Bless Me, Ultima

Rating:
Summary: Review
Review: Bless me, Ulyima was like book like I have never read, it started off slow and gradually got more exciting. I had two opinions toward the book, one is positive and one is negitive. I liked this book because Antonio was like myself as a child. He is a small kid who is trying to find the truth of his faith. This cahracter was not perfect like most characters, but he portrayed as an innocent little boy. He was a sneaky little child who followed his father everywhere and got into fights at school. THe side of the book I disliked was the way he potrayed the Catholic Church. It seemed like there were cuss words than any other book I have ever read. I thingk he showed many bad sides of the Catholic Church including the way we pray. I don't think I would read another book by Rudolfo Anaya because it was very confusing getting into the novel. I also would read his work because of the cuss words. I would rate this book as a 3 star because of my conflicting opinions on the book.

Rating:
Summary: Bless Me Ultima Review
Review: In my opinion, Bless Me Ultima was a different book to me. It is different from other books i've read.
This story is about a young boy named Antonio. He lives in Las Pasturas, New Mexico with his 2 sisters, his mom and his dad (Maria and Gabriel). His 3 other brothers are away at war. Antonio's grandma comes to live with Antonio and his family because she is too old to take care of herself.
It starts off slow but in the middle and end of the story is when everything happens.
In the story, Antonio, who is only turning 7, has trouble deciding what he wants to be when he grows up. When Ultima comes to lives with them she has a major influence on Antonio's life. Since Ultima is a curandura, a person who heals people using herbs, Antonio is mostly around Ultima most of the time so it effects what Antonio's mothers dreams are. Antonio's mother wants him to be a priest because she thinks he can be the most successful one out of the family.
Each person has their own little accomplishment that they want. Antonio's father, Gabriel, wants to move to California with his sons to get away from the small town. Antonio's 3 older brothers want to move away from their family and live their own life alone after coming back from the war because they think that they are old enough. Ultima wants to teach Antonio about being a curandura but his mother wants him to be a priest.
This story basically teaches about religion and good verses evil. Also about life. Antonio struggles with life, what he wants to be when he grows up. Ultima and Tenorio represent good verses evil in the story. Tenorio is angry because he thinks Ultima put a curse on him and his family and he thinks that he caused his daughters to get sick and die. Tenorio rebells throughout the story against Ultima and he won't let go of his beliefs. He says that he wants to kill Ultima and will some day.
Gabriel is really hard headed about things. He always wants things his own way, but at the end of the story he changes and he is more understanding about Antonio and his family.
Overall, I think this story teaches about life and religion. It is a good book if you are really intrested in religion.

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Summary: bless me ultima review
Review: Bless Me Ultima was something new to me. I learn alot about the culure and background about spanish culture and religion. It is a very spiritual book about a 7 year-old (Antonio) journey of growing in the town of El Puerto. He is then rejoiced and joined by the goodness of Ultima. Ultima in the story plays as his guider and mentor about his beliefs and life in his environment. As a little kid growing up he has alot of questions and is very curious about his beliefs. Throughout the novel he tries to find himself, comes across many decisions that effects the way he is. He encounters many people and many deaths (this is too much for a little boy) but still these occurence helps him through his way of being a man. He tries see points of view and and contrast whats good and bad. He is influenced by people and see's the actions of other people; as Ultima symbolizes good and Tenorio as evil. He becomes in touch with internal conflicts of what to do with his life, since his parents want two separate things they want him to be. I recommend this book for anyone who trying to understand how things are because you may relate to it. Many times in life we don't see the good or bad side and we go through life questioning why things happen to you; this book it will keep you in touch with your spirituality.

Rating:
Summary: Bless Me, Ultima
Review: Bless Me, Ultima is an interesting story of a boy, named Antonio, who grows up during World War II. He has to overcome many obstacles, and has the help of Ultima, a good witch, to guide him to the correct path.
I don't like this book, because it is boring, and does not catch my attention. If it were more suspenseful, it might be a better book.
I reccommend this book to anybody that likes slow books, and can keep focused on the story.

Rating:
Summary: Bless Me Ulitima
Review: I rate this book a 6.5 on a ;scale of 0-10. Personally I wouldn't read any of his other books because this book really didn't interest me. I didn't see much plot into it and I like books where everything come together and you start realizing on page 199 why something happened on page 9. Bless Me Ultima didn't have much of that, but what it did have was the ability to describe each and every character in a way that you can actually see the events and occurring in your head in such detail that you start believing that there is really a Golden Carp. This is the only reason Bless Me Ultima scored as high as it did. I wouldn't even recommend this book to a friend unless he wanted to learn a few choice words in Spanish and has already read all of the Harry Potter Books (that was a joke). Because the book couldn't keep my interest at the beginning, I would not think of it being a food movie also. I do admit that there was a point (well a few points) in the book where I could not put it down. And for that, I will give it an extra 0.5 points. So my final rating on the book is a 7 of 10.

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Summary: Cyn's Bless Me, Ultima Review
Review: I have to say I really enjoyed this book. I also have to say that I have learned a lot from it. It's the kind of book that I can relate to. Antonio is out to find his way and is growing up and so am I. He posed questions that challenged his faith and so have I at a point in my life. I can relate because even though I'm 15 going on 16 I have felt the way Antonio felt and sometimes still do. I guess you can say I saw a bit of myself in this book, although I have never seen anyone die, I have never gotten into a fight, and I have never met or lived with a curandera. I so recommend this book to anyone because the theme in this book of how hard it is to grow up is one I think we can all relate to. I think we've all been at a point in our lives where we have so many questions, yet the answers don't come when we want, or we don't understand them. Then the whole parent thing. Antonio's parents had plans for his future without really considering what Antonio wanted. I think there are some of us who's parents have a career they want us to follow, but we don't because we want to do something else with our life. Even though I was forced to read this book for a class, I have to say I'm glad I read it.

