|
I bought this book from an Amazon.com auction, thinking to myself, "Great, another long drawn out reading assignment that doesn't really interest me." What I got, though, was an afternoon and a half of one of my new all time favorite books. Bless Me, Ultima is a story about a young boy, Antonio Marez and his struggles with his own destiny. Ultima is a cuarandera, a type of shaman, who comes to live with the Marez family. She already knows what Antonio's destiny is. His family, however, is at odds with this. His mother thinks he should become a priest, his father wants him to become a cowboy. Ultima takes Antonio and teaches him to collect herbs. He feels very spiritual. Throughout this book, Antonio has many conflicts between his spiritual self, his Catholic self, and the fact that there may be no God. One of his friends is atheist. His other friend, Jason, also tells him the tale of a golden carp and later takes him to the river to see it.
He witnesses several deaths in the book, also causing him to question his God. He is frightened, but Ultima helps him to understand. I thought he had to deal with a lot for only being 6! He sneaks to the river against his father's wishes and witnesses some men attack Lupito, a man accused of killing a friend of Antonio's brother. He prays for the man, even though he knows he is a murderer. Antonio goes to school and is taunted for living with a witch. His brothers come home from the war, and it is obvious that they have changed.
Then, Antonio's Uncle gets ill. Ultima finds out he is cursed, and decides that Antonio should help her get rid of the curse. A man by the name of Tenorio has 3 daughters. They are bad witches and are accused of making the uncle ill. Tenorio wants revenge. A friend of the family, Narcisco, is then killed by Tenorio- from the bushes, Antonio witnesses this murder! He gets very sick and Ultima nurses him back to health.
Then, he gets ready for his first communion. He hopes that this will help him figure out his spirituality. While at cathecism, he plays like a priest and hears confessions from his friends. He absolves the sins of his atheist friend, Florence, and the other boys beat him up. Later, Florence ends up drowning in the river.
Ultima teaches Antonio that there are many different religions, but not one of them is absolute. She teaches him how to balance his spirituality with his religion and how to have faith in himself. This conflict, catholicism vs. other types of religions, is a continuing theme in this book and is the biggest conflict Antonio faces. Ultima has an owl, her eyes, and after trying to trample Antonio with his horse, Tenorio tells Antonio he is going to kill the owl. He shoots it and then tries to shoot Antonio, but Pedro kills Tenorio. Antonio takes the owl to Ultima, who is dying, and tells Antonio he must burn all of her possesions after she dies and bury the owl under the juniper. She says that her and Tenorio's death just balance harmony and for Antonio not to mess with destiny. She then blesses him in the name of good, and dies. Antonio does what she has asked him.
At the end of the book, I felt that Antonio would probably grow up to be not a priest, but like Ultima, some sort of shaman. He definetly had a busy summer! This book was a great read and had great examples of the culture- religious beliefs, family traditions, superstitions. I recommend it! 5 Stars
|
