“The best-known and most-respected contemporary Chicano fiction.” – New York Times With exquisite prose and wondrous storytelling, this coming of age classic follows a young boy as he questions his faith and beliefs in family, religion, and other aspects of his Chicano culture. Antonio Marez is six years old when Ultima comes to stay with his family in New Mexico. She is a curandera, one who … Mexico. She is a curandera, one who cures with herbs and magic. Under her wise wing, Tony will probe the family ties that bind and rend him, and he will discover himself in the magical secrets of the pagan past-a mythic legacy as palpable as the Catholicism of Latin America. And at each life turn there is Ultima, who delivered Tony into the world…and will nurture the birth of his soul.
The winner of the Pen Center West Award for Fiction for his unforgettable novel Alburquerque, Rudolfo Anaya’s rich and compassionate writing about the Mexican American experience has helped cement him as the father of Chicano literature in English.
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Sometimes an acclaimed writer has to die before I pay attention. I hate to admit it but it’s true.
Such was the case when legendary author Rudolfo Anaya passed away June 28, 2020. He left behind his wife, Patricia Lawless, the one champion who encouraged him early on to keep working on his first novel. Through several drafts, he attempted to …
I found this book captivating. It draws the reader into a world of harsh reality and of fantasy. I found the dream at the end a bit long and overdrawn, but the rest of the book was amazing.