Rudolfo Anaya (1937–2020)

"Alburquerqueis a rich and tempestuous book, full of love and compassion, the complex and exciting skullduggery of politics, and the age-old quest for roots, identity, family. . . . There is a marvelous tapestry of interwoven myth and magic that guides Anaya's characters' sensibilities, and is equally important in defining their feel of place. Above all, in this novel is a deep caring for land and culture and for the spiritual well-being of people, environment, landscape."--John Nichols, author ofThe Milagro Beanfield War: A Novel ". . .Alburquerqueportrays a quest for knowledge. . . . [It] is a novel about many cultures intersecting at an urban, power-, and politics-filled crossroads, represented by a powerful white businessman, whose mother just happens to be a Jew who has hidden her Jewishness, . . . and a boy from the barrio who fathers a child raised in the barrio but who eventually goes on to a triumphant assertion of his cross-cultural self."--World Literature Today "Alburquerquefulfills two important functions: it restores the missing R to the name of the city, and it shows off Anaya's powers as a novelist."--Alan Cheuse, National Public Radio… (more)

Growing up hurts, which is something no one ever says. "These are the best years of your life!" people say, which really means "my life isn't very exciting now that I'm older". Growing up means you can do more things, but as we age out of being children we're wounded in ways we don't even know hurt because we don't know enough to know what hurts yet.

Antonio Márez, six years old, lives with his father and mother in a small New Mexico town spread around a valley. He's torn in several directions in several ways: his father's family wants him to be a rancher, while his mother's family wants him to be a farmer; his mother wants him to be a priest, but he's not sure he understands the holy mysteries of Catholicism; his father wants to move with his family to California, yet his older brothers leave with this dream unrealized and Antonio with a burden to support his parents.

Six years old.

As the book progresses, it becomes something of a bildungsroman. Each chapter is a small part of the boy's life, some more influential to his character than others. Centrally, Ultima, a curandera (Native healer), comes to live with the Márez family. Ultima is known to Antonio's mother and father and was present at Antonio's birth. We slowly learn that Ultima does have some true power, seemingly where the church does not.

Tony follows the two paths, that of the curandera, which he seems fated to, and that of the priest, which seems to be forced upon him. Tony desperately wants to be a priest but assumes the Catholic answers will fall into his head. His faith in Ultima's abilities and knowledge seems much more natural.

The book hints at larger questions that Tony feels must have answers, but ultimately left me somewhat unfulfilled. The ending suggests that a melding of religion and folklore is the best path, but ends at that point. Ultima's character seems above it all (and honestly, the character is not more than a light sketch) and exists separate from Catholicism and in spite of it. In a world where Mexicans are slowly becoming Americans and learning English, Anaya convinces me of the problems but doesn't convince me of a solution.… (more)