Customer Reviews

Memories of Cibola: Stories from New Mexico Villages

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Abe Pena is my uncle(his wife, Viola, is my dad's sister). I have visited the ranch in Grants and seen the areas and heard some of the stories in Memories Of Cibloa. His gift to all of us in the family (and to any reader) is the detail in which he descrbes the times and traditons of his life and of Northern New Mexico in general. He is also able to describe New Mexican life early in this century in a way that relates to those interested in New Mexico and Southwestern life today. -Mike Cisneros

Abe Pena has managed to clearly depict the unique culture of the Rio Puerco region. The language and customs have distinct but subtle differences from the rest. Few people can recognize the vast dichotomy among the Spanish speaking peoples of the world. New Mexico has spanish speaking sub-cultures within sub-cultures. The chisto's, dicho's and parables are wonderfully written and most importantly, saved for future generations. I was especially impressed with Mr. Pena's ability to include world events current to the era. It served as a reference and made the personal stories of loved ones more poignant. I hope Mr. Pena continues to record his memories for future publication.

Abe is a reletive of mine and he did a very good job researching for the book. I was born and raised in Seboyeta, NM. This book was a good lesson for me on my recent past, and tought me some lessons on the history of the Spanish Land Grants in that area of New Mexico. It also brought back some very good memeories from my childhood. I am going to make sure my three sons read this book so they can learn about their ancestry. Very well done Abe ! Louie Jaramillo Jr.

My parents were born & raised in New Mexico, so I have a fascination with the Southwestern state. I was hoping for a bit more in these stories though. It was fun reading family names that I could relate via my own family (Garcia, Leyba, Lucero). Abe Pena seems to be a talented writer but I found the excerpt story on the nun, Sister Lydia, most interesting (and wished there was more). I would almost like to read a book simply focused on Sister Lydia's life, thoughts, feelings and emotions. That would be fantastic! A lot of the stories were simply 'informational' with a lot of boring statistical facts (dates & names) that bored me. I simply needed more stories behind the stories. There were a few interesting facts that I could relate to, knowing that my ancestry descended from Spain. It was an okay book...but I hope the author will next time focus on one story, sharing more family secrets, troubles, etc as per the literary classic, A Death in the Sanchez Family (which I plan to read next).