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Back to Blood  By  cover art

Back to Blood

By: Tom Wolfe
Narrated by: Lou Diamond Phillips
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Publisher's summary

A big, panoramic story of the new America, as told by our master chronicler of the way we live now.

As a police launch speeds across Miami's Biscayne Bay - with officer Nestor Camacho on board - Tom Wolfe is off and running. Into the feverous landscape of the city, he introduces the Cuban mayor; the black police chief; a wanna-go-muckraking young journalist and his Yale-marinated editor; an Anglo sex-addiction psychiatrist and his Latina nurse by day, loin lock by night - until lately, the love of Nestor's life; a refined, and oh-so-light-skinned young woman from Haiti and her Creole-spouting, black-gang-banger-stylin' little brother; a billionaire porn addict; crack dealers in the 'hoods; "de-skilled" conceptual artists at the Miami Art Basel Fair; "spectators" at the annual Biscayne Bay regatta looking only for that night's orgy; yenta-heavy ex-New Yorkers at an "Active Adult" condo; and a nest of shady Russians.

Based on the same sort of detailed, on-scene, high-energy reporting that powered Tom Wolfe's previous best-selling novels, Back to Blood is another brilliant, spot-on, scrupulous, and often hilarious reckoning with our times.

©2012 Tom Wolfe (P)2012 Hachette

What listeners say about Back to Blood

Average customer ratings
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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Haven't finished

Only on the first few chapter, and already annoyed that the narrator doesn't know how to pronounce Mary Brickell. It's BRICK-ell, not bri-CKELL. It's like nails on a chalkboard to a native Miamian.

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5 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Great performance by Lou Diamond Phillips

Where does Back to Blood rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Top ten

What other book might you compare Back to Blood to and why?

Bonfire of the Vanities

Any additional comments?

The acting by the reader was far better than reading the book. I

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4 people found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
  • J
  • 11-19-12

Dios mio what trash. Loved every minute!

What made the experience of listening to Back to Blood the most enjoyable?

Where else can you hear loins, mons venus, lubricious sprinkled on every page? Who uses words like those either verbally or written, ever, besides TW?. Not much of a plot, more of a fabulous character study. Fully fleshed out characters come to life but sadly drop from the pages, tantalizing plot threads are disappointingly abandoned but what whacky juicy fun anyway. Its why you came. Enjoy. Narration, accents and pacing just wonderful.

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Lou Diamond Phillips - Ace of Narration

This is a very cool, funny, and clever book. I can tell you 100% honestly, that I read it twice. The second time was for the great narration, subtle music, and cause it's awesome.

It will entertain you. Oh yeah, it has a great author too, the Great Tom Wolfe.

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3 people found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

"Much ado about nothing"...

It takes long to get into this book. The story is convoluted , the characters difficult to comprehend and one really does not understand where Tom Wolfe wants to take him. Is the book meant to be an essay on the ethnic and social conflicts in Miami or simply a comedy on the high class bourgeoisie investing in art for social recognition ? No, this is, you discover after a few hours of patient listening, a thriller .. The writing style and the reading are frenzy and a bit too high pitch. Much ado about nothing.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Uniquely good

What did you love best about Back to Blood?

It's portrayal of the mind set of Cubans in Miami within their own peoples and towards other ethnic groups.

Which character – as performed by Lou Diamond Phillips – was your favorite?

Nestor Camacho

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Wonderful narrator but...

...sadly,no plot. Gave up halfway through. Perhaps I would have been better off with the abridged version. I have loved so many of Tom Wolfe's classics, but this book wasn't going anywhere -- at least by the middle of Part 2. Yes, the narrator is terrific, yes, Tom Wolfe writes some brilliant description (love the use of sounds), but a book also has to move forward. This one doesn't. Disappointing.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Tops in Narration.

What did you love best about Back to Blood?

It's by Tom Wolfe.

What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?

John Smith was a scream. Will there be a series? Least interesting--the police stuff was pretty dull and drawn out.

Have you listened to any of Lou Diamond Phillips’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Not too much to choose from.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Giselaine's family and lineage.

Any additional comments?

An adeptly narrated multicultural fairytale and police procedural, written it feels on scraps torn from Wolfe’s breathless, young alter ego’s notepad. Each chapter opens with a tango, rap, salsa, balalaika fanfare, etc. I give it an "advanced" PG-13 (occasional attempts at hardcore as seen through the eyes of its innocents and always accompanied by an anti-porn or abstinence message) and a “no irony” warning for the adults.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Lou Diamond Phillips

I wish Lou Diamond Phillips was the narrator on every book I listen to from here on out! He is AMAZING. I did really like the book, a little over the top at times, but interesting peeks at cultures I know nothing about. Fun read.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Fantastic—only one complaint…

Lou Diamond Phillips is the best narrator I’ve heard in the 700+ Audible books I’ve listen to—his range is amazing.
I loved the story and the writing style, and I’m going to listen to all Tom Work life’s books now. If he reads his own reviews, I do agree with others that the constant repeating of words really should have been edited out. I have no idea why such a great writer would repeat words like a grade school kid trying to make a minimum word count on an assignment by saying something was “…very, very, very, very, very red…”. But that is my only complaint. Great book!

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