Globe Pequot / Lyons Press
Pages: 320
•
Trim: 5½ x 8¾
978-1-4930-0858-2 • Paperback • April 2019 • $19.95 • (£14.99)
Domingo Martinez is the New York Times bestselling author of The Boy Kings of Texas and was a Finalist for the National Book Award. The Boy Kings of Texas has been optioned by HBO for an original series through Salma Hayek’s production company, Ventanarosa. Martinez’s work has appeared in Texas Monthly, The New Republic, Saveur Magazine, and more. He has also appeared on NPR’s All Things Considered and This American Life as well as The Diane RehmShow.
This tragicomic memoir is not just about the complications of family, but also about the power of narrative to heal and make whole. A passionate . . . account of personal redemption.
— Kirkus Reviews
Martinez holds nothing back as he interweaves his own downward spiral with tales of his Mexican-American family, his interactions with his social circle, his work and his fraught bond with Steph. . . .Page after page, the captivating Martinez releases a flood of raw emotions in this tender and illuminating memoir.
— Shelf Awareness
My Heart is a Drunken Compass is as chatty, funny, philosophical, touching and brutally honest as Domingo Martinez’s first memoir, The Boy Kings of Texas.
— The Seattle Times
At heart a cautionary tale about the destruction that alcoholism, addiction and mental illness can inflict on a family, it's a tough read - and would be harrowing, even - if it weren't so hilarious.
— Houston Chronicle and Herald—Zeitung
My Heart is a Drunken Compass is a tragic comedy filled with wit and cultural insight….[Martinez] can be hilarious and insightful, especially about moments when cultures merge or collide…..Martinez’s voice, which seems like a cross between a border outlaw and an Ivy League scholar, is so self-assured it’s difficult not to get pulled into the story. Even when he hits rock bottom, he never loses his sense of humor, and his tenacity to survive is inspiring. If his raw will and Texas grit can’t save him, his writing just might.
— The New York Times Magazine
The follow-up to his first book, the Nation Book Award Finalist The Boy Kings of Texas, this work finds Martinez again mining his personal and family life for narrative gold. This time, instead of focusing on his border childhood he turns his attention to his adult life in Seattle, most notably his younger brother Derek’s near fatal drunken fall and his ex-fiancé’s harrowing car accident that act as catalysts for an exploration of his own personal traumas—including his alcoholic tendencies and near-suicidal depression. Though Martinez’s mischievous nature can still illicit a smile, the self-deprecating humor of the first book has mostly been replaced with self-loathing as the author continually realizes he is unable to help his loved ones because he more often than not refuses to help himself. However, the fact that he knows his issues and is able talk about them in such intricate prose ('My heart was a drunken compass even then, before I was a drunk.') allows this work to remain compelling despite the author’s inability to change. As Martinez rides a roller coaster of relapse and redemption, those who survive Martinez’s self-inflicted wounds and hang on till the end are rewarded with a conclusion that’s unlikely as it is uplifting.
— Publishers Weekly
From the National Book Award Finalist and New York Times bestselling author of The Boy Kings of Texas comes a bittersweet narrative of love, grief, and family