The Boy Kings Of Texas: A Memoir Download Free (EPUB, PDF)
Lyrical and gritty, this New York Times best-selling coming-of-age story about a border-town family in Brownsville, Texas, insightfully illuminates a little-understood corner of America.Domingo Martinez lays bare his interior and exterior worlds as he struggles to make sense of the violent and the ugly, along with the beautiful and the loving, in a Texas border town in the 1980s. Partly a reflection on the culture of machismo and partly an exploration of the author's boyhood spent in his sister's hand-me-down clothes, this book delves into the enduring, complex bond between Martinez and his deeply flawed but fiercely protective older brother, Daniel. It features a cast of memorable characters, including his gun-hoarding former farmhand, Gramma, and "the Mimis"- two of his older sisters who for a short, glorious time manage to transform themselves from poor Latina adolescents into upper-class white girls. Martinez provides a glimpse into a society where children are traded like commerce, physical altercations routinely solve problems, drugs are rampant, sex is often crude, and people depend on the family witch doctor for advice. Charming, painful, and enlightening, this book examines the traumas and pleasures of growing up in South Texas and the often terrible consequences when different cultures collide on the banks of a dying river.
Audible Audio Edition
Listening Length: 13 hours and 29 minutes
Program Type: Audiobook
Version: Unabridged
Publisher: Audible Studios
Audible.com Release Date: April 30, 2013
Whispersync for Voice: Ready
Language: English
ASIN: B00CD58GH4
Best Sellers Rank: #93 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Regional U.S. > South #244 in Books > Audible Audiobooks > Biographies & Memoirs > Artists, Writers & Musicians #835 in Books > Audible Audiobooks > Biographies & Memoirs > Personal Memoirs
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.
Boy Kings of Texas: A Memoir The Boy Kings of Texas: A Memoir Pickers and Poets: The Ruthlessly Poetic Singer-Songwriters of Texas (John and Robin Dickson Series in Texas Music, sponsored by the Center for Texas) German Seed in Texas Soil: Immigrant Farmers in Nineteenth-Century Texas (Texas Classics) With the Possum and the Eagle: The Memoir of a Navigator’s War over Germany and Japan (North Texas Military Biography and Memoir) The Boy Kings: A Journey into the Heart of the Social Network Lone Star Steeples: Historic Places of Worship in Texas (Clayton Wheat Williams Texas Life Series) The Courthouses of Central Texas (Clifton and Shirley Caldwell Texas Heritage) Without Getting Killed or Caught: The Life and Music of Guy Clark (John and Robin Dickson Series in Texas Music, sponsored by the Center for Texas) The Texas Cookbook: From Barbecue to Banquet—an Informal View of Dining and Entertaining the Texas Way (Great American Cooking Series) From Tea Cakes to Tamales: Third-Generation Texas Recipes (Clayton Wheat Williams Texas Life Series) Horse Sweat and Powder Smoke: The First Texas Cavalry in the Civil War (Williams-Ford Texas A&M University Military History Series) "The Bloody Fifth"_The 5th Texas Infantry Regiment, Hood's Texas Brigade, Army of Northern Virginia: Volume 1: Secession to the Suffolk Campaign Texas Snakes: A Field Guide (Texas Natural History GuidesTM) Texas Coral Reefs (Gulf Coast Books, sponsored by Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi) Freshwater Mussels of Texas (Learn about Texas) Doyle "Texas Dolly" Brunson (Superstars of Poker: Texas Hold'em) Texas Hold'em: The Learning Curve of Life (Superstars of Poker: Texas Hold'em) The Family Saga: A Collection of Texas Family Legends (Publications of the Texas Folklore Society LX) Lighthouses of Texas (Gulf Coast Books, sponsored by Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi)
