What Makes a Great Book - Irrespective of Genres

The challenge of authorship is one of the hardest ones to overcome for any aspiring artist, and
as a medium of art, it possesses several unique challenges for any aspiring author to overcome.

Writing a book is a complicated affair… It’s a juggling act!

There are sweeping, all-encompassing ideas, that inform the structure and style of the narrative.

There are more grounded details that one has to contend with that help inform the audience
know the what, where, and why of the narrative.

And then of course minutia that is critical to selling your ideas within the story – be it key
moments in the book, or an awareness of what works and what doesn’t.

With all of this laid out bare, what does constitute a Great book?

Breaking Down What a Great Book is

All well and good, but for the purposes of this piece, let’s focus on the more traditionally “artsy”
definition: a book is an artifact of historical, cultural, and literary significance, contained within
several hundred pages (or more!) of text.

How can we say that this literary piece is actually significant? Simple really. It has to have an
impact on the world at large. It has to inspire changes beyond itself thanks to the
examples it provided.

It doesn’t have to be huge global phenomena changes. In some cases, all it needs to do is
change peoples’ opinions, taste in literature, what becomes popular in the cultural zeitgeist, or
be a work that inspires other works like it.

Admittedly this is still a broad definition since there exist a good heaping helping of material
that can be classified as a book, even with this definition. The primary divide, of course, being
Fiction and Nonfiction. And even, then these continue to splinter off into hybrids, sub-genres,
and so on.

For the sake of brevity, we’ll select one book which outlines into a more subjective, easy to
follow categories over the objective and rigid structures that books are usually made to follow.
We’re mixing and matching them regardless of their “genre” to illustrate how what can make a
good book great is transcendental.

Case in Point: The House on Mango Street

Part of the entire enterprise of writing and of art in general is to frame a part of the world you
may or may not have seen before, from someone else’s point of view which will then challenge
one’s own worldview and be almost like fuel for a fire that wants to look for answers.

A good example of this would be Cisneros’s famous literary piece called The House on Mango
Street. In the book, we follow the young pre-teen girl Esperanza she struggles and overcomes
the hurdles life throws her way.

She’s left to contend with so many problems that start almost immediately, and the emotions
she feels then begin to inspire her to write as a means of escaping the unbearable despair of
unmet expectations. She begins to describe she’s developing as a young woman, and how her
growth works for her as it gives her greater freedoms, and against her as the lustful and
powerful men around her turn their leering gaze upon her. She forms relationships with other
women and girls in her neighborhood, and how these same relations blossom, and fall apart.

What makes this good book great?

What makes this good book great is the impact that it left on society at large after its
production.

The book received critical acclaim when it first came out as Hispanics echoed many of the
book’s sentiments, and caused outrage among its critics for being so raw, unfiltered, and
uncensored; thereby criticizing the constantly peddled narrative that the America of its time was
not a land of milk and honey and showing it instead as a land of broken promises for anyone
that wasn’t born into the right households.

It was also significant in the way that it presented itself, and was presented by, a Mexican voice.
From the time of first publishing, and even now, the Hispanic community in the Continental
United States is constantly facing troubles from within and without itself.

The book spares no detail in describing how the family-centered culture of Hispanics like
Esperanza can be as sinful as it is virtuous; leading to some committing crimes, abusing the
privileges of older age to sexually dominate Esperanza in several scenes, and even how the
piety of the predominantly Catholic Hispanic household can turn into senseless cruelty as one
of her friends is locked up by her abusive father.

It also inspired a cultural revolution for other Hispanics as well. In the wake of its release, a
wave of Chicano literature began to surface. Their tales were obviously different from
Esmeralda’s, and focused on other aspects of Mexican-American life and its relations with
crime, poverty, family, tradition, and progress. But they all tie back to Cisneros’s original work,
as it was her words that inspired them to speak out.

In Summary
What made The House on Mango Street a Great book is what any and all great books are
capable of doing. Take a limited example of a fraction of a fraction of our total reality and puts a
focus on it. With this focus, it then shows you exactly how, what, and why its details are
significant for you, the reader. Then it’s up to the reader to make what they will of its content.
Art is a process after all. The subject presents itself, and the audience interprets what is
presented by contrasting what it has seen with their own ideas and perceptions. It makes you
think. And if you can think, you can change the world.