I didn't really enjoy reading Bless Me, Ultima. I have difficulty believing how Antonio a seven-year-old boy could deal with the problems that emerge in the story. The conflicts and situations presented in the novel are surreal and overly exaggerated. Antonio is only a child, yet he has already experienced complex issues.

At a very young age, Antonio has already lost his innocence. He witnesses murders, witchery and curses, menacing threats, and also experiences the traumatizing death of his mentor and good friend, Ultima. I don't agree with a mere kid growing up and being involved in such vile situations.

The story builds the plot around Antonio, and him being a mature child, yet I don't grasp why at his age a child could already be torn up between two opposing heritages, Antonio tries to fuse these together to become his own person, and begins his quest to search for his destiny and discovery of his own beliefs. Antonio's mother, Maria pressures and influences her child to follow the beliefs and customs of her people; she wants him to accept the doctrines of the Catholic Church and the ideals and traditions of the farmers. Antonio's mother meddles with his destiny trying to make him become something that he truly doesn't want to be, a Luna priest.

Antonio is then exposed to a new belief, Mysticism. I actually enjoyed the mystic powers of Ultima and her cures. The belief in the spiritual nature of life is taught to Antonio by Ultima, her teachings about magic and the mysteries of the earth- opens him up to new views. His friends Cico and Samuel teach him the legend of the golden carp. This new belief unlocks more problems for Antonio because now he has an alternate spiritual belief, and now he is faced with the issue of how to let his new belief in the golden carp coexist with his belief in the catholic god.

Overall, the novel is not one that I particularly enjoyed. The aspects that I generally agreed with were those of the mysticism of Ultima her powers and teachings; her character is a very wise woman. There are quality messages and thoughts in the novel. But there are things that do not concord, like those of Antonio's age, knowledge and experience.