Rating: 
Summary: Bless Me Ultima - Unbelievably Stupid
Review: This book is simply outrageous! A young boy who chooses to worship an idol called the "golden carp" instead of God? Anaya is on some kind of substance. This is a book that many young high schoolers are forced to read for English. What a waste of time!!!
Rating: 
Summary: A Hispanic boy¿s coming-of-age story
Review: Set in NM on the border between a small village and the huge llano (plains), Bless Me, Ultima is Rudolfo Anaya's much acclaimed and award-winning coming-of-age novel from the Hispanic perspective. Antonio is torn betw his father's cowboy side of the family who ride on the llano and his mother's village and farming relations. Many conflicts are presented here: Hispanic vs American culture, Catholicism vs paganism, parents' expectations vs the child's desires, Spanish blood vs native blood.Antonio's life is forever altered when his aunt Ultima, a curandera (healer) comes to live with the family; she teaches Antonio many things, most importantly how to gather the self-knowledge that will help carry him into adulthood.
Rating: 
Summary: This is a classic? Literature's going down the drain if so..
Review: I had to read this book for 8th grade English. I hated it. Everybody in my class and the other classes who read it hated it. I think that every book you're required to read, you have a sort of prejudice against. But, I'm reading Ordinary People now for 9th grade English and I can tell I'm going to love it. I think that since I live in New Mexico, and Rudolfo Anaya is a really acclaimed author of the state, we should "appreciate" this book. I'm sorry. I just can't do it. I can't see why this is a classic. I guess it was an okay book, but even so, I hated it. Not because it was necessarily bad. Actually, I'm not sure why. Anyway, I have some opinions worth disagreeing with myself. I loved (LOVED) The Catcher in the Rye; others hated it. See for yourself.
Rating: 
Summary: Captivating!
Review: As soon as you start reading the book, you can see how the style of writing draws you into the story. The details in the story make you feel that you are part of that boy's life. You laugh, you become scared, your heart beats fast, or you can't help but feel the experiences. It's an excellent book for people that like folk tales of México, healers (curanderas/os), suspense, ghost stories, and the magic of being young. It is a fast book to read, too. You might not be able to put down...
Rating: 
Summary: Okay
Review: This book had some interesting parts, but was otherwise fairly dull and mysterious.
Rating:
Summary: Book is pretty good
Review: This was a required book for school, it had an interesting plot and theme, but otherwise wasn't a book I'd pick to read.
Rating:
Summary: Absolutly Great Book
Review: Bless Me Ultima was a wonderful book. I loved the fact that the author possesed so much talent to put such a vivid picture in my mind. There never was a dull or boring moment in the book. I was captured by the tale of a young boy from New Mexico. I absolutly adore this book it was well worth reading.
Rating:
Summary: Great Book
Review: I really enjoyed the book, it was actually fun to read. It is also funny if you are catholic because some of the scenes in the book remind you of your family.
Rating:
Summary: it's really a pretty good book
Review: this was required reading at my school and it does get boring at times, i admit it. but the ending was worth the read i think. basically the poetry is what you will like the book for. anaya uses his words so beautifully that reading "bless me, ultima" is an experience you will not soon forget.
Rating:
Summary: An excellent story of faith and culture
Review: Bless Me, Ultima is ultimately a novel about belief. In Southwestern America, there are many systems of belief which compete for the devotion of an individual--Catholicism brought by the Spanish, polytheism which has existed for thousands of years, and the worship and adoration of nature itself. This book is a story of a young man, Tony, and his quest for truth. He encounters all of these systems of belief, and endures a great deal of suffering in his youth. These experiences mold him, and the book focuses on his attempt to find the great truth amidst so much hardship and among so many types of faith.
Anaya is a great storyteller, and this book certainly does not lack in action. The supernatural element is very strong, and very compelling, and the novel leaves a strong impression of unity and harmony with nature, even in the face of a very real and very powerful evil. This struggle of faith is very well represented in the book.
I do have a few objections to the book. First of all, Tony is a VERY young man, yet he seems to have a maturity level that few adults ever achieve. He speaks very correctly, and ponders things which no seven year old kid has probably ever dreamed of. Also, the actual story is sometimes a little shaky, such as when Narciso is murdered and the jury rules it a suicide (though they found no gun anywhere near where he was shot to death). These are relatively small objections, though, and do not detract from a good book.
This novel is worth reading, even if most of the characters ask questions that don't end with a question mark. Hey, no writer is perfect. It is certainly worth reading, and provides an interesting insight to the unique culture of the Southwest.
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