| The Year of Our Revolution Contributor(s): Cofer, Judith Ortiz (Author) |
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ISBN: 1558852247 ISBN-13: 9781558852242 Publisher: Arte Publico Press OUR PRICE: $15.26 Product Type: Hardcover - Other Formats Published: January 1998 Annotation: Teenaged Mary Ellen -- known to her parents as Maria Elenita -- is pulling away from their conservative Puerto Rican world, towards dreams of rock music, political protest, and first love. But as she learns about the "secret" lives of her parents and other adults, she finds that the taste of freedom is not so sweet. Judith Cofer's new collection -- drawn from her own adolescence, with a novella included especially for the paperback edition -- will speak to readers of both sexes, and all races. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Juvenile Nonfiction | Literary Criticism & Collections - Juvenile Nonfiction | People & Places - United States - Hispanic | Latino |
| Dewey: FIC |
| LCCN: 98013097 |
| Physical Information: 0.56" H x 5.71" W x 8.72" (0.73 lbs) 98 pages |
| Themes: - Chronological Period - 1960's - Ethnic Orientation - Latino |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: Fiction. Poetry. Latino/Latina Studies. Young Adult. "Returning to the territory covered in An Island Like You and SILENT DANCING, Cofer further heightens her descriptions of barrio life with a pervasive current of sensuality and rebellion in this volume of poems and stories about growing up during the turbulent 1960s. Most of the stories are described in hindsight by narrator Mary Ellen, who is also known as Maria Elenita (however, readers may have trouble keeping track of the various narrators in the early stories--which are all told through first-person narration but from differing ages and perspectives). Caught between Hispanic and American lifestyles, and eager to break free of traditional Hispanic values, Mary Ellen is strongly attracted to things that are alien to her parents. Readers will likely relate to Mary Ellen's struggle for independence, her idealism and her need for answers, themes that Cofer carries through the entire collection. In "The Meaning of El Amor," for example, the narrator sneaks into a nightclub where her recently deceased father, "the Puerto Rican Romeo," moonlighted to find out why love causes so much suffering. Cofer's lyrical descriptions of how music and the Vietnam War fired Mary Ellen's youthful passions are affecting: "When she was deep into a song, Janis Joplin] became beautiful. Her voice, hoarse and choked with pain, went right through my skin, and I began to understand the meaning of soul, el duende, in American music." Readers in the suggested age range may miss the most rewarding aspects of Cofer's work, but for mature teenagers, there is wisdom aplenty in this radiant collection. Ages 11-up"--Publishers Weekly. |