Joe Mondragon, a feisty hustler with a talent for trouble, slammed his battered pickup to a stop, tugged on his gumboots, and marched into the arid patch of ground. Carefully (and also illegally), he tapped into the main irrigation channel. And so began-though few knew it at the time-the Milagro beanfield war. But like everything else in the dirt-poor town of Milagro, it would be a patchwork war, fought more by tactical retreats than by battlefield victories. Gradually, the small farmers and sheepmen begin to rally to Joe's beanfield as the symbol of their lost rights and their lost lands. And downstate in the capital, the Anglo water barons and power brokers huddle in urgent conference, intent on destroying that symbol before it destroys their multimillion-dollar land-development schemes. The tale of Milagro's rising is wildly comic and lovingly ter, a vivid portrayal of a town that, half-stumbling and partly prodded, gropes its way toward its own stubborn salvation.
I wanted to read this for a long time and I finally started and could not put it down, all 600 pages?!? I liked the names Amarante Cordova, Joe Mondragon and they were great characters. There are even animals a perhaps reincarnated cat and a pig that is a royal pain in the neck. And the unforgetable Herbie Goldfarb.
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Posted January 3, 2005
seond time I've read the book. The character descriptions are the best I've ever read..but with the people he writes about how could you miss on this book. It's hilarious, does make you laugh out loud..particularly liked the one inning ballgame and the rodeo.
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Posted November 29, 2004
This Rabelaisian novel tells the story of poor northern New Mexico farmars confronting the modern age, represented by developers and large scale farming. The simply country folk stand to gain no advantage from the new developments, and their water rights have already been taken from them 30 years prior by large-scale farmers in the south of the state. So when one farmer, Joe Mondragon, dares to rebel and irrigate his field, all hell breaks loose. The humour which densely fills the novel acquires a Keystone Kops aspect after a while; also, the novels is filled with a menagerie of animals and insects, since in these country folks' lives, animals play a large role. Practically the only thing the animals don't do is talk. Predictably, in the end the different loyalties result in armed conflict, but the novel is best noted for its country humour which is pervasive, but Nichols can also be a talented writer when he writes seriously or semi-seriously as he does in describing fly fishing for trout. I have also read 'Nirvana Blues' which is this novel's sequel and which is an updated version of the same themes set 10 years later. Like its predecessor, 'Nirvana' has a slapstick quality.
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Posted December 3, 2003
I'm at the end of the book and I don't want to finish. It's the only book that has made me laugh out loud in a long time. Everything in the book from the Smokey the Bear riots to Onofre's missing arm is important to the story.
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Posted November 27, 2003
I loved the detailed characters in this story. They provided not only comic relief at times but also were the foundations of the story. I thoroughly enjoyed this book!
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Posted December 10, 2002
Nichols takes too much time explaining where people came from. the book is drawn out useless parts abound. The point of the story is murky and the ending leaves something to be desired. It's around 450 pages, however the story could be told in half that.
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Posted August 17, 2009
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Posted October 29, 2008
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Posted October 27, 2008
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Overview
Joe Mondragon, a feisty hustler with a talent for trouble, slammed his battered pickup to a stop, tugged on his gumboots, and marched into the arid patch of ground. Carefully (and also illegally), he tapped into the main irrigation channel. And so began-though few knew it at the time-the Milagro beanfield war. But like everything else in the dirt-poor town of Milagro, it would be a patchwork war, fought more by tactical retreats than by battlefield victories. Gradually, the small farmers and sheepmen begin to ...