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Book Review
Aug. 8th, 2005 09:04 pmBless Me, Ultima
by Rudolfo Anaya
This novel concerns the growing-up process of Antonio Marez, a Mexican-American boy living in small-town New Mexico shortly after WWII. The story starts when Ultima, an old friend of the family, comes to live with them. She is a curandera - a sort of hedge-witch and healer. The plot is shaped by several supernatural events involving Ultima, as well as Antonio's initiation into Catholicism, the beginnings of his formal education, and his growing awarenes of and relationship to the emotional and spiritual forces surrounding him. Antonio also witnesses a death at each stage of the story. The writing is beautiful, and the setting is well-depicted. My only real complaint is that Antonio is between the ages of 7 and 9, yet he acts and thinks like an older child, say 10 to 13.
This is much like the sorts of "boy grows up" books I had to read too many of during junior high and 9th grade, except I enjoyed it more. Among the many points in its favor is the fact that Antonio did not have to kill anything in order to achieve maturity. And Anaya shows him really struggling with the big questions about his place in the world, God, sin, good and evil, etc.
by Rudolfo Anaya
This novel concerns the growing-up process of Antonio Marez, a Mexican-American boy living in small-town New Mexico shortly after WWII. The story starts when Ultima, an old friend of the family, comes to live with them. She is a curandera - a sort of hedge-witch and healer. The plot is shaped by several supernatural events involving Ultima, as well as Antonio's initiation into Catholicism, the beginnings of his formal education, and his growing awarenes of and relationship to the emotional and spiritual forces surrounding him. Antonio also witnesses a death at each stage of the story. The writing is beautiful, and the setting is well-depicted. My only real complaint is that Antonio is between the ages of 7 and 9, yet he acts and thinks like an older child, say 10 to 13.
This is much like the sorts of "boy grows up" books I had to read too many of during junior high and 9th grade, except I enjoyed it more. Among the many points in its favor is the fact that Antonio did not have to kill anything in order to achieve maturity. And Anaya shows him really struggling with the big questions about his place in the world, God, sin, good and evil, etc.
