The Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora

The Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora is a novel for middle graders by Cuban American writer Pablo Cartaya. This study guide refers to the original 2017 Viking edition.

Plot Summary

It is the beginning of summer in Canal Grove, a Cuban enclave in modern-day Miami. For 13-year-old Arturo Zamora, the novel’s narrator, this is usually a season of lazy pastimes, but surprises are in store. When he becomes lovesick over a Spanish girl named Carmen Sánchez, and when a ruthless developer named Wilfrido Pipo plots to raze Arturo's family’s restaurant, Arturo must find the courage to speak up or lose everything he values.

Arturo’s maternal grandparents—Abuela and Abuelo—left Cuba in 1979 to settle in Miami. They opened a restaurant, La Cocina de la Isla, which, 19 years later, has become an institution in their Canal Grove neighborhood. Abuelo died when Arturo was very young. Abuela, the Zamora family matriarch, is an excellent chef, but due to failing health, has yielded cooking duties to Caridad (Cari) Zamora, her oldest daughter and Arturo’s mother. Arturo lives with his large family—aunts, uncles, and cousins—in one apartment complex, and they all participate in making the restaurant a success.