought a house in San Antonio, Texas and painted it purple, which caused uproar in the neighbourhood.
When I grow up, I want to be Sandra Cisneros. I want to be a great writer; paint my house an obnoxious colour; and court other people's hatred.
Anyway.
This collection of short stories is, like many collections of short stories, a bit of a mixed bag. Most of the stories revolve around poor Latina women, touching upon themes of romance, religion and family. Inevitably, some of the stories are memorable; some are forgettable. Some feel insubstantial; some are overly long.
The great stories overshadow the mediocre ones, however. Cisneros has a talent for making the banal feel poignant, and she attacks life's inequalities with a gritty humour.
Three stars only because I can never get too excited about short stories. I do love Cisneros, though.
When I grow up, I want to be Sandra Cisneros. I want to be a great writer; paint my house an obnoxious colour; and court other people's hatred.
Anyway.
This collection of short stories is, like many collections of short stories, a bit of a mixed bag. Most of the stories revolve around poor Latina women, touching upon themes of romance, religion and family. Inevitably, some of the stories are memorable; some are forgettable. Some feel insubstantial; some are overly long.
The great stories overshadow the mediocre ones, however. Cisneros has a talent for making the banal feel poignant, and she attacks life's inequalities with a gritty humour.
Three stars only because I can never get too excited about short stories. I do love Cisneros, though.
August 29, 2024
I found this short story collection to be witty, bittersweet, and devastating all at once. Fusing poetry and prose that makes one laugh, and cry at the same time, I find that Cisneros' collection should be required reading for anyone who loves her iconic masterpiece, The House on Mango Street.
Here the voices of women on the Texas/Mexican border are all too real, full of pain, sorrow and a lot of love and hate to spare.
The best stories include the title story, and the hilariously funny and sad Never Marry a Mexican.
Provocative, sexy and proud, it's no wonder why Junot Diaz dedicated his last collection to Sandra Cisneros, and what an influence her writing has been on him and a generation of other multicultural writers and poets.
Here the voices of women on the Texas/Mexican border are all too real, full of pain, sorrow and a lot of love and hate to spare.
The best stories include the title story, and the hilariously funny and sad Never Marry a Mexican.
Provocative, sexy and proud, it's no wonder why Junot Diaz dedicated his last collection to Sandra Cisneros, and what an influence her writing has been on him and a generation of other multicultural writers and poets.
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December 15, 2021Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories contains 22 short stories about the female experience, from one paged drabbles, like "My Lucy Friend Who Smells Like Corn," to short stories that are so long they could be considered novellas, like "Eyes of Zapata."
This collection is less than 200 pages yet packs more of a punch than 500 paged novels I've read. Sandra Cisneros is extremely readable an accessible. I read that her goal was that anyone could pick up her books and understand them, and I believe she accomplished that desire. That's not to say that there aren't layers to this, because there are, but at the same time her meanings aren't shrouded or concealed. The more you read and re-read the stories, more aspects are revealed.
For this review, I wanted to focus specifically on her story, and the namesake of this collection, "Woman Hollering Creek." This short story follows Cleofilas, a young woman who moves from Mexico to Texas for marriage. In a very short time, her dreams of living in America happily are destroyed when her husband turns out to be abusive and a cheater.
Close to where Cleofilas lives is a river called Woman Hollering. Because of her experiences, she believes that the only time a woman hollers is when they're angry or sad. As her life gets darker and more abusive, she begins to relate to the sorrow that she sees in the river.
Two women end up liberating Cleofilas from her situation and on her way out of Texas, one of them lets out a whoop of triumph. She hollers in joy, and suddenly everything Cleofilas has thought about herself, about women and about the creek are challenged: "Then Felice began laughing again, but it wasn't Felice laughing. It was gurgling out of her own throat, a long ribbon of laughter, like water."
