The Boy Kings of Texas

A Memoir

By: Domingo Martinez

Narrated by: Emilio Delgado

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.

©2012 Domingo Martinez (P)2013 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

• National Book Award finalist, 2012
• Pushcart Prize Nominee, 2013

loved it, but at least 2 chapters were out of orde

loved it, but at least two chapters were oit.of order. Also, Audible s list of chapters went to 40, while the narrator went to 35 or so.

It was Okay

I've been pondering what to say about this book for sometime. I'm conflicted because, like the author, I am from Brownsville. On one hand I totally relate to a lot of what was in the book, and on another hand, I'm a little offended by his description of our hometown with such disgust. Like the author, I left Brownsville a long time ago because there was nothing left for me there, I mean I wasn't really going any where at that time and I have a lot of family and friends who still live there. The picture he paints of our hometown comes off as a town full of illiterate, uneducated, drug dealing, pot smoking alcoholics. Now, I get this is HIS story and that is not what life in Brownsville was/is like for everyone who grew up there. I normally devour audiobooks. This one, not so much. I had to take breaks before continuing. I don't know if it's because I was offended or because it got boring. The narrator was excellent and made the book more interesting than it actually was. If I had read it I don't know that I would have finished the book. I did laugh out loud at times and even cried, and in the end I do feel some pride in knowing that this author is from my hometown even if he doesn't feel pride for his hometown.

The performance was warm and the writing was vulnerable

I was convinced, until the ending credits, that the author was narrating! I have never heard a performance that was so in tune with the prose and the warm conversational tone of the author. Just amazing and deeply vulnerable. I heard sections of it on This American Life and kept the title in my head because of how struck I was by the snippets.

Great book

I bought it for 3 family members. I listen to it non stop. Growing up in Texas and poor you can relate.

Fantastic Story!

The writing was so transparent, raw and real. First exposed to this story via an episode of "This American Life" which made me hungry for the book. So well narrated that I would have thought it was the author himself! Can't wait to read Domingo's next book!

Gripping all the way through.

This is such an excellent study of generational trauma. Martinez is a master at truthfully capturing the nuisances in both people and situations so that you feel like your right there with him through the whole thing. You can expect to laugh, feel dirty and uncomfortable, and have every chisme bone tickled. You will feel for all of the characters, their brokenness that is held together by grit and love. The narrator was excellent.

Lots and lots of f-bombs, but a fascinating story.

I heard a few stories from the book on NPR and decided to try it out. The story was super interesting, but the profanity was so terrible that I thought my ears would bleed. I had to skip over whole sections because of it.

A very touching coming-of-age story

I now understand what one of my coworkers meant when he said he grew up "in the Valley" and just gave me a strange look, like I would never understand what his early life had been like. After listening to this book, I actually think I have a good idea. The narrator was outstanding. I would play excerpts for my friends, some parts were hilarious. I'm looking forward to his next book.

Fantastic performance

Insightful attempts at psychological inquiry into racial identity and intimate family dynamics in poor Mexican-American border towns ... Well crafted details of individual heartbreaking and alarming stories create a splatter paint style of memoir---in my opinion not carefully crafted as a whole, but definitely enlightening and gripping.

A different world

Sometimes I am sharply reminded of my middle class, suburban, lily white upbringing. The author is about my age, but what a different life we have led! The book gave me an appreciation of what it's like to grow up poor in Texas, and I continue to be amazed at how different school, family, and relationships were for the author compared to me. Good listen.