About the Author

Nina Maria Martínez nació en San José, California, y es hija de un padre méxicoamericano de primera generación y una madre estadounidense de ascendencia alemana. A pesar de no haber terminado la escuela secundaria, es licenciada en literatura de la Universidad de California en Santa Cruz. Además de escribir novelas, ella es entusiasta de la ropa de épocas anteriores, reliquias que busca y luego pone a la venta. También es una gran aficionada al béisbol. Actualmente vive en el norte de California, en donde se dedica a escribir su segunda novela.

Reviews

“Endlessly inventive ... very funny. Martinez’s deadpan perspective on faith, romance and the uneasy bonds of family is truly wonderful.”
—The Washington Post Book World

“An absurdly entertaining first novel . . . . With a born-again mariachi and his witchcraft practicing mother, a vixen recently jailed for her involvement in moving tamales stuffed with mala hierba, a beautician who’s part mamacita, part papacito, and a volcano that could blow at any moment, Caramba! is a dizzying Mexican hat dance." 
—Los Angeles Times

"As mesmerizing as acrobats in Cirque du Soleil and as rich as a double-fudge chocolate cake . . . Riotously funny . . . Magical. In Lava Landing . . . also resides a spiritual reality so much a part of Mexican tradition . . . Quite a trip.”
—Miami Herald

“¡Caramba! may be the most entertaining, hilarious and thoroughly enjoyable reading experience many folks will have this year . . . Take one part Gabriel García Márquez, one part John Irving and one part Tom Robbins, cram into a blender, set it all on puree . . . Martínez writes like a veteran novelist . . . [with] a joy of her craft found only in the best sort of writers.”
—The Denver Post

“Other than being a beautiful book to look at . . . ¡Caramba! is a beautiful book to interact with, getting us to connect with the symbols that often feed our cultural and artistic experiences . . . Don’t miss out on this book!”
—San Antonio Express News

“[A] lighthearted homegirl epic . . . Crammed with bright Lotería cards, maps, and letters, the volume bursts with color and high spirits.”
—Entertainment Weekly

“A wild ride of a novel that will remind many readers—with its rash of characters caught in high drama–of the oh-so-popular telenovela dramas on Spanish-language television . . . Pure adrenaline and lots of fun.”
—Santa Cruz Sentinel

“A triumph of whimsy and imagination–Monty Python meets One Hundred Years of Solitude . . . Wow! This is something absolutely and authentically new! This author is going to be a star.”
—San Francisco Chronicle

“Riotous . . . [Tells of] a fictional California town, where the women’ s lives are as unpredictable as the nearby volcano.”
—Latina

“Extremely colorful and dynamic characters . . . [Don Pancho’s] story reminds me of García Márquez’s short stories and the continuous development of the magical realism movement . . . A composite of funny and very creative stories . . . entertaining.”
—Candela

“A smart, antic, sexy and funny frolic. Martínez both celebrates and pokes fun at Mexican traditions (including the Bingo-like game Lotería, the source of the novel’s lively illustrations) as she asks what it means to be a man and what it means to be a woman and considers how we cope with loneliness, make the transition from romance to love, and age with grace.”
—Booklist (starred)

“[An] effervescent, luminous debut. Although the novel has a slew of protagonists, readers first meet Natalie and Consuelo (Nat and Sway), two firecrackers with an ‘ever growing fascination with the wideness of the world’ . . . Martínez, in a bubbly mix of English and Spanglish, draws on magical realism, kitschy humor and tongue-in-cheek clichés . . . but there’ s truth behind the zany humor….serious truth telling about love and happiness in life and death.”
—Publishers Weekly

“[These] Mexican-Americans in a southern California town enjoy the hell out of pretty much everything in a slangy, self-assured debut. Best girlfriends Natalie Stevens and Consuelo ‘Sway’ Gonzales Contreras, a couple of cuties in their 20s are at the heart of things in this confection, but they share the stage with a fairly large cast of ghosts, whores, evangelical mariachi musicians, day laborers, transvestites, and a volcano as an eventful summer elapses . . . Everybody dances when there’s a little bit of time, and there’s always something interesting to eat . . . A great deal of fun. Chica-lit to be savored.”
—Kirkus Reviews

“Essential . . . a manic first novel . . . imbued with magical realism, about the wacky goings-on in small Lava Landing, CA . . . a great read.”
—Library Journal (starred)

“¡Caramba! is about six characters in search of a volcano. It’s ‘Thelma and Louise’ on the border. And Nina Marie Martínez really knows her stuff: zanier than a telenovela, funnier than a Mexican-cowboy western.”
—Sandra Cisneros, author of The House on Mango Street, and Caramelo

“¡Caramba! is a jubilant celebration of story, language, and the fabulous in the familiar. Martínez weaves a vibrant magic around divine women and men striving for divinity.”
—Katherine Dunn, author of Geek Love

“Magical realism meets la cultura de K-Mart in Nina Marie Martínez’s lively, beautifully observed ¡Caramba! The tone of a Tom Robbins book, fueled with a chicks-rule sensibility…Natalie and Consuelo are more fun than a barrel of axolotls.”
—John Sayles, author of Los Gusanos and director of Casa de los Babys