I'm reading it in class...is it good?

[[deleted user]]

So, I am reading this book in my English Class, and just wanted to know what you thought of it...


Good? Bad? Boring? Confusing? Tell me!!

[Lynn G.]

I started reading a few years ago and abandoned it about a third of the way through. I cannot recall exact details but I found that I couldn't relate to the characters.

[Jan]

I read it, let go of pre-conceptions, made it through several chapters to the point that I had started to care about the characters, and after that--I loved it. So hang in there. It is worth reading.

[Jalilah]

It is one of my favorite all time books that I can re-read time and again and still always find something new. It is a real comfort book for me.

[[deleted user]]

Thanks you guys...finished with my class...and unlike THEM...i really liked it!!

[Jalilah]

Good to know Tanya! a movie of Bless Me Ultima has been made: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYj3va...

[Erika]

I liked it!

[Kathleen]

It is a lovely magical realism book about a boy and his friend, Ultima, who has seemingly magical powers. It is beautifully written and my English students really loved it.

[Annemarie]

I finished the book a few days ago. Really beautifully written, compelling and interesting story that moved forward at all times. BUT the ending came up on me like a thief in the night!

[Linda]

Exceptionally well done. I sought out this book after hearing about it on a radio talk show. Since it's first printing in 1972, Hollywood's requests to the author for permission to turn his great work into a movie have been turned down. Rudolfo A. Anaya has finally given his approval. Here is a story about all of human life. The setting is New Mexico. Antonio's grandmother Ultima comes to live with the family changing his life forever. In a culture of strong family ties and deep religious beliefs, Antonio will learn as he grows into manhood to find his own truths. Every man is part of the generations who came before it, each takes the old to make something new. Change births growth but this story is timeless.

[Clarissa]

it's good to learn about Mexico's culture of medicine and the significance of each event in the book

[Geoffrey]

Tanya wrote: "So, I am reading this book in my English Class, and just wanted to know what you thought of it...


Good? Bad? Boring? Confusing? Tell me!!"

Good: the writing is excellent. The part that some people have truble with is the Spanish expressions. This Glossary will help you over many of those:

http://www.gradesaver.com/bless-me-ul...

This Study Guide has lots more to it than just the phrases; dig around & look at the rest of it.

The 'story arc' is formed by connecting all of these vignettes together; it isn't obvious at first. HTH

[Geoffrey]

Clarissa wrote: "it's good to learn about Mexico's culture of medicine and the significance of each event in the book"

You might want to read Malinche (Laura Esquivel) to get a better feeling for the gods/goddesses in Aztec culture (these gods hava influenced Mexican culture, even to this day, in ways that might surprise you).

[Jalilah]

Geoffrey wrote: "Clarissa wrote: "it's good to learn about Mexico's culture of medicine and the significance of each event in the book"

You might want to read Malinche (Laura Esquivel) to get a better feeling for ..."

I've been wanting to read Malinche. It got very mixed reviews, so I was hesitating but because I loved Like Water for Chocolate and of course, Bless Me, Ultima, you've made me more eager to read it!

[Geoffrey]

I saw that Malinche got very mixed reviews, but I noticed that almost everyone that had a negative feeling about it had a political 'agenda'. Malinche is close to an 'anti-hero' in Chicano/a studies because the role she played in serving as interpreter for Cortes is often cited as having a significant role in the downfall of the Aztec civilization. Malinche is a fictionalized account of the events that took place at the time of the Conquest of Mexico through the eyes of the girl Malinche. It is not completely accurate as history, but with no historical records to go on, it is enjoyable seeing the events unfold through Malinche's eye's (not always sympathetic to Cortes, although some of the reviws would have you believe this. You will get to knowMalinch as a complex person, & learn a lot about her society.

Malinche is not 'magical realism in the same sense as Like Water for Chocolate -- a little magic goes a long ways in making an interesting & relatable story. It is magical realism more in the sense of or 100 years of Solitude, where the magic & reality are so closely intertwined that even the participants can not tell the difference.

Enjoy!

[Jalilah]

Geoffrey wrote: "I saw that Malinche got very mixed reviews, but I noticed that almost everyone that had a negative feeling about it had a political 'agenda'. Malinche is close to an 'anti-hero' in Chicano/a studie..."

That's understandable that in certain circles she'd be an anti-hero. I imagine in the past it might have been the opposite, she might have been portrayed as a hero. I am more intrigued than ever and think Laura Esquivel would do a good job showing a balanced portrait.

For the record I don't even classify Bless me Ultima as the kind of magical realism as 100 years of Solitude.

[Geoffrey]

Jalilah wrote: "Geoffrey wrote: "I saw that Malinche got very mixed reviews, but I noticed that almost everyone that had a negative feeling about it had a political 'agenda'. Malinche is close to an 'anti-hero' in..."

I'm reading magical realism books to get a better idea of what the genre includes. I have a really difficult time understanding why Allende or Marquez' books are classified that way as opposed to The Dress Shop of Dreams.

Angela Carter (in Nights at the Circus) had a definition that said (approximately) "... There comes a point ...when neither you nor the characters... can tell the difference between the real & the magical...". (I'll get you the full unabridged quote later).