There are more aspects to this story, like feminine displacement, oppression, La Llorona, motherhood, etc. And each time I read the story, a new part jumps out at me. This is just one story, and not even my favorite one! (My favorite is "Eyes of Zapata.") I love that Cisneros is easy to read, but not afraid to portray a powerful, even controversial, message. Highly recommended.
This collection is less than 200 pages yet packs more of a punch than 500 paged novels I've read. Sandra Cisneros is extremely readable an accessible. I read that her goal was that anyone could pick up her books and understand them, and I believe she accomplished that desire. That's not to say that there aren't layers to this, because there are, but at the same time her meanings aren't shrouded or concealed. The more you read and re-read the stories, more aspects are revealed.
For this review, I wanted to focus specifically on her story, and the namesake of this collection, "Woman Hollering Creek." This short story follows Cleofilas, a young woman who moves from Mexico to Texas for marriage. In a very short time, her dreams of living in America happily are destroyed when her husband turns out to be abusive and a cheater.
Close to where Cleofilas lives is a river called Woman Hollering. Because of her experiences, she believes that the only time a woman hollers is when they're angry or sad. As her life gets darker and more abusive, she begins to relate to the sorrow that she sees in the river.
Two women end up liberating Cleofilas from her situation and on her way out of Texas, one of them lets out a whoop of triumph. She hollers in joy, and suddenly everything Cleofilas has thought about herself, about women and about the creek are challenged: "Then Felice began laughing again, but it wasn't Felice laughing. It was gurgling out of her own throat, a long ribbon of laughter, like water."
There are more aspects to this story, like feminine displacement, oppression, La Llorona, motherhood, etc. And each time I read the story, a new part jumps out at me. This is just one story, and not even my favorite one! (My favorite is "Eyes of Zapata.") I love that Cisneros is easy to read, but not afraid to portray a powerful, even controversial, message. Highly recommended.
February 11, 2012
I expected to like this more. I really enjoyed her poetry collection "My Wicked Wicked Ways." I recommend people check it out. However, this collection of short stories were bland to me. Can Cisneros write beautifully? Yes, she can. But these stories are don't have much plot driving them. Some of them are simply vignettes. The collection's literary value comes from the variety of Chicana experience it includes. There are many different women here. However, a man is central to almost all of them and certainly to all of the more developed stories. This became monotonous for me. I may have been particularly sensitive to that monotony because I recently red Jasmine by Bharati Mukherjee, whose heroine is also dominated by male influences, though not all negative. Those two books plus Their Eyes Were Watching God would make for an interesting seminar on the way women allow men to form their lives. When were they making choices NOT to be autonomous? When were they acting instead of reacting? Henry James' Daisy Miller could also be thrown in there.
April 11, 2022
Don't be fooled, ye who watch every move I make on my Goodreads account -- I did not finish this in one day. (Side note: I doubt there are people who watch every move I make on my Goodreads account... nonetheless...). Cisneros's collection of fictional short stories was assigned reading for my English class, but I need to add it to my roster because even assigned reading is reading, folks! Let's dive in, I guess.
Any kind of work that I have to read and discuss in English always ends up being one of my favorites. This happened for Dante's Inferno, this happened for One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, both in high school. I think I feel more elite than most readers of the same pieces because I assume I learn more than them. Did YOUR English professor give you a run-down of the author's life and make you watch Ted Talks that she gave? No! Because you didn't HAVE an English professor to make you do that. Even though I know this thought process is flawed, it makes me appreciate the writing so much more than if it were just leisure-reading.
This collection is truly a gem. Some were definitely more entertaining than others, and I certainly have my favorites ("Never Marry a Mexican" being my highest ranked out of all of them) -- but I would never say that one story was bad. They all had something different to offer, and depending on the reader, there will undoubtedly be some hidden value that another person would be unable to find. It was such a delight to both relate to and learn from Cisneros's characters' perspectives. From a scared eleven-year-old to an absolutely unhinged revenge-seeking woman (slay!!!), I was always intrigued. Truly I am shocked by how much emotion Cisneros is able to convey by telling the most specific of stories. A 3-page story about Barbies ends up being a thinkpiece on economic class differences? Brilliant. She writes how I can only dream of writing.
