Rating: 
Summary: Traditional Chicano Culture vs. Anglo Development Barons
Review: Humour is the #1 attraction of this now somewhat dated novel from the '70's , but it is also famous for history,ecology,political radicalism, the evocation of the American West and its characters,its guns.The #2 attraction is "people power" or how in a democracy people can come together and,at least for a short time, control their own destinies. The humour is on nearly every page; the Smokey the Bear santos riot stands out,but it is only one event among many. Nichols becomes somewhat serious when he writes about fly fishing for trout(though even this is a tall tale) ,river gorges, or pristine mountain lakes, but the rest is a hilarious romp through traditional Chicano vs. modern Anglo predatory culture in northern New Mexico. At times Nichols seems to be making fun of the idiosyncrasies of the traditional culture. Nichols casts traditional farmer and protagonist Joe Mondragon, who makes a spur-of-the-moment decision to illegally irrigate his beanfield, in a reluctant leadership role, but there are others who are more truly leaders. The novel is also a Noah's Ark of animals,birds,reptiles, insects and fish and Nichols seems to be telling us that these creatures share the world with us, a point that might be somewhat lost in the sequel "Nirvana Blues". There is a real conflict of cultures at the heart of "Milagro" and a serious political issue between the rich developers and their allies and the poor farmers regarding water rights in the parched Southwest. The same scenario has been played out in different ways all over America. In New Mexico, all the water rights have been diverted for 30 years to the rich farmers in the south. Although they have not won yet, it is suggested that the developers will win, and this novel is just an early round won by the traditional farmers. The reader should applaud this outcome. Both this novel and its sequel have probably deservedly assumed the rank of cult classics, but in the sequel the land developors have won making this a basically tragic novel, though it too seeks humour and occasionally finds it. It is also somewhat reminiscent of the Eagles' '70's classic "The Last Resort."
Rating:
Summary: Very funny, extremely accurate take on Northern NM cultures
Review: I had been living in Northern NM for about a year when I read The Milagro Beanfield War. I took it with me on a backpacking trip through the Pecos Wilderness. I had been completely bewildered by the wide variety of cultures surrounding me in my all-too-brief sojourn in the Santa Fe area. The Milagro Beanfield War, with its warm wit and characterisations, made all the little puzzle pieces I had been fumbling with come together--from the Taos real estate broker who told me at a party in White Rock that he didn't like to sell land to "those people" because "they just pull in a trailer and start raising chickens and pigs right there in their front yard--ruins the neighborhood" (he could have been a character in the book) to the reverence of my neighbors for the centuries-old practice of community care of the acequia. The magical internal lives of the local characters and the convoluted way in which the story is told are really part of the rich texture of the place -- nothing is ever straightforward or simple. That's the beauty of it. Read the book. The movie captures very beautifully what a movie can -- but there's so much more in the book! In particular, the female characters are even stronger, better and more interesting.
Rating:
Summary: Absolute magic
Review: I was sent a copy of this book aloong with "The Monkey Wrench Gang". Gang looked like it would be more fun so I read it first and thought it was great. Then I read "Beanfield". This book knocked my socks off. It was so funny and yet so poigniant I couldn't put it down. Much like Dickens, Nichols characters come to life right on the page. Only one other book hit me as hard and that was "Coockoos Nest". I went one step farther and wrote Nichols a letter and he responded with a hunt and pecked letter in response that is still one of my personnel treasures. Robert Redford thought it was a good story and so I must also thank him for making an unforgetable movie with fantastic music. Many Thanks to both of you for your vision and your genious. Mal Heffernan
Rating:
Summary: Dense and hilarious
Review: If you liked the fictional town of Grace, AZ in Barbara Kingsolver's "Animal Dreams" I can pretty much guarantee you'll LOVE the town of Milagro, NM. Although Kingsolver does an excellent job of creating sympathetic characters, I feel like she tends to over-simplify the "big issues"-- issues that Nichols has no problem tackling. "The Milagro Beanfield War" confronts substantive topics (like water rights) head on, but the story is also overflowing with colorful characters and subplots, so I am forced to disagree with the reviewers who say you can get through it in two days-- at least, I know I didn't. Although I recommend the movie as well (Ruben Blades is great!), it does not do justice to the book's complexity, nor is it as funny. If you have seen the movie and liked it at all, read this book. And if you haven't seen the movie, read the book first-- you won't regret it.
