BLESS ME, ULTIMA

If you haven’t encountered Rudolfo Anaya’s classic 1972 novel in another form, there could hardly be a better introduction than this fluid performance by Robert Ramirez. Tony Marez is a bright Mexican-American boy growing up in the late 1940s in a family full of contradictions. His father’s people are wanderers; his mother’s are farmers. His mother hopes Tony will be a priest, yet she takes into the household the aged curandera, Ultima, whose healing powers are decidedly pre-Christian. There are curses placed and broken; there are deaths natural and unnatural to understand; there are hopes fulfilled and dreams broken. Kudos to all involved in this moving tale of growth, belief, and the nature and sources of goodness. B.G. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award, 2005 Audie Award Finalist © AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine [Published: DEC 04/ JAN 05]