In Bless Me, Ultima, Antonio, a young Latino New Mexican boy in the 1940s has a religious Catholic mother who wants him to be a farmer priest, while his dad is a cowboy. Meanwhile, a traditional woman named Ultima comes to live with his family, and she teaches him the spiritual aspects of nature, conflicting with the Catholicism his mother brings to him. Throughout this book, Antonio has inner conflicts in whether he is to be a priest or a cowboy when he grows up, or if he should embrace Catholicism or the power of nature through indigenous American beliefs. In the end, Ultima passes, and her dying words to him are to embrace everything rather than choose.
This book is perhaps one of the most interesting I have ever read. There are controversial topics presented. It especially connects to modern-day struggles, due to many Americans having multiple cultural influences, and struggling between following their culture and religion, versus adapting to modern-day popular culture. When reading this book, learning about the unique culture of Latinx New Mexican culture also fascinated me. You also learn some history about many people in New Mexico, tracing their ancestry back to when the Southwest America was still under Spanish control. This is a very good book to read because it discusses the reality of society, and how rarely anything is black and white. Due to all this, I give this book a five out of five.