Back to Blood

A Novel

By: Tom Wolfe

Narrated by: Lou Diamond Phillips

Length: 20 hrs and 48 mins

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

He does it again!

Once again Tom Wolfe gives us a wonderful novel. The characters are so defined and the story is great. He's an amazing author. I loved CHARLOTTE SIMMONS and this book is equally as terrific. Lou Diamond Phillips is the perfect choice to narrate this novel.
In mid winter in Oregon, it was good to spend some time in Florida.

Not a favorite

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

This book was a tough listen I thought the story was slow developing.

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

I needed to become engaged with the characters, I found my mind wandering during the listen

Entertaining

It was a decent listen, the narrator was entertaining and the story line kept your interest, the ending was a bit slow.

Good story

Is there anything you would change about this book?

Repetitive words were very annoying. Slap Slap Slap

Would you recommend Back to Blood to your friends? Why or why not?

Yes, both my husband and I enjoyed it.

What do you think the narrator could have done better?

More variety to his voice

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

No

Any additional comments?

No

A fun and interesting story that gets better as you go on

Not his best book, but worth reading nonetheless in my opinion. Nice to hear from the perspective of people of color. I like that it shows multiple sides of stories we hear about regularly, and I feel like it tries to present different perspectives on common issues like immigration and policing. I don’t like how the narrator read it, it feels like he tried to hard to make it sound cool, and the story starts off feeling kind of dumb, but after the 4th or 5th chapter it got really good. I’d recommend it to just about anyone.

Tom Wolfe at his best

What did you love best about Back to Blood?

OK story is really an excuse for observations about the South Florida social and political scene. The Art Basel commentary is priceless.

Which scene was your favorite?

Art Basel

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Laugh

the story is good, narrator does well

too many repetitive words. seriously annoying..didn't set the stage made me roll my eyes. it was a good story though entertaining

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.

Are they paying him by the word?

I'm a huge fan of Tom Wolfe and have read everything he has written with relish. As expected, the carefully observed culture and characters are central to a web of story that twists and leaps with wit and surprise.
Not expected was the repetition of phrases and descriptions such that I kept wanting to hit the fast forward button to get to the next paragraph. Wolfe is known for his verbosity but I don't recall such repetitiousness in previous efforts. A ruthless editor could have saved a good 10% of my time to the benefit of what otherwise is a fascinating and enjoyable read.

Too Short!

Any additional comments?

I've come to expect epics from TW so my only complaint here is that the story ended much too soon. This is classic Tom. Down in the dirt with the over-privileged and posers of the art world. His writing becomes more poetic with each new novel. Lou is a terrific narrator, as good as any I've ever heard.