Hoe, Heaven, and Hell: My Boyhood in Rural New Mexico

Reviews/Quotes

“Growing up on the Rio Puerco in the 1940s, Nasario García was part of one of the last generations to experience the strong family and community bonds that made life in rural New Mexican villages possible. His touching recollections of his life through folklore and family history are told with humor and drama.”—Frances Levine, coeditor of Telling New Mexico: A New History. "A skilled narrative that ... offers a wealth of information and at the same time is a delight to read, at least for those who have some curiosity concerning ... New Mexico's Hispanic heritage, one of America's great cultural treasure." Foreword, Marc Simmons || REVIEWS: “A volume of wondrous stories told through García’s gathered remembrances of his early boyhood . . . [and] an insightful profile of the culture of a rural Hispanic New Mexico village in the Río Puerco Valley in the early 1940s.”—Albuquerque Journal “Hoe, Heaven, and Hell mixes childhood autobiography with poems, common sayings and superstitions, recipes and holiday and wedding menus, lists of garden vegetables and animals raised on the land, and other mundane accountings that are fascinating in their details. It’s a rich and revealing account of how rural Hispanic parents raised their offspring, demanding strict obedience from them and forming intense family bonds while finding transcendence in their Catholic faith and survival in their adherence to a strenuous set of daily farm and ranch chores.”—Pasatiempo “There are plenty of good stories in Hoe, Heaven, and Hell . . . all of them told in the spirit of his mother’s dicho which serves as one of the epigraphs: ‘On this earth there is nothing better than to have a kind heart.’ And that, throughout the book, the author displays in abundance.”—Southwestern American Literature “A saga of ranch life, community bonds, the omnipresent threat of drought, and more, Hoe, Heaven, and Hell is the first-person testimony of a traditional way of life that is all but vanished in America today. Highly recommended.”—Midwest Book Review “Reading Dr. Nasario García’s inspiring tome Hoe, Heaven, and Hell: My Boyhood in Rural New Mexico rekindled so many wonderful experiences of growing up in Peñasco and being around matanzas since about the age of six.”—nmgastronome.com