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drbird's review against another edition
some of this works, some doesn't. A couple of chapters are surprisingly honest while others seem to cover up. I wonder if Cofer was writing with her mother over her shoulder?
alexreadsall's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
reflective
fast-paced
This was such an interesting read. I was gifted it years and years ago and just let it hang on my shelves. Finally decided to pick it up and I’m so glad I did!
I don’t know Judith Ortiz Cofer myself but reading her memoir essays also felt familiar. She’s a Puerto Rican poet and artist and I’m very curious to read more of her stuff and learn more about her. I loved the poems she had between essays and just the all around feeling of the collection.
I’ve been to Puerto Rico twice, once when I was too little to notice, and once in the summer between 7th and 8th grade. But I have such vivid memories of the smells and sites and feelings of it that I felt transported as I read this. Judith Ortiz Cofer spent half the year in Puerto Rico and half in New Jersey and was never Puerto Rican enough for her peers there and never American enough for people in New Jersey. While I’ve never shuttled between places like that I’ve felt this being in between. I’m not Latina enough for my Puerto Rican and Mexican relatives and yet the white people I grew up with knew I was Latina and didn’t like it. So I understood that feeling Cofer was describing.
Y’all know how I feel about memoirs and this was no exception. I loved spending time in her mind and her world. Learning about her childhood and her family and just being allowed to experience what she experienced was very special.
I’m so glad I read this slim volume finally and will be looking into reading more of her work.
TW/CW: racism, pregnancy, birth
I don’t know Judith Ortiz Cofer myself but reading her memoir essays also felt familiar. She’s a Puerto Rican poet and artist and I’m very curious to read more of her stuff and learn more about her. I loved the poems she had between essays and just the all around feeling of the collection.
I’ve been to Puerto Rico twice, once when I was too little to notice, and once in the summer between 7th and 8th grade. But I have such vivid memories of the smells and sites and feelings of it that I felt transported as I read this. Judith Ortiz Cofer spent half the year in Puerto Rico and half in New Jersey and was never Puerto Rican enough for her peers there and never American enough for people in New Jersey. While I’ve never shuttled between places like that I’ve felt this being in between. I’m not Latina enough for my Puerto Rican and Mexican relatives and yet the white people I grew up with knew I was Latina and didn’t like it. So I understood that feeling Cofer was describing.
Y’all know how I feel about memoirs and this was no exception. I loved spending time in her mind and her world. Learning about her childhood and her family and just being allowed to experience what she experienced was very special.
I’m so glad I read this slim volume finally and will be looking into reading more of her work.
TW/CW: racism, pregnancy, birth
luwuna's review
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
4.5
Really well written and immersive, but I feel like that at times, the poetry would feel disjointed from the author’s anecdotes
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