 | The Line of the Sun: A Novel Subjects: Puerto Ricans -- New Jersey -- Paterson -- Fiction; Puerto Rican families -- Fiction; Puerto Rico -- Fiction; Paterson (N.J.) -- Fiction; "A colorful, revealing portrait of Puerto Rican culture and domestic relationship" from the award-winning poet and author of An Island Like You ( Publishers Weekly ). Set in the 1950s and 1960s, The Line of the Sun moves from a rural Puerto Rican village to a tough immigrant housing project in New Jersey, telling the story of a Hispanic family's struggle to become part of a new culture without relinquishing the old. At the story's center is Guzmán, an almost mythic figure whose adventures and exile, salvation and return leave him a broken man but preserve his place in the heart and imagination of his niece, who is his secret biographer. "Cofer . . . reveals herself to be a prose writer of evocatively lyrical authority, a novelist of historical compass and sensitivity . . . One recognizes in the rich weave and vigorous elegance of the language of The Line of the Sun a writer of authentic gifts, with a genuine and important story to tell."-- The New York Times Book Review "There is great strength in the way Cofer evokes the fierce, loving, and brave Latin spirit that is the novel's real theme."--Joyce Johnson, National Book Critics Circle Award-winning author " The Line of the Sun reads like a dream, from the beautifully realized description of the deceptive Paradise Lost , to the utterly different but equally vivid world of the urban North . . . This is a splendid first novel."-- The State (Columbia, South Carolina) "The writing in this superb novel stuns and surprises at every turn. Its sensuality and imagery . . . are riveting."-- The San Juan Star Judith Ortiz Cofer was born in Puerto Rico in 1952. She was a Franklin Professor of English and creative writing at the University of Georgia from 1984 until she retired in 2013. She was also a poet and author. Her collections of poetry include Terms of Survival, Reaching for the Mainland, and A Love Story Beginning in Spanish: Poems. Her novels include Call Me Maria, The Meaning of Consuelo, and The Line of the Sun. She won an O. Henry Prize for the story A Latin Deli, which appeared in The Latin Deli: Prose and Poetry. Her other books include Silent Dancing: A Partial Remembrance of a Puerto Rican Childhood, An Island Like You: Stories of the Barrio, If I Could Fly, and Woman in Front of the Sun: On Becoming a Writer. She died from cancer on December 30, 2016 at the age of 64. (Bowker Author Biography) |
