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Boy Kings of Texas A Memoir Domingo Martinez 9780762779192 Books

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Boy Kings of Texas A Memoir Domingo Martinez 9780762779192 Books

Martinez's book is about a young family born into the unique clash of cultures in South Texas where the children must learn to consolidate their cultures. Their family gives them the understanding that being American/white/speaking English is superior to being Mexican/speaking Spanish and are callous and manipulative when the author does not adhere to the horrid machismo customs that they associate with being men, not with being Mexican. These themes are likely familiar to those growing up in South Texas, but the author was born in the exact circumstances that would exaggerate these problems for him - lack of power balance between the parents, young family, poor, being introspective, being male.

I highly recommend this book for anyone. Some of his experiences are potent, but he is so good at providing relevant events from his childhood, that you come to understand, and even predict, the actions he will take next, even if they wouldn't be your own. I found myself cheering him on but understanding why he would sometimes falter.

Mr. Martinez is introspective, even at an early age, which puts the reader in his head during some pretty substantial events. He allows you to understand his experiences and the conflict between knowing what is best and his own impulses. Also, he's pretty funny. He unexpectedly made me laugh out loud like three or four times.

I read this thing in less than two days. I usually enjoy reading Mexican-American literature, but I find that the themes usually center around the differences/problems between Mexican-Americans and whites or the rest of the US. This book is about how uniquely, exquisitely messed up the cultural niche in South Texas will make you - not because you don't get how to be American and Mexican at the same time, but because your elders or the people responsible for you don't get it.

Read this book if you are curious about a crazy-ass culture right here in the United States. Read it if you enjoy memoirs. Read it if you like a casual style that is meant to be understood and not intimidate. If you're from South Texas, read it to confirm that yes, all the kids you go to school with are Mexican and eat tamales at Christmas even if nobody ever talks about it, it's not just you.


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Boy Kings of Texas A Memoir Domingo Martinez 9780762779192 Books Reviews

I put this book on reserve at the library as a result of hearing an interview of the author on NPR. It took eight weeks to get the book, as others were ahead of me in line for it. I almost went out and bought a copy. And, when it finally showed up at the library, I checked it out and started reading it. The next day, I went out and bought a copy! From the very first pages, I wanted my own copy, and I wanted my wife and two sons in their twenties to be able to read it. I wanted my nephew,my sisters, my brothers.............to be able to read it.
If you are Mexican, living in the US, if you are Mexican-American from Texas, if you are white and married to a Mexican (as am I) you can find much in this book. Indeed, if you are none of the above, yet are a working class person who grew up in a family with many siblings and not always much money around, you can find part of yourself in this book. The book speaks to the experiences of adolescence in a way that is easy to read, and with a dose of humor always nearby. This book is a classic of the life and struggles of growing up Mexican in the United States. But it is so much more...............
This memoir of growing up in poverty in a Texas border town got my attention early on and never let go. In this reflection of his own upbringing, the author paints vivid portraits of family members and friends and their places in the local culture, seen from the vantage of his own shifting impressions of them as he grows up. His sometimes harrowing tales of childhood in this Mexican-American town are compelling. The core of the book is the author's evolving insight into his identity and role in the world, his struggle to find and realize himself as he grows up, an effort that is still a work in progress. His depictions of himself and others are at times contradictory and unresolved, as when someone is looking at something at such close range that the shape as a whole isn't clearly outlined and the details sometimes seem contradictory. But that flaw of confusion bespeaks the honesty with which he tells his tale. After all, who among us can give a truly consistent and unambivalent account of, for example, our parents and our feelings of them throughout the years as our relationships with them and with ourselves change through the passage of time? By the end of the book, rather than being presented with a neatly concluded package the reader sees the author as someone whose search for himself continues.
My family is from the RG valley and as a child I loved going down (from Chicago) to visit all our relatives every year at Christmas. I think he had a very dysfunctional family life which is why he needed to get away and find something else or some meaning to his life. It is very sad, but unfortunately true for him. He paints a very unflattering picture of the valley and Texas in general, but I don't think this was or is the case for everyone from down there. Many of my cousins are very successful and happy and returned back to Texas after leaving for school or other jobs. My parents and a brother are buried in Alamo, as that was my fathers wish to be buried in his birth place. I also have two sisters that have move from here to Texas. As an adult now I still continue to visit family when I can, and the valley will always hold a very special place in my heart. I'm very happy that Domingo has become very successful and look forward to more of his writings.
Domingo Martinez takes us into a world that I have never visited before - nor even knew existed. The story of his growing up is equal measure hilarious and heartbreaking. This story is the "Angela's Ashes" of the barrio. I felt as if Mr.Martinez was in my living room because of his accessible and conversational tone. But so many phrases leapt out at me, making me smile at the turn of words. Lucky for us, Domingo survived his childhood with a keen sense of humor, in fact one must assume that helped him survive! This book is a remarkable first work and one that explores an important part of our American culture, heretofore, almost unknown.
Martinez's book is about a young family born into the unique clash of cultures in South Texas where the children must learn to consolidate their cultures. Their family gives them the understanding that being American/white/speaking English is superior to being Mexican/speaking Spanish and are callous and manipulative when the author does not adhere to the horrid machismo customs that they associate with being men, not with being Mexican. These themes are likely familiar to those growing up in South Texas, but the author was born in the exact circumstances that would exaggerate these problems for him - lack of power balance between the parents, young family, poor, being introspective, being male.

I highly recommend this book for anyone. Some of his experiences are potent, but he is so good at providing relevant events from his childhood, that you come to understand, and even predict, the actions he will take next, even if they wouldn't be your own. I found myself cheering him on but understanding why he would sometimes falter.

Mr. Martinez is introspective, even at an early age, which puts the reader in his head during some pretty substantial events. He allows you to understand his experiences and the conflict between knowing what is best and his own impulses. Also, he's pretty funny. He unexpectedly made me laugh out loud like three or four times.

I read this thing in less than two days. I usually enjoy reading Mexican-American literature, but I find that the themes usually center around the differences/problems between Mexican-Americans and whites or the rest of the US. This book is about how uniquely, exquisitely messed up the cultural niche in South Texas will make you - not because you don't get how to be American and Mexican at the same time, but because your elders or the people responsible for you don't get it.

Read this book if you are curious about a crazy-ass culture right here in the United States. Read it if you enjoy memoirs. Read it if you like a casual style that is meant to be understood and not intimidate. If you're from South Texas, read it to confirm that yes, all the kids you go to school with are Mexican and eat tamales at Christmas even if nobody ever talks about it, it's not just you.