My Heart is a Drunken Compass

A Memoir

by Domingo Martinez

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Pub Date Nov 18 2014 | Archive Date Mar 04 2015

Rowman & Littlefield | Globe Pequot/Lyons Press

Biographies & Memoirs

Description

With his trademark tragic-comical voice and arresting storytelling, Domingo Martinez once again delivers a deeply personal memoir full of wry asides and poignant, thoughtful reflections in his new book My Heart Is a Drunken Compass. His first book shockingly ended with his fiancé Stephanie plummeting off the side of an overpass in Seattle, after having a seizure while driving. He now chronicles this painful episode in his life, with flashbacks to their tenuous romantic relationship, and how her accident and subsequent coma ultimately causes him to unravel emotionally. This pivotal moment, which began with an alarming call in the middle of the night, parallels another gut-wrenching experience from the past when his youngest brother’s life hangs in the balance.

Martinez once again brilliantly examines the complicated connections between family, friends, and loved ones. Feeling estranged from his family in Texas over the years, isolated and alone in Seattle, he turns to writing as a therapeutic tool. The underlying themes of addiction and recovery and their powerful impact on family dynamics also emerge within the narrative, as he struggles with his inner demons. These two traumatic life events actually bring Martinez closer to the family that he has in many ways spend years trying to deny, strengthening their bonds and healing old wounds. When Martinez falls apart completely, he finds his family, his redemption, and a new beginning with the love of his life, who encourages him to write his way out of the pain in order to save his own life.

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.

With his trademark tragic-comical voice and arresting storytelling, Domingo Martinez once again delivers a deeply personal memoir full of wry asides and poignant, thoughtful reflections in his new...

A Note From the Publisher

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Advance Praise

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

Domingo Martinez is an essential new American voice, and My Heart Is a Drunken Compass delivers on the promise of The Boy Kings of Texas. In a life of chaos and pain he manages to find grace, and humor, and—contrary to the title of this book—real moral purpose. This is a riveting book.
— Dave Eggers

To be an aspiring writer from a poor Mexican-American family of heavy drinkers on the border might read tragic if it weren’t so hilarious in Martinez’s My Heart is a Drunken Compass. Might seem easier when he moves to the Northwest and tries to make like one of the civilized. Glazed, troubled, often lost, Martinez’s too hot, drunken heart is still awful funny in cool Seattle.
— Dagoberto Gilb, author of Before the End, After the Beginning and Woodcuts of Women

Marketing Plan

From the author of the NYT bestseller and National Book Award nominee The Boy Kings of Texas comes an illuminating new memoir of loss, grief, resilience, and recovery. With his trademark tragic-comical voice and arresting storytelling, Martinez once again delivers a deeply personal narrative full of wry asides and poignant, thoughtful reflections while unfurling a compelling and universal narrative of love, grief, and compassion through a typhoon of loss and heartbreak. My Heart Is a Drunken Compass inspires readers by showing that it is through adversity, redemption, and recovery that we truly come to understand who we are and how resilient we can be. Tragedies may seem difficult, but in the wake of the struggle bonds are tightened, families are reunited, and true love is found.

· Galleys for blurbs and trade/national media

· Confirmed featured author at the Author’s Feast at PNBA in September 2014

· Advertisement in the regional holiday catalog for the pacific northwest (PNBA holiday catalog)

· Advance reader program submission on GoodReads for advance reviews

· Submitted to National Book Awards 2014

· Significant review copy mailing to broadcast media

· Featured title at BEA

· Ad in B&T Forecast fall 2014 issue

· Ad in Ingram Holiday Giftbook supplement 2014

From the author of the NYT bestseller and National Book Award nominee The Boy Kings of Texas comes an illuminating new memoir of loss, grief, resilience, and recovery. With his trademark...

Available Editions

EDITION	Hardcover
ISBN	9781493001408
PRICE	$26.95 (USD)

Additional Information

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