Description: "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." Marta Barber, 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." Dorman T. Shindler, St. Petersburg × Denver Post; St. Louis Dispatch "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!" Patricia Trujillo, 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 dramaof the oh-so-popular telenovela dramas on Spanish-language television . . . Pure adrenaline and lots of fun." Chris Watson, Santa Cruz Sentinel "A triumph of whimsy and imaginationMonty Python meets One Hundred Years of Solitude . . . Wow! This is something absolutely and authentically new! This author is going to be a star." Barbara Quick, 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." Lucybeth Nieves, 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 w

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