The Music of Jimmy Ojotriste

A lush, nostalgic barrio romance reminiscent of Marquez and Allende. An orphaned boy with long hair to cover scars and a bewitched glass eye is raised by a collective of mariachis in East Los Angeles. Since childhood, Jimmy Ojotriste (sad eye) has busked the teeming Mexican restaurants of the Eastside with violinist Ray Chin and green-eyed tenor Victor Salcedo. At twenty, all three boys are in love, stuck, and one of them is dying. What follows is a lyrical quest through the Latin music underground of Los Angeles, eventually taking them from Tijuana to Andalusia. Steeped in the music of mariachi and flamenco, and the brujeria , sensuality, and street life of disco era Los Angeles, Jimmy Ojotriste is an intense, musical romp through a vanishing world in the company of characters you will miss dearly. Gave me the feeling of reading Gabriel Garcia Marquez for the first time. Amazon Review

Romantic in the biggest sense of the word. Goodreads Review

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