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Yesica

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Bless Me, Ultima

by Rudolfo Anaya

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Yesica said:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

" Let’s be straight forward with this book. The reason I read “Bless Me, Ultima” was because we have reading clubs in my AP English class. We had a variety from where we can choose from. When my teacher gave us a brief summary about the book and the ma Let’s be straight forward with this book. The reason I read “Bless Me, Ultima” was because we have reading clubs in my AP English class. We had a variety from where we can choose from. When my teacher gave us a brief summary about the book and the main idea it focuses on, I thought it was pretty interesting. Coming from a young chicana girl, I thought it would be cool to read from another chicano’s perspective. Not only would I be able to relate, but I would also not get bored and tired from reading this book.

When I first saw the book cover, it caught my attention. To start off, who would not pay attention to a woman dressed black from head to toe walking away with a little boy? You would think he’s being kidnapped or something and that is always something interesting to read about. Second, the pink and reddish colored portrayed as the ground. If you just see the picture it seems as if they are going on an adventure. At last, the font of the words. The big, khaki, and bold letters stand out. The font gives it a chicano type of style because of the pattern it has inside the letters. If the cover look interesting, the more we wonder how it is inside right?

Out of all the books i’ve read, this one has stood out to me more. I like how Anaya describes things. It can be the most simplest thing and he will describe it as if it’s poetry. That influences how we see the main character, Antonio. Let’s keep in mind that Antonio is a 6 year-old boy. The way that he describes stuff we know that Antonio is such an open minded kid.

What most of us can relate to is how Antonio’s family has a bunch of expectations. Both parents want Antonio to be a certain thing. Antonio’s family respect the art of curanderismo which is what Ultima, a curandera who heals people, believes and practices. Ultima influences Antonio’s religious beliefs. As much as his Mom wants him to be a priest, Antonio seems to doubt God’s power and compares it with Ultima’s. Antonio and Ultima’s relationship is a great one. As they go through a lot of stuff together, Antonio is still trying to find himself. I can say that Ultima showed him how to be more of a man than his father did.

Revenge is a big topic in this book. A bunch of people in the village believe that Ultima is a witch. Someone who is steady after Ultima is Tenorio, an evil saloon-keeper and father of three witches. Conflict happens between both throughout the book. Tenorio can’t seem to bring Ultima down.

The ending of the book seems to be stronger than the beginning. Ultima made this book be “wow”. Some of what is in the book is part of what he went through. Just like Florentino drowned, Anaya had an incident while swimming where he fractured his neck and regained movement throughout the time. Anaya also comes from a family where his Dad was a vaquero and was surrounded with that farming life. Antonio’s Dad is the same. Anaya was surrounded by his sister while his 2 brothers were fighting in WWII. Antonio’s brothers were also off into WWII. The fact that most of it is based on real life events makes it cool and interesting. Thumbs up for this book. ...more "

May 10, 2017 05:42PM · see review