Customer Reviews

Caramba!: A Tale Told in Turns of the Card

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
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"Caramba!" bursts upon the literary scene as zesty as salsa, as mellow as a margarita, and as much fun as a Mexican hat dance.

Before turning to page 1, there are a few things this author would have you know:
"I believe that English and Spanish are live languages, hence they're always changin'."
"People say that my book is very funny, but I am dead serious."
"The characters come to me first as quirks, then as dilemmas: A Born Again Christian Mariachi, an ugly beauty queen, a girl who's afraid of public transportation and long car rides....."
"Many books begin with a disclaimer that says that the events therein described are fiction. If my book gets one of those, then it will speak the truth. I made everything up, except for the Javier Solis death-by-taco story."

There, now that you're prepared, turn to page 1 of "Caramba!"and meet Natalie and Consuelo, known as Nat and Sway. As Sandra Cisneros is wont to say, these two are "Thelma and Louise on the border."

Home to this twenty-something pair is Lava Landing, California. Now, while Nat and Sway are aching to break free and see the world, there's also something waiting to burst forth in Lava Landing - a dormant volcano.

Lava Landing is close to the Mexican border and home to the Miss Magma beauty contest. Swaying hips and mariachi music are hallmarks of this community, as are some of the most outrageous characters ever imagined - Javier, a born-again mariachi who falls for a drug dealer; Lulabell, an honest-to-goodness witch; and True-Dee, a drag queen hair dresser.

Until Nat and Sway can determine how they can hit the road to adventure in Nat's 1963 Cadillac convertible the girls work days at the Big Cheese Factory, and spend their nights at The Big Five-Four. Here, seated in their favorite booth they sip tequila floats, dance, and check the action.

And there's activity aplenty in this brightly presented book spiced with illustrations captioned in both English and Spanish. As we follow the lives of Shay, Nat, and their friends we're reminded of how very much alike we all are - it's just that these two have a heck of a lot more fun than most of us.

As defined by the author "Caramba" is what you say when you don't know what to say. I know what to say about this book: it's an antic read, terrific, surprising fun. It's as intoxicating as a Tequila Sunrise. Don't miss it.

- Gail Cooke

Don't miss the point that this book bridges English and Espanol. <And don't forget that tilda over the 'n.' Martinez knows her Mexican-Americans intimately. If you're a novice in the southwest you'll definitely come away wearing more silver jewelry and belt buckles. The style is all-consuming and plunges you deep in the Cali-Mex culture.

So that's what my hermanos to the south (and north, and everywhere) are doing. And thinking about, and playing, and writing, and, um, what they're trying to get out of purgatory--which, by the way, is all done in white. Heaven has deep, rich colors. With all your favorite things, like in a Mexican Western.

This chica has a clever, refined sense of humor--in two languages. Check it out. Improve your Spanish. Learn about lonchera crime; two-faced, paroled mujeres; and born-again mariachi frustrations. Try not to steal any dress designs--cut on the bias. Me gusto mucho. Deserves a place on the bookshelf of gringos with even the smallest Spanish vocabulario.

Easy read. Has won awards. I thought it was a great chick book. The book cover is great, as are the other colorful touches that enhance the book pages. Magical realism meets Tom Robbins. It reminded me of "Even Cowgirls get the Blues", but not so radical and with artistic treats.

Caramba, a debut novel by Nina Marie Martínez, is a zany, breezy, often hilarious story filled with the quirky characters who live in fictional Lava Landing, a farming community in California dominated by the Big Cheese factory. The chapters unfold as `turns of the cards' in the Mexican game of chance called `La Lotería.' Illustrations of the cards precede each chapter and hint at what's to come.

The ambiance is pure Chicano. Mexican and American pop cultures blend in a potpourri that makes a culture all its own with Spanglish as its language. Witchcraft and the folkloric wisdom of common Mexican proverbs are perfectly at home alongside yard sales, Tupperware parties, and trendy American fashions and music.

The novel is really a series of vignettes featuring six major characters. Their stories are loosely bound together by plot lines that are not as important as the characters themselves and their dreams of finding true love.

The principal characters are life-long best friends Consuelo Constancia González Contreras (who legally changed her name to Consuelo Sin Vergüenza) and her pal Natalie. Nat and Sway's principal quest is to free Consuelo from her phobia of public transportation and fear of traveling more than 30 miles from her home. The phobias stem from the fact that Sway lost her father, don Pancho Macías Contreras, who, while drunk, passed out on railroad tracks and got clobbered by an oncoming train.

Don Pancho, a womanizer still during his long stay in Purgatory, visits the girls in their nightmares. He pleads for them to round up the citizens of his village in Mexico to pray for him, and thus spring him from Purgatory into his hacienda heaven where, incidentally, only English is spoken.

