The Journal of Antonio Montoya [Paperback]

Rick Collignon (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 25, 2009

We are proud to reintroduce the classic first novel by the author of Madewell Brown.
When little José Montoya’s parents are killed one August morning by a cow, his Tia Ramona and his Tio Flavio are troubled by how best to raise the boy. After the funeral, they drive to their childhood home behind the village office, but “before they reach the house, the front door swung open and Ramona’s grandfather, Epolito Montoya, who had been dead for thirteen years, stood in the doorway. ‘Why are you out in the rain?’ he said.”
Ramona has returned reluctantly to this isolated village in northern New Mexico and to the family that never lets go. As she tries to build a modern life here on her own terms, and still to care for young José, she discovers that she can reach through time, see the richness of her heritage, and reclaim riches, knowledge, art that disappeared generations ago. In fact, she can speak with her ancestors and learn their stories.
These, finally, are the fortunes she will try to pass on to José.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

This debut novel begins with news of a death, but soon the dead are sitting up and demanding attention. Ramona must cope with a talkative sister-in-law and her husband, plus her grandparents, all dead, and all moving into her home that looks out on the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. She must endure their constant interference with the present. The past comes alive too in the novel's eponymous journal, one written in 1924 by the village historian and sculptor, a relative of Ramona's. Here the past and present are surreally intertwined. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Publishers Weekly

Ramona Montoya, the main character of this slight but beautifully written first novel set in a dusty, timeless Southwestern town, is a 44-year-old painter whose house is inhabited by a host of dead relatives who speak, make coffee and occasionally borrow her truck. After her brother and sister-in-law are killed when their car hits a cow standing in the middle of the road, Ramona takes charge of her young nephew, Jose. (At the burial, Jose's mother sits up in her coffin and says "Ramona, I want you to take Jose.") Ramona's other brother, Flavio, estranged from his sister, is so unnerved by the ghostly relatives, he gives up on the idea of removing Jose from his strange new home. Ramona's dead grandmother, after clearing the table one night, hands her the journal of Antonio Montoya, another relative and a sculptor of religious statues. The 1924 journal is the story of the village, full of births, deaths, feuds and accidents, and its entries are woven into the narrative as Ramona reads them. While Ramona's story is imbued with her painterly sensibilities, the journal provides glimpses into the sculptor's art, the role of the santos in the lives of some of the villagers and the fate of the statues, which Ramona and little Jose will find. The novel becomes a mystical meditation on the workings of the artistic mind, but it begs for more of a plot. Still, Collignon delivers his own engaging brand of magical realism with a spare style, deadpan humor and bracingly fresh descriptions.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Unbridled Books; Reprint edition (August 25, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1932961968
• ISBN-13: 978-1932961966
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 6.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #955,672 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What a great book!, January 25, 1998

By 

[e-mail] (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Journal of Antonio Montoya: A Novel (Paperback)

For a first novel, Rick Collignon could not have done better. The story revolves around Ramona Montoya. She rediscovers herself and her roots as a result of an accident where she finds herself the adopted mother of her nephew Jose. There is a sort of a haunting, but only of the best kind because Ramona finds assistance from her dead grandparents and others who come to remind her who she really is. It's a wonderful story meant to be read again and again. In my book, Collignon's gift of story telling is beyond compare.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Masterpiece!, February 8, 2001

By 

John D. Costanzo "johndc" (Bensalem, PA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Journal of Antonio Montoya: A Novel (Paperback)

In this superb novel, the recently dead relatives and the not so recently dead relatives of an orphaned boy and his Aunt come back to "haunt" them in a way that changes their lives forever. This was a beautiful and moving novel, told with humor and written in clear stylish prose. I was immediately swept up in the world created by the author and became totally immersed in the characters and their drama. I consider this a masterpiece and I highly recommend it.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Rich and amusing, December 30, 1998

By 

Suzanne Chandler at [e-mail] (Northwest Washington) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Journal of Antonio Montoya (Hardcover)

This well-crafted story set in New Mexico was a treat: Marquez-esque arrivals of the dearly departed; wives with complusive tortilla making disorders; and lots and lots of family and family troubles. A fine first novel.