Buy New

or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
or
Amazon Prime Free Trial required. Sign up when you check out. Learn More
Buy Used
Used - Like New See details
$7.99 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details

or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
 
   
More Buying Choices
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
Alburquerque: A Novel
 
See larger image
 
Tell the Publisher!
I'd like to read this book on Kindle

Don't have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here, or download a FREE Kindle Reading App.

Alburquerque: A Novel [Paperback]

Rudolfo Anaya (Author)
3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)

List Price: $17.95
Price: $13.46 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details
You Save: $4.49 (25%)
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
In Stock.
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Gift-wrap available.
Only 20 left in stock--order soon (more on the way).
Want it delivered Monday, January 30? Choose One-Day Shipping at checkout. Details

Formats

Amazon Price New from Used from
Hardcover --  
Paperback $13.46  

Book Description

February 16, 2006
Alburquerque is 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 of The Milagro Beanfield War: A Novel

'. . . Alburquerque portrays 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

'Alburquerque fulfills 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


Frequently Bought Together

Alburquerque: A Novel + Tortuga: A Novel + Randy Lopez Goes Home: A Novel (Chicana & Chicano Visions of the Americas Series)
Price For All Three: $43.12

Show availability and shipping details

Buy the selected items together
  • In Stock.
    Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
    Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details

  • Tortuga: A Novel $14.96

    In Stock.
    Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
    Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details

  • Randy Lopez Goes Home: A Novel (Chicana & Chicano Visions of the Americas Series) $14.70

    In Stock.
    Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
    Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details


Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought


Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Chicano novelist Anaya's explosive study of political patronage and the search for ethnic roots takes its title from a New Mexican legend. In 1880, an Anglo stationmaster reportedly took the first R out of Albuquerque's name, a move that symbolized the emasculation of the Mexican way of life. Set in the present, this absorbing novel focuses on a young boxer, fair-skinned Abran Gonzales, who is shattered by the revelation that his parents adopted him. He meets his real Anglo mother, dying of cancer, on her deathbed, then sets out on a quest for his Mexican father--who, the reader quickly learns, is Abran's acquaintance, the writer/professor Ben Chavez. Unscrupulous, rich lawyer Frank Dominic becomes Abran's manager, promising that he will hire a detective to locate Abran's father and reveal his identity to the slugger during the big comeback fight of his career. Dominic, a con artist who wants to turn Albuquerque into a Venice-like tourist trap, complete with casino-lined canals, is running for mayor against Marisa Martinez, an independent maverick. Dominic acquires nude photos of Martinez in compromising positions, which threatens to derail Abran's true romance and the city's future. Anaya ( Tortuga ) spins a touching love story woven into a tale of treachery, a microcosm of the social and economic dislocations squeezing the American Southwest.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

In his fifth novel, the best-selling author of Bless Me, Ultima ( LJ 2/1/73) sets an archetypal quest for the father in the city of "Alburquerque" (according to Anaya, the legendary spelling of the name), in which various characters vie for political power. Abran Gonzalez, a former Golden Gloves champion unaware that he was adopted, learns this secret from his biological mother on the night she dies. The revelation triggers a search for his father's identity that involves New Mexican politicos, a Rocky -like boxing match, and a man who believes his ancestors were bears. Other main characters also have murky ancestry; one Italian American even tries to prove that he was descended from the Duke of Albu(r)querque. At times melodramatic, the work has an intense spirituality that ultimately makes it mesmerizing. Highly recommended.
- Harold Augenbraum, Mer cantile Lib., New York
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

  • Paperback: 286 pages
  • Publisher: University of New Mexico Press (February 16, 2006)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0826340598
  • ISBN-13: 978-0826340597
  • Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 x 0.8 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #328,721 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Rudolfo Anaya is professor emeritus of English at the University of New Mexico. He was one of the first winners of the Premio Quinto Sol National Chicano literary award. Winner of the PEN Center USA West Award for Fiction for his novel Alburquerque, he is best-loved for his classic bestseller Bless Me, Ultima. His other works include Zia Summer, Rio Grande Fall, Jalamanta, Tortuga, Heart of Aztlan , and The Anaya Reader. He has also written numerous short stories, essays, and children's books, including The Farolitos of Christmas and Maya's Children.

 

Customer Reviews

14 Reviews
5 star:
 (6)
4 star:
 (3)
3 star:
 (3)
2 star:
 (1)
1 star:
 (1)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
3.9 out of 5 stars (14 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Boxing versus Maturation, October 20, 2002
By 
Neil Scott Mcnutt (New York, NY United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Alburquerque (Paperback)
This book,copyrighted in 1992,precedes the trilogy about detective Sonny Baca beginning with Zia Summer (1995), and then Rio Grande Fall (1996), and the latest Shaman Winter (1999). I read Alburquerque after these three novels and enjoyed them all very much, but I feel that it would have been better to read Alburquerque first before the Sonny Baca novels. This is because some of the characters are presented in full detail in Alburquerque and play a major part in the later novels. It did feel strange to read Alburquerque in which Sonny Baca plays a very minor role. Here the center of attention is Abrán González who undergoes rapid growth of character in relationship to his search for his biological mother and biological father, his relationship to his adoptive parents, and his discovery of his true love Lucinda. Those who find boxing disgusting should still read this, in which the boxing is handled with grace and drama. The story is written in a direct style with great warmth. You find yourself really caring about the characters. The 293 pages fly by as the book plunges into its whirlwind ending.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No


4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Could not put it down..., January 1, 2004
By 
Kate (Sea Ranch, CA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Alburquerque (Paperback)
I first read "Bless Me, Ultima" for school and I loved it so I then read "Alburquerque." I enjoyed both books very much. The dreams and healing magic tied into the Catholic religion was very interesting. The characters were unforgetable and the settings in the books I could see in my mind. I could not put it down and I read both in one day.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No


6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars 'r' is for 'real', July 19, 2000
By 
Melissa Hardie "mjh1963" (Potts Point, NSW Australia) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Alburquerque (Paperback)
According to Rudolph Anaya, Albuquerque lost its first `r' back in 1880, when the railroad reached Alburquerque and a stationmaster, unable to pronounce the Spanish word, dropped the letter. The title of this novel restores the `r' and by implication the "real" Albuquerque, seen through the eyes of the main character, Abran Gonzalez. The novel's plot is convoluted, involving an Oliver Twist-like tale of familial loss and restoration, a web of intrigue that stretches from City Hall to the barrio, and scenic tours of the city. It's highly sentimental, and at times rather overwhelmingly "poetic." I did find it very readable, though, and an interesting if overwrought introduction to the city. Anaya's eye on the city is, it seems to me, at least partly guided by the desire to "advertize" New Mexico, particularly in his evocation of its artist colonies, its wide open landscapes, and its self-conscious blend of mythologies and cultural identities. It's an interesting mix.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No

Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
 
 
 
Most Recent Customer Reviews











Only search this product's reviews



What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?


Tags Customers Associate with This Product

 (What's this?)
Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
 

Your tags: Add your first tag
 

Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store

If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store. Learn more

Customer Discussions

This product's forum
Discussion Replies Latest Post
No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 


Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
Search all Amazon discussions
   
Related forums



So You'd Like to...



Look for Similar Items by Category


Look for Similar Items by Subject