Then there's Javier, a born again Christian who uses his mariachi band to sing the songs of repentance and salvation. His evangelizing has yet to clinch his sexy mother Lulabell's salvation. She herself is struggling between handing her soul over to the Lord or to the Devil. While singing of salvation at the local jail, Javier becomes enamored of the alluring, drug-dealing prisoner Lucha who turns out to be his half sister. Javier concludes "God is much more complicated than I thought."

True-Dee, a transvestite, runs the local beauty parlor, and is a friend of all the girls. She longs for the true love of one good man.

There is a full cast of secondary characters just as quirky, such as La Señora Linda, a super-psychic, whose powers fail when it comes to her run-down house "in dire need of a new roof and a paint job."

The book is punctuated with illustrations of menus, grocery lists, Lulabell's map of Mexican men, jukebox listings, classifieds, letters to an advice columnist, and cut-outs for Mexican paper dolls.

The improbable--Lulabell's message from Jesus scribbled in the guacamole of her tortilla--is juxtaposed alongside the mundane--La Yarda tag sale.

Binding the vignettes together is the theme best expressed by Lulabell: "Love is a lot of hard work and sufferin, and it don't never end." Yet the suffering is worth it. Don Pancho says Hell is a place where "You will never know love".

The language is wonderful, borrowing from both English and Spanish in getting exactly the right word. Lulabell informs her Alberto, "If you wanna be my mero mero pistolero, then you've gots to do some hoochie coochie conmigo."

And if the exact word doesn't exist in either language, Martínez invents the perfectly appropriate one. For example, Nat and Sway talk of potential "disastrophes" while making their "primperations for the Baile Grande". As Nat says, "English is a live language. It's always changin."

The author has an ear for the sounds of words and pays close attention to the rhythm of her phrases. Entire passages beg to be read aloud.

While someone who speaks only English can enjoy the novel, a bilingual reader will be laughing more, missing none of the innuendos or nuances!

Okay, let me say this first. I really love this book. I got it for Christmas last year, and whenever I read it, I feel very christmasy, which is just weird, but understandable. This book is really cute.

After the death of their boss, Nat and Sway set off on a road trip to send his ashes into freedom, and meet a bunch of strange characters on the way, including some lady criminals and a maraiachi who is also an ambassodor of Jesus, his mother and her boyfriend. It's a bit confusing, there are tons of characters, but it's fun and it makes you wish you had a friend like Nat or Sway.

My only compliant is that I couldn;t read the spanish. But that's my problem, because I am too lazy to learn spanish. It's a fun book, please give it a chance. Also, the cover is so loud, it will definately get you attention...if that's what you want.

Inspired by La Lotería, a Mexican game of chance not unlike bingo, the novel is a joyous story of mamacitas and mariachis, fiestas and Tupperware parties, rodeos and Miss Magma beauty contests. In Caramba! the American experience emerges in a brilliant new language and landscape, both touching and dazzlingly fresh. (summary by the Latino Recommended Reading List from the Association of American Publishers's * Publishing Latino Voices for America Task Force)

This is not the kind of book I generally read (chick lit) so I was a little uncertain. But what a fun surprise! The best way to describe this book is a zesty salsa. The main characters were colorful and, for the most part, likeable. The town and it's people were just different enough to be real. The writing bounced between English and Spanish so neatly, I almost felt bilingual. The ending was not completely satisfying, but oh well. I'm glad I read it.

Ms. Martinez's book came at the right time for me. I was beyond busy with 2 stressful jobs, about to get on a plane in stormy weather and was needing a laugh badly. The book delivered with a story of love, mariachi, religion, drug dealing, transvestites and a little witchcraft thrown in. Martinez's book blends Mexican and American culture to render a story that ultimately examines what love is- the love of lifelong friends, the love of long-time admirers, the love of god, the love of being bad and the plain need to just be loved. It's not sentimental or mushy. Magic realism peeks in now and again, but doesn't overshadow. I give it 4 stars because it was a great book, but the end left me wanting a bit.

Oh! How wonderful it must be to have your head filled with such amazing adventures and lucious characters. It has been such a long time since I've read a book where the characters just leap from the pages and invite you into their world.

The artwork is enchanting and adds so much to the story. It gives the feeling that you are a part of the book & the exploits of the characters. The people populating this book have stayed with me ~ I miss them & want MORE!

For a true bibliophile, this book is so completely satisfying in it's execution and packaging. The story is great, the different colored pages are fun, and all the extra illustrations add so much to the "experience" of immersing yourself in the story.