Bless Me, Ultima
Bless Me, Ultima is a book I missed back in high school. My sophomore year was American Literature. The school decided to start a new class that combined American Lit with American History into a single 3-hour class. But because I was science track, I opted for the regular, easier english and history classes that year. And I ended up with a different reading list because of it. So while all my friends read and fell in love with Bless Me Ultima, I was keeping busy with The Great Gatsby and Catcher in the Rye. (My friends probably read those, too. I think the advanced class had an expanded reading list, not a different one.)
Recently I saw this book on a best-of list, then encountered it at a used book store for $1. Which meant that I basically had to read it.
I think I may have enjoyed this book more had I read it in a classroom setting. It reads like a lot of the other books I read for school, heavy on the metaphor. And each chapter works fairly well as a stand-alone segment in the story. It's almost like a series of vignettes, tied together with a larger theme.
Bless Me Ultima follows young Antonio, who is just beginning school in New Mexico during WWII. An old healer, Ultima, comes to live out her last days with his family, and takes charge of his spiritual growth. She teaches him about his pagan heritage, which occasionally comes into conflict with what he's learning at the Catholic Church. Antonio is torn between his father's dream of moving west and his mother's desire that he settle down and become a farmer or a priest. He's also torn between the religions he's presented with as he tries to translate the external moral code of the church to the internal one he knows he'll need to rely on as an adult.
The language is a little flowery, which I like but not everyone does. I thought the descriptions of scenery and townsfolk did a good job of reflecting some of Antonio's internal struggles. Though his prophetic dreams tended to be a bit too on-the-nose. But overall, the book did a good job of talking about the struggle to identify yourself separate from your parents and their dreams for you. There was also some magic, which I always find enjoyable.
Recently I saw this book on a best-of list, then encountered it at a used book store for $1. Which meant that I basically had to read it.
I think I may have enjoyed this book more had I read it in a classroom setting. It reads like a lot of the other books I read for school, heavy on the metaphor. And each chapter works fairly well as a stand-alone segment in the story. It's almost like a series of vignettes, tied together with a larger theme.
Bless Me Ultima follows young Antonio, who is just beginning school in New Mexico during WWII. An old healer, Ultima, comes to live out her last days with his family, and takes charge of his spiritual growth. She teaches him about his pagan heritage, which occasionally comes into conflict with what he's learning at the Catholic Church. Antonio is torn between his father's dream of moving west and his mother's desire that he settle down and become a farmer or a priest. He's also torn between the religions he's presented with as he tries to translate the external moral code of the church to the internal one he knows he'll need to rely on as an adult.
The language is a little flowery, which I like but not everyone does. I thought the descriptions of scenery and townsfolk did a good job of reflecting some of Antonio's internal struggles. Though his prophetic dreams tended to be a bit too on-the-nose. But overall, the book did a good job of talking about the struggle to identify yourself separate from your parents and their dreams for you. There was also some magic, which I always find enjoyable.
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