The Boy Kings of Texas Audiobook By Domingo Martinez cover art

The Boy Kings of Texas

A Memoir

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The Boy Kings of Texas

By: Domingo Martinez
Narrated by: Emilio Delgado
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About this listen

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.
Americas Authors Texas Funny Witty Feel-Good Thought-Provoking Young Adult

Critic reviews

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

What listeners say about The Boy Kings of Texas

Highly rated for:

Gripping Memoir Insightful Storytelling Excellent Narration Heartwarming Stories Vulnerable Writing
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