Silent Dancing: A Partial Remembrance of a Puerto Rican Childhood [Library Binding]

Judith Ortiz Cofer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 10, 2008 | ISBN-10: 1439514283 | ISBN-13: 978-1439514283 | Edition: Reprint

a memoir including some poetry

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The essays and poems in Ortiz Cofer's latest collection bridge the gap between autobiography and fiction, between personal remembrance and social commentary. As she shuttles between her village in Puerto Rico and the concrete high-rise "barrio" in Paterson, N.J., where her family lived half of each year, Ortiz Cofer faces the displacement that all military children--her father was in the U.S. Navy--must endure. But her cultural dichotomy is more acute. Indeed, it forms the narrative structure of the book, providing the context for the timeless themes of coming of age. In "The Looking-Glass Shame," she contrasts her mother's implacable ties to island tradition with her own freedom to break them. Yet while America, "Los Nueva Yores," opens up new vistas for the author, it also threatens to eradicate her ancestral foundations, her deepest, most poignant childhood memories. Poet and novelist Ortiz Cofer ( The Line of the Sun ) recovers the warp and weft of her experience in stellar stories patterned after oral tradition. Essays appeared previously in the Georgia Review and other publications.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Review

"... for young readers, this is a delightful, thoughtful assessment of bicultural, bilingual life..." -- Booklist

Judith Ortiz Cofer's talent for story telling was learned at the knee of her grandmother, "Mama." In this entertaining and perceptive book, the author's life unfolds through tales set in Mama's room, in Puerto Rican pueblos, and in Paterson, New Jersey apartments. Her father joins the U.S. Navy, and when his ship is in port in New York City, the family lives in New Jersey; when he is at sea, they move back to Puerto Rico to a life with family and many friends. After Judith starts school, the family spends summers in Puerto Rico and the school year in New Jersey. Life there is very restricted: her father leaves instructions not to mingle with neighbors; he has plans for a better life for his family, certainly one better than the near-poverty conditions of this neighborhood. Judith Cofer's mother takes her husband's words to heart and rarely interacts with her New Jersey acquaintances, leaving Judith to become her mother's voice in dealing with neighbors and shopkeepers while her father is away. Her father, a strong person, takes on much of Judith's responsibility when he is home. This relieves her but also creates confusion about her role in the family. Growing up in two cultures, Judith both identifies with and feels rejected by each. This memoir, comprising essays that can stand alone, also includes some of the author's poems, which further illuminate her experiences and add to our understanding of this child of two worlds. -- For great reviews of books for girls, check out Let's Hear It for the Girls: 375 Great Books for Readers 2-14. -- From 500 Great Books by Women; review by Holly Smith --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Library Binding
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1439514283
• ISBN-13: 978-1439514283
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)

More About the Author

Critically acclaimed and widely published poet, novelist, and essayist Judith Ortiz Cofer knows that "words have the power to transform you and give you the power to shape your life. The minute you open your mouth, you have introduced yourself." Writing extensively about the experience of being Puerto Rican and her identity as a woman and writer in the U.S., she is a lauded Regents and Franklin Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Georgia where she teaches literature and creative writing.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars If you haven't read it yet, get it now!, August 4, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Silent Dancing: A Partial Remembrance of a Puerto Rican Childhood (Paperback)

In a seemling easy narrative of remembrance, Ortiz Cofer brillantly weaves in dense yet accessible political thought on the relationship between the colonizer and the colonized through her literary genius: her keen use of metaphor. Ortiz Cofer's outloud conversational tone is engaging and unintimidating even in the face of the deep issues she raises and the hard questions she subtly yet clearly asks. Through "Silent Dancing," Judith Ortiz Cofer takes the reader along for a very enlightening journey through her self-exploration and self-definition. Ortiz Cofer discusses the ways that race, class, gender, and culture interact in shaping her life experiences without sounding dogmatic or naive. "Silent Dancing" is a work of substance, a work worth revisiting again!

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars She was the serious girl, August 6, 2004

By 

Kevin Killian (San Francisco, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Silent Dancing: A Partial Remembrance of a Puerto Rican Childhood (Paperback)

She was the serious one, the one with the talent, the one whom God made a little stern, with big eyes that took in all the world around her, from the tropical heat of Puerto Rico, to the cold tenements of William Carlos Williams' Paterson, where half the year she lived as though paying penance for an entire family's ambition. Is it any wonder this young girl grew up to be a poet, a novelist, and a taker of incredible artistic risks? As her talents grew, she began to think of herself as belonging, oddly, to two nations, a Northern and Southern hemisphere that corresponded to her own fluidity, her ability to change genre in the middle of a sentence.

Ortiz Cofer has long been one of America's cultural heroes. Now she strips back the legends of her youth to help us see the seeds of creativity which, or so some day, we all have been born with, even when obscured by circumstance. After reading this collection, you will be moved to do some "silent dancing" of your own.

13 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An intriguing personal narrative worth reading!, December 6, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Silent Dancing: A Partial Remembrance of a Puerto Rican Childhood (Paperback)

Judith Ortiz Cofer's book, Silent Dancing, is an intriguing personal narrative, which creates an instant curiousity within the reader! The structure of this book is creative in that Cofer writes each chapter as a different phase/aspect of her life and creates a desire, for the reader, to read on. Cofer writes of her childhood and specific memories she holds of her family and herself. Her shared memorites of childhood allow her book to be well understood and allow her readers to relate to their own personal childhoods. In addition, Cofer's shared memories of her life in Puerto Rico and the emphasis on her family's culture had on her life, is very insightful. She opens a wide window into the Puerto Rican culture and allows her readers to see her life as it truly was. This book, although well written and very interesting, should not be considered for young readers. The main reason this book should be read by an adult audience is because of some specific content within the book. Questionable references to sex and other material including the use of one profanity makes this book one for adults. Overall, this book is extremely interesting in nature and one which should be read in enjoyment. This book offers great insight into the Puerto Rican culture and allows readers to be reminded of the many different cultures which make up the American culture.