Customer Reviews

Journal of Antonio Montoya

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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.

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.

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.

The Journal of Antonio Montoya is a poignant, magical, and quietly humorous tale about the acceptance of loss and change. It takes place in a hispanic community in the mountains of New Mexico, where Ramona Montoya, a reclusive artist, learns to accept life even as she learns to accept loss. I'm very glad that I read the book, and am putting it on my list of favorites.

This is my favorite kind of book: unselfconsciously literary, funny, profound, filled with characters I would like to meet, set in a place where I would like to live, telling a real story that is complete fantasy. --Mary Overton

The Journal of Antonio Montoya by Rick Collignon takes place in the Sangre de Christos mountains but has a sense of timelessness. Ramona has isolated herself in her dusty hometown after returning from several years away trying to find success as an author. She lives alone in her grandparents' house with no sense of purpose or intention until her brother and his wife die, leaving their son an orphan. When the boy's mother sits up in her casket at the graveside and tells Ramona to take care of Jose, Ramona thinks that her mind is starting to slip, but when she takes the boy home, they are greeted by her long dead grandparents who proceed to take care of the pair by cooking and irrigating the fields. Her grandmother gives her an old journal that pulls into the life of the mysterious Antonio Montoya. This book is nearly impossible to summarize. The story quietly unfurls in front of the reader, gently pulling him/her in to Ramona and Antonio's lives. Collignon's quiet prose captures the steady rhythm of small town life and how it can beat down the gentlest of souls. In the end, Ramona is changed by her discoveries in the journal, and the reader may share in her revelation.

For me, this small and enchanting book defines the term `magical realism'. In the small village of Guadalupe, Ramona's brother and sister-in-law have just been killed in a car accident and she has taken their 7-year old son José home with her. But things have changed at her house, because when she arrives she finds that her grandparents - who have been dead for 13 years - have come for a visit. The lines between the natural and the supernatural world become increasingly blurred as Ramona encounters other dead relatives and learns the history of her family through the journal of her grandfather's cousin Antonio. You'll have to read the book to discover the legacy he has left behind, untouched for many years.

This book is a small treasure and I highly recommend it. I've also found out that it's the first book in a trilogy about life in Guadalupe. The other two books are Perdido and A Santo In The Image Of Cristobal Garcia; I have them on order and I'm eagerly awaiting their arrival.

I found this book by accident in the library. The cover is interesting, the author's photo is compelling (the short bio says he has been a roofer for 20 years) and the book is recommended in a blurb on the back by writer John Nichols, whose work I like.

I read the book in two days, mesmerized. Collignon has brilliantly crafted a story that is a blend of timeless conscious and subconscious human realities in the natural and supernatural world. The author alights on an ending that is as simple as it is exquisite.

Collignon's book belongs in classrooms so that young people can explore the depth of human experience through our Southwestern heritage. The Journal of Antonio Montoya is an enduring tale not to be missed.

El Dia de Muerto, the day of the dead, is a Latino holy day that celebrates the return of the spirits of those loved and departed, or sometimes, with a twist, our journey to the place where the dead are living. Ramona, an artist, a lost soul of sorts, and a loner, makes that trip. It is not only the discovery of her dead parents now living at her house, and her recently deceased brother and sister-in-law, but it is the resurrection of her village and its history. What happened all those many winters ago to the Santero (the carver of saints' statues)? What happened to his carvings that at one time held magical powers of healing for those who possessed them? Ramona is a middle-aged woman, a modern woman, who has lived in the Gringo world, who has returned to her Southwestern Hispanic village and now is returning inextricably to the very earth itself. This is a journey of death and then life and the continuation of generations. A beautiful little jewel of a book.

Rick Collignon is an extraordinary writer. His gift is the more impressive for his abitity to blend soul and warmth with dry wit. I have rarely encountered an author who meets such a challenge so well. Each of the inhabitants of this rich, beautiful novel is sculpted with the same care Antonio Montoya brings to the "Ladies" he creates. Desolation and Hope are at once given depth and range, making "The Journal Of Antonio Montoya" a work which changes the heart. I look forward to Mr. Collignon's future wor