Description
Through her beautifully lyrical writing, Judith Ortiz Cofer tells us of the ladies’s lives that entangled with hers in El Building in Paterson, New Jersey.
A community transplanted from what they now view as an island paradise, these Puerto Rican families yearn for the colours and tastes in their former home. As they carve out lives as Americans, their days are full of drama, good fortune, and now and again tragedy. A widow becomes crazy after her son is killed in Vietnam, her remaining word “nada.” Some other woman carries on after the death of her husband, keeping their store, full of plantain, Bustello coffee, jamon y queso, open as a refuge for her neighbors. And there are Cofer’s stories of growing up with a dictatorial and straying father, a caring mother, and a love for language on the way to result in a career as a teacher and creator.