Rating:
Summary: Dense and hilarious
Review: If you liked the fictional town of Grace, AZ in Barbara Kingsolver's "Animal Dreams" I can pretty much guarantee you'll LOVE the town of Milagro, NM. Although Kingsolver does an excellent job of creating sympathetic characters, I feel like she tends to over-simplify the "big issues"-- issues that Nichols has no problem tackling. "The Milagro Beanfield War" confronts substantive topics (like water rights) head on, but the story is also overflowing with colorful characters and subplots, so I am forced to disagree with the reviewers who say you can get through it in two days-- at least, I know I didn't. Although I recommend the movie as well (Ruben Blades is great!), it does not do justice to the book's complexity, nor is it as funny. If you have seen the movie and liked it at all, read this book. And if you haven't seen the movie, read the book first-- you won't regret it.
Rating: 
Summary: Exhausting
Review: If your literary tastes run toward Hemingway, don't bother trying to wade through "The Milagro Beanfield War." Action and plot take a back seat to the exploration of characters and cultures here. On the other hand, if you enjoy Steinbeck or Updike, you will feel perfectly at home in this beautifully crafted novel. Nichols introduces us to nearly every inhabitant of the village of Milagro, as well as many of the non-natives involved in the story, and spends a great deal of time telling us their past stories, their habits and traits, and their thoughts and emotions. Through these people we also learn about their places in society, the cultures they inhabit and create, the land that they live on and how their lives are tied to that land. In reading this novel for the first time I found I often had to reread entire sections and chapters to make sure that I had, in fact, caught every detail and digested every piece of the story; somehow, if I glossed over something, I could sense that an important piece was missing. People, places, and cultures are really the heart of this novel. The story itself, about land-developers trying to find a delicate way to keep one native's illegal irrigation of a tiny beanfield from blowing out of control and destroying their resort development plans, moves forward only in drips and bits. Any particular scene or incident of note along the way is used largely to advance our understanding of the people and their cultures and conflicts and prejudices, and only tangentially happen to advance the story. By the end of the novel, you will probably get the sense that not much happened at all in the story, and you'd be right. If you come to this conclusion, however, spend some time thinking about what might have happened to your understanding of these "fictional" characters and the very real lands and cultures they live in. (Although this novel takes place in the Southwest United States at some time in the mid-1970's, astute readers will be able to transfer this character and culture study to other current conflicts in the world between American and native cultures in other countries. The basic themes and lessons of "Milagro" can apply nearly anywhere.) Nichols's gift for the written word is on its best display in this novel. Other books by Nichols are well written, but this one stands out in particular as his masterpiece. Read this book first before reading any of his other novels. If you decide to buy this book, plan on reading it two or three times. Every new pass will reveal things you missed or didn't quite catch the first time around and will enhance your enjoyment of the novel.
Rating:
Summary: Enchanting
Review: Now more than a quarter century since it was first published, The Milagro Beanfield War remains a wonderfully entertaining and humorous look at life in rural New Mexico. Although fictional, the little town of Milagro that John Nichols describes is like any of the small towns in the beautiful mountains of northern New Mexico - the kind of place where not much has changed in the last 50 years and probably not much will change in the next 50; the kind of place where everybody in town not only knows everbody else in town, but they also know everybody else's secrets (thanks to the archaic old party line phone system where anyone can listen in on anyone else's phone conversations). The residents of Milagro have been oppressed for years by Ladd Devine, rich developer and owner of the Ladd Devine Sheep Company. The "war" starts when Joe Mondragon, a stubborn and not-so-bright lifelong troublemaking resident of Milagro, decides to irrigate his father's old beanfield against the wishes of Devine, who obtained nearly all the water rights from Milagro farmers years ago. The sparks begin to fly almost immediately as the town's cast of eccentric characters debate whether to support Joe while Devine, the governor, and the state police try to decide how to react without inciting a riot among the residents of Milagro. All of the characters like Sammy Cantu, the town's mayor (who supported installing a single parking meter in town in hopes of getting enough revenue to pay for the sherrif's office), the one-armed Onofre Martinez who is the only resident to ever park in front of that meter, and the slightly insane Seferino Pacheco, owner of a giant pet pig that is constantly getting loose and wreaking havoc around town, provide plenty of laughs while the "war" rages on. Nichols describes the simple life and beauty of northern New Mexico masterfully, making it possible to almost feel the cool mountain air and taste the enchiladas while enjoying the exploits of the town's residents. If you've ever wondered why New Mexico is called the Land of Enchantment, read this book.