I have to write an honorary paragraph dedicated to my best and favorite story: "Never Marry a Mexican." Dear God, don't you all say you're obsessed with the unhinged woman? This is it. This is she. For fans of Gillian Flynn and all that, I IMPLORE you to pick up this story. Goodness gracious, it's so good. I loved getting in her head.
After reading this, I'd love to pick up House on Mango Street, which I've known a lot of you guys have already read. It is so highly praised after all. I admire Cisneros's style of integrating her own culture and Spanish language in away that is both foreign and familiar to me, a second generation immigrant who feels the need to project herself onto every main character ever. That especially made this collection that much more special to me. I encourage you to read at least a couple from it.
Any kind of work that I have to read and discuss in English always ends up being one of my favorites. This happened for Dante's Inferno, this happened for One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, both in high school. I think I feel more elite than most readers of the same pieces because I assume I learn more than them. Did YOUR English professor give you a run-down of the author's life and make you watch Ted Talks that she gave? No! Because you didn't HAVE an English professor to make you do that. Even though I know this thought process is flawed, it makes me appreciate the writing so much more than if it were just leisure-reading.
This collection is truly a gem. Some were definitely more entertaining than others, and I certainly have my favorites ("Never Marry a Mexican" being my highest ranked out of all of them) -- but I would never say that one story was bad. They all had something different to offer, and depending on the reader, there will undoubtedly be some hidden value that another person would be unable to find. It was such a delight to both relate to and learn from Cisneros's characters' perspectives. From a scared eleven-year-old to an absolutely unhinged revenge-seeking woman (slay!!!), I was always intrigued. Truly I am shocked by how much emotion Cisneros is able to convey by telling the most specific of stories. A 3-page story about Barbies ends up being a thinkpiece on economic class differences? Brilliant. She writes how I can only dream of writing.
I have to write an honorary paragraph dedicated to my best and favorite story: "Never Marry a Mexican." Dear God, don't you all say you're obsessed with the unhinged woman? This is it. This is she. For fans of Gillian Flynn and all that, I IMPLORE you to pick up this story. Goodness gracious, it's so good. I loved getting in her head.
After reading this, I'd love to pick up House on Mango Street, which I've known a lot of you guys have already read. It is so highly praised after all. I admire Cisneros's style of integrating her own culture and Spanish language in away that is both foreign and familiar to me, a second generation immigrant who feels the need to project herself onto every main character ever. That especially made this collection that much more special to me. I encourage you to read at least a couple from it.
May 25, 2020
I liked this work but I expected more from Sandra Cisneros. It was easy to read but sometimes a little too easy in my opinion. Cisneros made things extremely clear various times as if the reader would not be able to figure things out by themselves. In general, I really enjoyed the stories (some of them were great, others were just good), especially because she gave a very interesting insight into the Mexican American community in the United States.
October 11, 2007
So many stories in this book are absolute art. There are perhaps two or three tales that did not grip me, but otherwise I have read all the others at least five times over the years. Cisneros truly found her voice here - poetic, hypnotic, erotic storytelling with multi-cultural and feminist undertones. I truly envy her gift in this collection.
November 3, 2022
I love Cisneros's writing. This is clearly poetic in nature, and there is really no plot. But she paints a vivid picture. This is a series of essays, set in the US and in Mexico. Cisneros uses a lot of Spanish in these stories and most of my book club members (both book clubs) did not appreciate them very much. But I find her works immensely enjoyable.
I particularly liked her description of a child saying that when you turn 11, people forget that you are also 10 and 9 and 8 and 7 and 6 and 5 and 4 and 3 and 2 and 1 inside. (I'm paraphrasing here.) Heck, I'm way older than that, but I still occasionally recognize the 5-year-old in me.
