Jennifer S. reviewed on 10/8/2009

This is a moving and powerful coming-of-age novel. I read it because of the publicity surrounding "The Big Read" this fall, and I was very glad that I did. Rudolfo Anaya depicts a young boy's struggles with the perilous and difficult charge of becoming a man with a blend of poetry, mysticism, violence and sensitivity. The title character, a respected curandera (or, as some would have it, bruja, or witch), is an archetype of wisdom, as much a part of the bleak, mysterious landscape of New Mexico as is her owl familiar. The religious/mystical elements of the book were my favorite part. The protagonist, Tony, is challenged by the obviously beneficial power of Ultima's indigenous beliefs (reinforced by a new-made myth of the Golden Carp); his devoutly Catholic mother hopes he will become a priest, but even as he reveres the loving Virgen de Quadelupe and fears the power of the Church, Tony worries about the apparent weakness of the priests in the face of evil. Woven among Tony's personal decisions and challenges are narrative threads about the decline of the vaquero (cowboy) lifestyle, the trauma of WWII, the tragedies of migrant farm workers, and the temptations of puberty. Some scenes, such as the raucous Christmas pageant, are infused with the rough hilarity of young boys; Anaya follows this comic passage, however, with a story of deeply affecting tragedy.
Altogether, this is a complex and affecting novel.

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