Rating:
Summary: Exhausting
Review: The book seemed tiring, drawn out, depressing and pointless. Without much of a plot, more like a 'day in the life', I was hoping for character studies woven into the northern New Mexico culture and lifestyle, but couldn't get past the pointless, helpless, hopeless, and frankly disturbing actions and interactions of these folks. (Maybe that in itself was the point) Perhaps symbolic, the constant barrage of dead, dying, maimed and killed animals was disturbing and distracting. Good commentary on Anglo vs Hispanic, rich vs poor, yuppies vs locals, past vs present, but the book simply WORE ME OUT!
Rating:
Summary: A classic
Review: This book tells the struggle of a lower-class New Mexico town of Native Americans as it tries to regain back lost land and, inevitably, a heritage. It begins with the farmer Joe Mondragon, as he proceeds to irrigate one of his fields, contrary to regulation. The characters are vibrant and alive, and even though I could not sympathize with their plight, I felt sympathetic towards them.
This book is laugh-out-loud funny. I read this book for the first time a few years ago; in a waiting room I couldn?t stop laughing and I got a few stares from some other people. But its a book that you won?t forget; each time I read it, I come away with something new, something that makes me think ?aha...? And I always feel as if I have read it for the first time, even though I know what will happen. Its a wonderful innovation of characters and plot that always keeps me turning pages.
There are some characters in this book that you simply cannot put out of your mind. There is, of course, Joe Mondragon, the farmer who irrigates his field. I also loved Pacheco?s pig, who keeps destroying everybody?s crops. Also memorable is Mercedes Real, Harlan Betchel?s crazy mother, who keeps pelting the people of the towns with stones, and Herbie Goldfarb, the VISTA volunteer from New York who fits in to this rustic life about as well as a cactus would in the steppes of Russia. I guarantee that this will be a book that you will treasure.
Rating:
Summary: The Karl Marx Brothers in Nuevo Mexico
Review: This is a truly enjoyable book, a fun read full of interesting, quirky characters, revealed in a mini class-war. The peace-loving agrarians of Milagro find themselves oppressed by the city slickers & suits who draw up water-compacts & grazing regulations. Slowly, but certainly, they're being squeezed off their ancestral lands, having their buccolic lifestyle eroded by the landed, the government, and the wealthy. But this is not a grim, revolutionary novel, full of dogma and bloodshed. It's a tale of a bunch of characters, who really just want to be left alone, backed against the wall and making their last stand. Who couldn't cheer for Cleofas or Joe Mondragon? Who doesn't want to drop El Zopilote into the Rio Grande with cement shoes? The protagonists seduce you into their stories, and their enemies are disgusting precisely because they are so removed, because they are so ordinary, so boring. Nichols demonstrates to us that authentic people work the land, work their jobs, lead their lives, and that their lives are worthy of storytelling. In our dominator culture, the wealthy are the powerful. Their lives, while pampered & protected, are dull, uninteresting. We only care about them when our heroes stop bending over for them and say "enough is enough." Look deeply within yourself & see just how much of Joe Mondragon you carry. Now, log off the internet & see if you can live a life worthy of Milagro. Five stars for characterization. Five stars of making a tired plot (underdogs vs. oppressors) so much fun. Five stars for a gentle, funny read that worms its way into your heart. (If you'd like to comment on this review, click on the "about me" link above & email me. Thanks!)
|
