Judith Ortiz Cofer Books

Silent Dancing is an "partial-rememberance" of Judith Ortiz Cofer. This "rememberance" is basicly her whole childhood from elementary school to high school which was spent hurtling from Puerto Rico to America and vise versa. It is a very.... different book. I had never read a "partial rememberance" before so, it was a new experience for me. but I didnt like it very much because I coudnt understand what was going on that well. It would have been so much easier to understand if it was a "full rememberance", but it was still interesting. I would recommend this book to anybody that wants to read about different cultures or a little girl struggling through her childhood years. But I dont think it was for me, because I like reading fictional books more than half-biographies.

Silent Dancing
A Partial Rememberance
of a Puerto Rican
Childhood

This book, Silent Dancing, is a memoir of a Puerto Rican, Judith Ortiz Cofer's, life as a young child.
Judith's grandmother is an important piece in Judith's life. Mama (Judith's name for her Grandmother) could be strict to Judith, but she loved her. Her grandmother was known through out the family by telling storues about a young woman named Maria Sabida. Maria was a poor woman who was called weird for funny, outlandish behavior. From Mama's stories, Maria had a thick and wrinkled old body, but she walked and acted like a little girl. For a living Maria delivered meat pies and other treats to houses. Judith had heard that if you got close to her you could see her swinging a basket with delicious pies, hear her humming a tune that sounded positiley awful, and if you got really close to her, she might smile at you revealing all her yellow teeth in a crooked, sad smile. To Judith, it seemed like a grotesque version of the Little Red Riding Hood.
Judith's grandfather, Papa, was a spiritist. He once saw visions of one of his sons, Hernan, being beaten and treated awfully. Mama did not believe him but it was unfortunatly true. Once Hernan was saved from being beaten and tortured, Mama let Papa have all the space and time he needed.
When Judith was young, she was made fun of when speaking Spanish and English. When she spoke Spanish people told her that she had an English accent; when she spoke English she had a Spanish accent.
Then, one day as Judith came home she was told that a Chilean girl was moving in an apartment above her family's. The Chilean girl's name was Vida. She was tall, thin, and beautiful. Judith admired Vida. Vida looked like a model and wanted to be a movie star someday in Hollywood. Vida did not like her family that much, so she hung out with Judith's family. Vida's past was sad and depressing so she only thought of the future. But then Vida changed Judith. Not on purpose though. It was just that Judith wanted to be everything like Vida. She was always there for Vida when she needed support and assurance. When Judith and Vida walked up the streets to Judith it was a dangerous but exciting game. But then Vida fell in love. Judith was still loyal to her and was used as a cover for Vida so Vida could meet her Neanderhal, muscley man. Vida had shared to Judith all what he had promised her. On day, once Judith had started school again, Vida came to Judith's apartment complaining that her parents had refused to accept her getting married to her Neanderthal, and wonderful man. Judith's father agreed for Vida to stay in their apartment for a while. After a while, Vida announced that they had broken up their engagement and started seeing other men. But that didn't worry Judith's mother. Mother was mad that Vida wore perfume that got all over my clothes, and stank of alcohol when she came back late at night. To mother, smelling unclean terribley rude. But Vida was changing. She no longer spoke of Hollywood, and wore perfume. Judith came home one afternoon to find Vida gone. The last time she ever saw Vida was on a beauty pagent poster. It read, "Vida wins!"
Judith Ortiz Cofer now is remembered for her inspirational book to young people. She has inspired others to write memoirs like her book.

Silent Dancing is about a young girl as she struggles through life, constantly being moved from the U.S. to Puerto Rico, and back again. The book explains everything about her experiences from kindergarten (in Puerto Rico)to being kissed in a high school hall way (in the U.S.). Family relationships, and family love are very important. I thought that this book could have been written better. I would a prefer a developed story line or plot, rather than a collection of randomly organized memories. I would also change the title. Silent Dancing is only mentioned once in the book, and its significance is unclear. What I did like about the book is the constantly shifting focus, because I have a very short attention span. I think that people who are not interested in Puerto Rico would find it difficult to finish this book. On the other hand, Silent Dancing is a good "summer book" for people who are curious about the culture of others.

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!

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.