Bless Me, Ultima

Rating:
Summary: Bless Me, Ultima
Review: This is the coming of age story of Antonio, a young boy lost in his search for religion and torn between his parents' expectations of him. I was required to read this book for school and did not enjoy it as much as some of the other books that I have read. The plot is somewhat dry and not very exciting. What was interesting was the character development throughout the book and what each character represented in Antonio's life. I'm not sure I would recommend this book to others but you may want to read it if you are interested in culture and religion.

Rating:
Summary: Mystic and Stunning
Review: I was impressed by this book. I found the langnuage as goreous as ever, and the story was beautiful itself. It contains scenes I will concider forever some of the most beautiful I will ever imagine.
Strangely enough, this isn't my kind of book though.

Rating:
Summary: Once upon a time in New Mexico
Review: A middlebrow Marquez for the masses. It lacks the mythic depth of "A Hundred Years of Solitude" and indeed, is not so finely written. But, it positively brims with ethnicity. So critics were able to let loose with their pent-up 'Poet of the Barrio' and 'Chicano masterpiece'. The market was hungry for ethnicity and Anaya provided it in spades. We even get chapters numbered 'Uno', 'Dos', and so on, along with bowls of atole (I had to look that up on the Internet) for breakfast and much gathering of herbs and roots along the riverbank, all to reassure us how authentic it all is. The result is an uneasy mixture of supernatural thriller and idyllic memoir, wicked witches and cute children, "Halloween" meets "Huckleberry Finn". At one point, there is a huge continuity error, with the boy talking to his father and in the next sentence with his friends on the way to school. How did the editors miss that? But it has its merits. The scenes with the priest are convincing and memorable. Best of all, you get to learn some colorful Spanish vocabulary that you won't find in the dictionary. Bottom line; if you have an interest in Chicano (Mexican American) culture, read this, but if you are looking for great Latino literature, read Gabriel Garcia Marquez.