I particularly liked her description of a child saying that when you turn 11, people forget that you are also 10 and 9 and 8 and 7 and 6 and 5 and 4 and 3 and 2 and 1 inside. (I'm paraphrasing here.) Heck, I'm way older than that, but I still occasionally recognize the 5-year-old in me.
December 23, 2018
"I put my bloody panties inside my t-shirt and ran home hugging myself. I thought about a lot of things on the way home. I thought about all the world and how suddenly I became a part of history and wondered if everyone on the street, the sewing machine lady and the panadería saleswomen and the woman with two kids sitting on the bus bench didn’t all know. Did I look any dierent? Could they tell? We were all the same somehow, laughing behind our hands, waiting the way all women wait, and when we find out, we wonder why the world and a million years made such a big deal over nothing."
June 30, 2020
The power of these stories is in how real the characters are.
"In the Bay, whenever I got depressed, I always drove out to Ocean Beach. Just to sit. And, I don't know, something about looking at water, how it just goes and goes and goes, something about that I found very soothing. As if somehow I were connected to every ripple that was sending itself out and out until it reached another shore."
"In the Bay, whenever I got depressed, I always drove out to Ocean Beach. Just to sit. And, I don't know, something about looking at water, how it just goes and goes and goes, something about that I found very soothing. As if somehow I were connected to every ripple that was sending itself out and out until it reached another shore."
July 18, 2020
Cisneros’ writing is beautiful and I enjoyed hearing the experiences of Mexicans both in Mexico and the US. My favorite stories were “One Holy Night”, “Eleven” and “Bien Pretty”. From “Bien Pretty”: “...that language murmured by grandmothers, those words that smelled liked your house, like flour tortillas, and the inside of your daddy’s hat, like everyone talking in the kitchen at the same time, or sleeping with the windows open...”
October 10, 2017
SIX WORD REVIEW: My students would love "My Tocaya".
June 4, 2022
I was doing fine in section I and II, but section III didn't make sense to me and I kept falling asleep as a result. Perhaps I'm just too dumb for this book!
February 7, 2024
Ay pues a mí me gustó mucho, la forma en la que escribe duele 😭
July 31, 2023
They say of the poet and the madman we all have a little.
- “Tin Tan Tan”
I neglected this book and for that I am sorry! I started reading it back in September, then went on a 2-month trip during which I never revisited it, and then upon my return slowly read one short story at a time. Since these are mostly the shortest of short stories (some of them only half a page in length), you can imagine how long it took me to get through this slender collection. But I can explain.
I read the first story, “My Lucy Friend Who Smells Like Corn,” and thought: wow this is good. I then read the second story, “Eleven,” and thought to myself: this is one of the best stories I have ever read in my whole life, and this book deserves my full attention, and I need to be able to take my time and concentrate on everything in it. And so, that is exactly what I did.
I remember feeling the same way when I read the author's preface in The House on Mango Street, but here, in Woman Hollering Creek, the momentum is consistently maintained throughout. Indeed, I loved this book even more than Mango Street. Every story is gripping and confident and contains something unforgettable, each narrator comes alive immediately. Sandra Cisneros' writing is fearless and strong, like a bold cup of coffee. The beauty is in the little details she scatters throughout her prose, the aromas and colours and textures that make up this incredible tapestry. My only criticism is that each story was not, in fact, a full-length novel; I could have read them forever.
My favourites were: “Eleven,” “Mexican Movies,” “Bread,” and “Bien Pretty.”
I will leave you with the main passage from “Eleven”, the one that made me stop. But I'm hiding it under a spoiler, just in case you want the revelation of discovering it for yourself... That moment when you realize, Okay, I am reading something great...
