Bless Me, Ultima in Around the World in 80 Books

Jul 24, 2009 Deb (Readerbuzz) Nance rated it it was amazing

Shelves: must-read, quest, favorites, the-great-american-read

We first meet Antonio Márez y Luna when he is a little boy, and an elderly traditional healer, a curandera named Ultima, comes to live with Antonio and his family in 1940s New Mexico. Antonio's father wants him to follow in his footsteps and become a vaquero, a cowboy. Antonio's mother is a devout Catholic and she wants him to become a priest. Antonio observes Ultima and learns her healing ways. Antonio is confused about differences between the worldviews of Catholics and the worldviews of the t ...more

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Sep 10, 2013 Laura (booksnob) rated it it was amazing

Shelves: humanities-reading-list, literature, 2013, books-into-film

An Audiobook Review

Bless Me, Ultima is the coming of age story of Antonio, and encompasses the two years of his life when Ultima lives with his family. Tony is the youngest child in his large New Mexican family. His mother wants him to grow up and be a priest in the Catholic church and his father wants him to grow up to be a vaquero like his ancestors and belong to the land of his people.

Ultima is getting older and is coming to live with Antonio's family. She is a healer, a wise woman also calle An Audiobook Review

Bless Me, Ultima is the coming of age story of Antonio, and encompasses the two years of his life when Ultima lives with his family. Tony is the youngest child in his large New Mexican family. His mother wants him to grow up and be a priest in the Catholic church and his father wants him to grow up to be a vaquero like his ancestors and belong to the land of his people.

Ultima is getting older and is coming to live with Antonio's family. She is a healer, a wise woman also called a curandera and she was the midwife present when Antonio was born. She teaches Tony about the herbs and old ways of his people. Some people say she is a witch but Ultima seeks to do good things with her magic. Antonio straddles two worlds, the strong faith of his mother's catholicism and the indigenous ways of his ancestors in which Ultima practices. Antonio must learn to forge a path that is respectful of each yet he feels he needs to reconcile the teachings of the church with his cultural practices.

"From my mother I had learned that man is of the earth, that his clay feet are part of the ground that nourishes him, and that this is the inextricable mixture that gives man his measure of safety and security. Because man plants in the earth he believes in the miracle of birth, and he provides a home for his family, and he builds a church to preserve his faith and the soul that is bound to his flesh, his clay. But from my father and Ultima I had learned that the greater immortality is in the freedom of man, and that freedom is best nourished by the noble experience of land and air and pure, white sky."

I listened to the audiobook of Bless Me, Ultima and loved it!! The narrator is easy to listen to and the story is full of action. Bless Me, Ultima is the kind of story I always want to listen to, the type where my mind couldn't wander away from it even if it wanted to. There are so many intriguing elements in this story. There is magical realism, cultural myths, history of the land, tradition and superstition and layers of powerful imagery. I loved listening to Antonio's dream sequences and knew he was learning about himself and the people he loved. Truly this book is amazing.

Antonio is searching for his truth and faces some horrific realities. He witnesses murder and hatred, yet he holds on to his faith and respect for the people and land. Antonio is wise beyond his years, an old soul. Bless Me, Ultima is truly a powerful and important book and full of cultural layers.

Bless Me, Ultima is the first book in a trilogy. Heart of Aztlan is the second book and Tortuga is the third. Bless Me, Ultima was recently made into a movie. Rudolfo Anaya is known as one of the best Chicano authors and Bless Me, Ultima is highly respected and taught in schools around the nation. It was awarded the book prize, Premio Quinto Sol. Bless Me, Ultima is also on the list of most commonly challenged books in the United States. So in honor of Banned Books Week and celebrating your freedom to read, I encourage you to read this powerful book.
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Dec 08, 2009 Ellen Librarian rated it liked it

I liked this book better than I thought I would, though not as much as I had hoped. The author does a wonderful job of capturing life in New Mexico during World War II. Parts of the book just sing, parts are very dark and parts were just plain dull for me. I'm Jewish so the many, long passages about Catholicism and religion were a bit ponderous and opaque. Also, the book reads more like a recollection from many years later rather than a story you live along with the narrator. But there was somet ...more

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Dec 20, 2019 Lara rated it really liked it

Lovely story set in New Mexico in the 40s. A simple, innocent story that isn't naive about family, the Catholic church, belief, morality, death, childhood, racism, education, and all the other big things. A side benefit is that reading it took me away from the surreal dystopian days that we live in today. ...more

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Apr 21, 2009 Katie rated it really liked it

This book was on my shelf for something like 8 years. I was feeling nostalgic for NM and decided to finally read it. I'm so glad I did! What a great story! I was kind of disappointed with the abruptness of the final paragraph, but oh well. ...more

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Oct 16, 2015 Janet rated it liked it

Probably the novel which most successfully and vividly captures the Chicano experience of growing up in 1940's New Mexico. A literature lover's delight. ...more

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