Rating:
Summary: Let me wake up from my deep sleep
Review: "Bless Me Ultima" was a story that always put be to sleep. If I needed a nap, this story never let me down. It took me hours to read just a few pages. I would sit down to read the book and then after a few minutes my eyes would get heavy and dry and the story never helped me wake up. I would rather sit around looking at the ceiling and counting how many holes there are in it. Or maybe even see how many fibers I could count in the carpet. Any of those things were more interesting than "Bless Me Ultima".

The story was so boring. It's about a 7 year old boy who can't decide whether he should be a priest and a farmer like his mom wants him to be or a vaquero like his father wants him to be. Personally, I wouldn't be wondering what I want to be when I grow up at seven years old. I would be out back climbing trees and walls and playing tag with friends and riding my bicycle around. When he finally decides that he wants to follow his mother's dream, then he starts questioning the meaning and the warrant of religion. This is another thing that a seven year old wouldn't be doing in his free time or anytime at all. The story was obviously told from an older person's view and should be portrayed in that older person's view.

Another annoying thing about the book was the frequent use of Spanish throughout the dialogue. I don't speak Spanish so this put a real hamper on my pleasure of reading the book (if any at all). The Spanish always ruined the mood of the events happening. It made you stop and think, "What is this person trying to say."

I was waiting the whole book for it to get interesting, but it never did. There started to be a little bit of action towards the end of the story, but then it stopped with the end of the book.

Another thing I didn't enjoy was the frequent use of symbolism. I am not a fan of symbolism. I wish that writers could just tell it as it is without having to show it as something else.

The only reason why I gave this book one star was because that was the least that I could give it. If I had a chance to, I would rather give it no stars. I guess you could say that that one star was for giving me long nights of great sleep.

Thanks everyone for hearing me out.
-MACKEY

Rating:
Summary: Bless Me, Ultima needs more blessings...
Review: I realize that this book has certain interesting twists and a few engrossing segments, but I believe this book, as a whole, to be a terrible waste of time. This book was filled with prostitution, witchcraft, and blasphemous ideals. I believe that any story that needs prostitutes and brothels to carry on its story is a terribly pitiful piece of work. The theme of the book dealt with witchcraft, voodoo, and devil worship. I was personally offended by the use of several different blasphemous suggestions and thoughts. Just the consideration that voodoo and magic is more powerful than God was upsetting to me. This novel, in several instances, puts down all beliefs in God, as a friendly being, by portraying him as an overbearing, uncompassionate, and unforgiving dictator who only brings suffering and toys with people's emotions and personal lives for no particular reason.
This book had way too many little stories put together into one big story, and this made it even more of a bore. The book seemed to go on and on, without really having a good ending to tie it all together. Antonio's questions about God were never answered, and the book ends with a woman, who has been proved to be a witch, blessing a little boy. Another thing that hurt this book's refinement was its incessant use of vulgar language. Throughout the book, nearly every character and especially the children used horrible language that, if in a Hollywood film, would ensure an R rating. All of the reasons I have mentioned are obvious reasons why I would not recommend this book to anyone. I would actually go so far as to warn people not to read this sad, literary flop.

Rating:
Summary: Bless Me Ultima- bien or bad?
Review: I just completed Bless Me Ultima as a required reading for my sophmore english class. Did I find this book to be all it is cracked up to be? Let's take a look:
This story is about a seven year old hispanic boy, Antonio and the stuggles and decisions he has to make as he grows older. The story really begins when a dear family friend, Ultima (also known as La grande) come to live with Antonio's family. Ultima is a well known curnadera; one of the best around, however, many people believe that she is a witch, who's work the evil of the devil. Because of this, she is put under public scrutiny. Many want to kill her, a man named Tenorio being of the most eager to put her to death. Antonio, already at witt's end, trying to decide which life path to choose, along with his questions about God and his beliefs, takes on the added burden of defending Ultima, as well as taking the wrath of learning and supporting her ways.
Good storyline? Yes...however, Rudolfo Anaya is known as one of the best chicano authors of his time, and that he is. The book involves a lot of spanish, which causes the non speakers to miss out on parts of the book. I'm not sure about you, but I like to understand what im reading. It was not a bad book, but I would only recommend it to native speakers. It would be more interesting if you understood the language used, and the religious aspects involved. I got so caught up trying to understand the words and the rituals, that I couldn't fully concentrate on the story before me.
Bless Me Ultima has a good storyline and the author is a good writer, but interest will be lost unless you understand the language used and the customs performed. The above is why I give Bless Me Ultima three stars.

Rating:
Summary: Bless Me, Ultima
Review: I'm not so sure I really enjoyed the way Rudolfo Anaya wrote this story. I think he does an exceptional job of portraying a young child going through the maturing process in a Hispanic community but seemed to forget how old he was. The reason I add Hispanic is because many of his customs and the way he thinks and acts is because of his Hispanic heritage. I think this book would make a good movie, but only if the director was able to find actors that could portray the characters well enough. It could be done, but it would be hard.
I think Anaya chose to make the main character too young. A seven-year-old boy just doesn't think about the things that Antonio does. Most of the time I forgot that he was only seven, then it hit me again and I was shocked. Also, some of the events he makes the child go through are very devastating, but he seems to take them in stride, using them to help make his decisions.
I think it's an interesting book. You should read it for yourself though; I don't want to tell you what it is or isn't. I think everyone should make his or her own decision on this one.