June 24, 2017
I recently read Cisneros' The House on Mango Street, published 1984. That was her first book. This book Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories published 1991, shows Cisneros developing her voice. Only one section/collection of micro-stories, "Little Miracles, Kept Promises" has a hint of ungenuity. And only a hint. This a writer who has arrived.
I saw Cisneros speak at Del Mar College in Corpus Christi in early 1995, after Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories and before Caramelo. She was already very well respected. Students of Literature in South Texas were all about a writer from South Texas (San Antonio) and how aptly she described Tex-Mexico life. She was part of a first generation of hispanic writers after the Chicano Movement.
This little book contains various types of literary writing. Included are a series of micro-stories, several short-short stories and longer short short stories. While much of what is described in these stories are about the experience of being Tex-Mex, the universals are also included in these pieces. The most universal is the short story, "Eleven" in which an 11-year-old tells the truth about maturity or lack thereof, specially of an 11 year-old girl. But the truth is as true for me today and will continue to be for me for the rest of my life. Many who respect/love Cisneros are familiar with this stories. It's simplicity is its beauty. Included in this collection are more sophisticated pieces. In "Bien Pretty" the lack of self-honesty and honesty with others creates romantic problems--seriously universal.
For all those interested in choosing some "easier" hispanic reading books, perhaps for hispanic month, this book is a good place to start.
I saw Cisneros speak at Del Mar College in Corpus Christi in early 1995, after Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories and before Caramelo. She was already very well respected. Students of Literature in South Texas were all about a writer from South Texas (San Antonio) and how aptly she described Tex-Mexico life. She was part of a first generation of hispanic writers after the Chicano Movement.
This little book contains various types of literary writing. Included are a series of micro-stories, several short-short stories and longer short short stories. While much of what is described in these stories are about the experience of being Tex-Mex, the universals are also included in these pieces. The most universal is the short story, "Eleven" in which an 11-year-old tells the truth about maturity or lack thereof, specially of an 11 year-old girl. But the truth is as true for me today and will continue to be for me for the rest of my life. Many who respect/love Cisneros are familiar with this stories. It's simplicity is its beauty. Included in this collection are more sophisticated pieces. In "Bien Pretty" the lack of self-honesty and honesty with others creates romantic problems--seriously universal.
For all those interested in choosing some "easier" hispanic reading books, perhaps for hispanic month, this book is a good place to start.
March 17, 2016
3.5 stars.
I have this dream where one day I anthologize all my favorite short stories. A couple of stories from this collection would make that anthology easily. Especially the title story which I adored.
What Sandra Cisneros does best is give voice to women so often silenced. And those voices are strong and brave and flawed and human. She also does not shy away from using Mexican slang with no translation which I really appreciated. So many of the cultural things she discusses weren't something I was previously aware of so I spent time looking up songs, movies, and television programs and whatnot on the internet. And I loved that as well. She didn't just tell me stories; she taught me something. A lot of somethings.
I would hesitate to call this a short story collection. It's more of a collection of short writings. They vary greatly in length and depth. Some feel more like vignettes. But they are tied together by female voices and themes of oppression, celebration of culture, and the ways in which women are often beholden to the men in their lives. But she gets to show this idea - the power men have over women - through the voices of women which is a nice subversion and power shift.
Not every story here is perfect. Some are immediately forgettable. But the ones that stick are worth every word along the way. Cisneros is a writer who deserves space on your shelves.
I have this dream where one day I anthologize all my favorite short stories. A couple of stories from this collection would make that anthology easily. Especially the title story which I adored.
What Sandra Cisneros does best is give voice to women so often silenced. And those voices are strong and brave and flawed and human. She also does not shy away from using Mexican slang with no translation which I really appreciated. So many of the cultural things she discusses weren't something I was previously aware of so I spent time looking up songs, movies, and television programs and whatnot on the internet. And I loved that as well. She didn't just tell me stories; she taught me something. A lot of somethings.
