“Romantic in the biggest sense of the word.” Goodreads Review

“…an absorbing romance around Jimmy Ojotriste, the young L.A. mariachi, his enchanted glass eye, and the terminal cancer that leads his trio on a strange and memorable quest.” Goodreads Review

A lush, nostalgic barrio romance told through the music of a young street guitarist with a sad and bewitched glass eye. In late 70’s LA, Jimmy Ojotriste is struggling with being illegal, busking for a living and wishing for a way into the life of a beautiful, Jewish flamenco dancer. The mariachis who raised the orphaned Jimmy, insist that “music provides everything,” but his grandmother warns that a musician’s life left his father “talking to himself on the street,” and is nothing but “illusions and delusions.” With two best friends, Jimmy has earned a living in a street trio since childhood. At 20, the three boys are hitting the wall, and when Ray’s cancer metastasizes, they chance all on a quest from LA to Andalucía in hopes music brings love, healing and a place in the world.

“Lovely novel about young mariachis finding their place in the world, soaked in a vibrant sense of place and time. Somehow captures that feeling of being twenty and seeing the world spread before you in a way I've rarely seen portrayed well.” Goodreads Review

“Wrapped in the sights and sounds of 1970s Los Angeles, vibrant and nostalgic, Hernandez explores the complex intersections of race, love, poverty and coming of age…and through it all we are serenaded by his lyrical descriptions of the life and music of the mariachi.” Tate Hurvitz, Phd. Grossmont College Literature Dept.

“…Definitely for music lovers and romantics. Lyrical scenes — odd and memorable characters. Anyone interested in flamenco, mariachi, and Hispanic culture will be immersed. I learned of the book through “Las Comadres” a Latino lit reading group at our bookstore.” Goodreads Review

Arturo Hernandez-Sametier

Books

Audiobooks