I would hesitate to call this a short story collection. It's more of a collection of short writings. They vary greatly in length and depth. Some feel more like vignettes. But they are tied together by female voices and themes of oppression, celebration of culture, and the ways in which women are often beholden to the men in their lives. But she gets to show this idea - the power men have over women - through the voices of women which is a nice subversion and power shift.
Not every story here is perfect. Some are immediately forgettable. But the ones that stick are worth every word along the way. Cisneros is a writer who deserves space on your shelves.
July 24, 2009
I wish I liked this since so many people I respect sing its praises. Instead of being drawn into Cisneros's voice or themes, I found the execution of the stories to be largely frustrating. Cisneros likes to use lists in her stories, lists of sounds, lists of items for sale at the grocery, lists of things that remind her of a child's ear, etc. For me, this got old very quickly, and became a huge distraction from whatever the story was. I wanted to like her insight into Mexican-American culture. I wanted to like the feminist angle to the stories. The lists prevented that. That the stories are very mundane events in the lives of very ordinary people also bothered me, as there was nothing compelling me to want to know more about those people. Cisneros writes character studies with a poetic flare. If these features appeal to you, so likely will her stories. If, like me, you prefer more plot and fewer lists, then go elsewhere.
March 21, 2018
I feel somewhat conflicted with this collection. The quality of the writing, the tone, the technicality of it merits a high rating but I got fed up with the underlying theme pretty fast and it is on this basis that my final rating lies. The stories, for the most part, are about women who to their detriment have absolutely centered their lives around men. I want to know more about these women's characters, their motivations, their drive, their struggles, their journey ... but instead of getting all of this unfiltered, so to speak, it comes across the page through the filter of a relationship with whichever man they're glued to at the moment. It just got boring, fast, unfortunately. Because Sandra Cisneros is one of my favourite authors and the short story with the kids in front of the church got off to such a good start I was optimistic but I just didn't want to go back to these empty women stretching out this reading experience a whole 2 months and 1 week, yikes.
April 10, 2018
Sandra Cisneros writes in the voice of my mother, my grandmother, my aunts, my sisters, and my friends. I experience every word as if I'm a child overhearing the adults' kitchen table conversations. I am intimately familiar with the sights and smells of her settings and the joys and frustrations of her characters. These stories didn't leave me with a feeling of nostalgia, but with that feeling of having shared life-shaping experiences with your best friend.
December 23, 2020
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.
April 21, 2022
~De poeta y loco todos tenemos un poco~ ❤️🔥
Some snapshots of my fave book so far this year, Sandra Cisneros’s WOMAN HOLLERING CREEK, a collection of short stories that provide snapshots into Chicana/Mexican women’s lives, focusing on the joys, hardships, and sacrifices that come with being a woman/femme, from their juventudes to adulthoods.
Some scattered thoughts:
❤️🔥 This book made me reflect on how so many traditional Latina names—Dolores, Soledad, Esperanza, Consuelo— have to do with struggle and yearning and giving... like that’s all that’s expected of us as women.
❤️🔥 I saw so much of myself, my friends, and my family in these stories. Cisneros has an uncanny ability to capture moments and people that are oddly specific but also universal. I saw my dad in Rogelio Velasco (real name: Flavio Munguía), a poeta mujeriego and exterminator for La Cucaracha Apacharrada Pest Control company. 🪳
❤️🔥 I read a lot of this book in class during independent reading time, and one of my students caught me underlining and jotting down notes so much that he was like, ~Are you seriously annotating the whole book?~ (We’re working on annotating in class) and I reminded him that annotating is a skill that you can use for life 🤓... and also, yes I annotated so I can revisit/reread this one next year
❤️🔥 A lot of people on this side of the internet talk about running laps after finishing books, stories, chapters, and while I’ve done that in the past, it’s mostly been because of a plot twist and not necessarily because of gorgeous writing... but THIS BOOK. It’s 165 pages and I had to put it down to breathe/take it in a lot of times. So much so that it took me over a month to finish it.
❤️🔥 Most importantly, this book continued showing me that writing can be ~simple~ AND beautiful cuz I’m so over gatekeeping and comemierdería in literary fiction circles. I love Cisneros’s no frills imagery and style because it can be read and enjoyed and felt by just about anyone.
Some snapshots of my fave book so far this year, Sandra Cisneros’s WOMAN HOLLERING CREEK, a collection of short stories that provide snapshots into Chicana/Mexican women’s lives, focusing on the joys, hardships, and sacrifices that come with being a woman/femme, from their juventudes to adulthoods.
Some scattered thoughts:
❤️🔥 This book made me reflect on how so many traditional Latina names—Dolores, Soledad, Esperanza, Consuelo— have to do with struggle and yearning and giving... like that’s all that’s expected of us as women.
❤️🔥 I saw so much of myself, my friends, and my family in these stories. Cisneros has an uncanny ability to capture moments and people that are oddly specific but also universal. I saw my dad in Rogelio Velasco (real name: Flavio Munguía), a poeta mujeriego and exterminator for La Cucaracha Apacharrada Pest Control company. 🪳
❤️🔥 I read a lot of this book in class during independent reading time, and one of my students caught me underlining and jotting down notes so much that he was like, ~Are you seriously annotating the whole book?~ (We’re working on annotating in class) and I reminded him that annotating is a skill that you can use for life 🤓... and also, yes I annotated so I can revisit/reread this one next year
❤️🔥 A lot of people on this side of the internet talk about running laps after finishing books, stories, chapters, and while I’ve done that in the past, it’s mostly been because of a plot twist and not necessarily because of gorgeous writing... but THIS BOOK. It’s 165 pages and I had to put it down to breathe/take it in a lot of times. So much so that it took me over a month to finish it.
❤️🔥 Most importantly, this book continued showing me that writing can be ~simple~ AND beautiful cuz I’m so over gatekeeping and comemierdería in literary fiction circles. I love Cisneros’s no frills imagery and style because it can be read and enjoyed and felt by just about anyone.
June 19, 2022
A good collection of short stories, most of which were written with wit and humor, focusing, primarily, on the experiences of women of Mexican descent living in Texas and California. The best story in the book was the title story "Woman Hollering Creek" about a woman, who shortly after getting married, started being beaten by her husband. She was stuck in a situation that seemed to leave her with no way out. It was a disturbing but extraordinarily well written story. The next best story was a fairly short one that was much more humorous but still a little disturbing titled "Eleven" about an eleven year old girl who has been accused by her teacher of leaving a red sweater in the coatroom. Overall this was a very good book, its just that the subject matter in most of the stories didn't hold my interest.
July 24, 2019
This collection deserves five stars “There Was A Man, There Was A Woman” exclusively (the other sections are great but this one is really special). The myriad ways Cisneros describes being in love were a gut punch every time.
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May 17, 2022zo goed! ik houd van hoe Sandra intimiteit beschrijft
ook erg genoten van het redactiewerk dat de vorige eigenaar van dit boek in de kantlijn gedaan heeft
ook erg genoten van het redactiewerk dat de vorige eigenaar van dit boek in de kantlijn gedaan heeft
February 2, 2023
if id put you in my mouth you’d dissolve like snow this book is full of radiance omfg
July 30, 2023
Really enjoyed this one! Not usually a fan of stream of consciousness, but quite a few of the stories wowed me and really gripped me. Thank you Michelle for the rec/lending it! <3
October 28, 2024
4.5 rounded up
A few of my favorite stories from this collection:
Woman Hollering Creek
Never Marry a Mexican
Little Miracles, Kept Promises
Bien Pretty
A few of my favorite stories from this collection:
Woman Hollering Creek
Never Marry a Mexican
Little Miracles, Kept Promises
Bien Pretty
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