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

Worst Book Ever

Would you try another book from Tom Wolfe and/or Lou Diamond Phillips?

The story went no where and the narrator would repeat sounds until you wanted to yank your earsbuds off!

What was most disappointing about Tom Wolfe’s story?

Story line started and ended no where.

Would you be willing to try another one of Lou Diamond Phillips’s performances?

Never

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

Confusion

DONT BUY THIS BOOK IF YOU SPEAK SPANISH!

I was so looking forward to listening to this book, I bought it the first day it was out. Being of Cuban heritage and living in Miami, it's always interesting to see how "outsiders" perceive "us." In any case, I haven't even finished listening to this audiobook - I'm only two chapters in - but I am SO ANNOYED with the reader's unintelligeble Spanish, his mispronunciations of ENGLISH words (like Bri-kell - a neighborhood in Miami) that I feel compelled ... no DRIVEN ... to warn others to get the e-book or the hardcopy. If you speak SPANISH or live in Miami, this narrator will make you crazy! The city of Miami is arguably a looming character in this book .... it plays a role just as much as the real characters .... I can't believe that a professional actor wouldn't go the distance to find out how people actually speak in that location. I don't know if I can go on listening to this ....

Annoying! Annoying! Annoying!

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

I would recommend it to someone that liked Tom Wolfe's writing but I would beg them not to buy it on audio. The brain can skip over words that are repeated in print because it allows your eyes to simply skim over them, but when you're listening to words spoken over and over it is maddening. One can't just fast-forward! Numerous times I had to force myself to continue listening to this book - I found myself saying outloud "I get it already - MOVE ON."

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

For the most part, the characters were one-dimensional and very unlikeable, but that really wasn't a big surprise. The story is about a bunch of self-centered people and even though the focus is on Miami, it could have been any one of dozen places. Nestor, Magdalena and the young Haitian college girl whose name I have already forgotten, were the only characters with any depth and they were pretty shallow. These just weren't people I'd care to actually know and I don't think Wolfe cared about readers liking these characters. The story, such as it was, just petered out, but by the end, I couldn't have cared less. The constant repetition of words for effect made me cringe. If I am capable of enjoying a Tom Wolfe book, do I REALLY need to have him beating me over the head with what is happening?? Does he really believe that his readers are too dense to imagine the sounds he is describing, or the feelings, or whatever is being repeated?

What did you like about the performance? What did you dislike?

Lou Diamond Phillips did a wonderful job giving voice to the folks at the active seniors home, but otherwise it was so-so! It bothered me that he mispronounced words, however that was much easier to overlook than listening to him reading words repeatedly. LDP is a good actor and he brought a lot of life to the story, such as it was.

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

NO!! It's not a great story and the chances of getting a screenwriter and director who would turn it into something sparkling are slim. I wouldn't waste my money to see it in a theater and I doubt I'd even watch it on a premium channel - unless I absolutely had nothing else to watch.

Any additional comments?

Tom Wolfe is an excellent writer. He captures banality better than almost anyone I've ever read, but he also shared some thought-provoking insight regarding the great American mixing pot of Miami. One last thing - it is not yet against the law to text and drive in Florida as he had Nestor Camacho stating.

STORY WAS NOT INTERESTING AND NARRATION WAS SUBPAR

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

Less predictable story line and the characters were not interesting.

Would you ever listen to anything by Tom Wolfe again?

Probably not.

Would you be willing to try another one of Lou Diamond Phillips’s performances?

Yes.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from Back to Blood?

Cannot think of a specific one right now because I listened to the book a few weeks ago.

Annoying and Slow

What disappointed you about Back to Blood?

This is my first Wolfe novel and I've been very dissapointed. I found his deliberate story development tedious and his very frequent use of word repetition annoying. It was a chore to make it through the first half dozen chapters - certainly not a book that kept me listening through the night.

Did Lou Diamond Phillips do a good job differentiating all the characters? How?

The reader was generally OK, but needs to work on his "ha,ha,ha" laugh sequences - annoying boardering on awful. The frequent work/phrase repetition of Wolfe's novel is something you probably would simply have flown by if you were reading, but Phillips seems to add unnecessary emphasis to this annoying literary technique. The characters were not well differentiated by tone or accent in this reading.

Any additional comments?

Back to Blood has definitely not made me a Wolfe fan.

explicit verbal pornography

If you don't want to listen to verbal pornography, skip this book. I can't finish and will be returning it. This is my second book by this author and will be my last. The narrator was fine but the story seemed like a contrived vessel by which to create explicit verbal pornographic material that was disgusting. The main character was a therapist treating pornography while using his client for his own thrills and for his client's money and influence. I don't see any redeeming value in this book. I made it about half way and then asked myself why I would try to finish the book. There was no good reason so I will quit.

Not my cup of tea

What would have made Back to Blood better?

Where to begin.....maybe a good story? better plot??

What do you think your next listen will be?

something that moves fast, and has a plot!

What three words best describe Lou Diamond Phillips’s voice?

Love his voice, too bad the material wasn't better

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from Back to Blood?

don't think it would have been published.

Any additional comments?

I know it takes all kinds to make the world go round, or so it's said. But this really was a waste of my time, and credits.....while the premise of the story is solid, the promise of a good read, or in this case, listen, was not fulfilled.

Worst book I ever read

The author makes a lack of vocabulary a part of multiple characters through out the book. I’m supposed to believe a college graduate doesn’t know what an icon is? Or what extortion is? It’s ridiculous.

There is not a likable character.

There is no ending. He just stops writing.

Not worth the money

Would you try another book from Tom Wolfe and/or Lou Diamond Phillips?

Not for Tom Wolfe but maybe one where Lou Diamond Philips is the narrator

Would you ever listen to anything by Tom Wolfe again?

I'm afraid not.

Did Lou Diamond Phillips do a good job differentiating all the characters? How?

Yes, that was good enough.

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

Maybe the melting pot in Miami.

Any additional comments?

No not realy. I just didn't like it and throwed it away when I was half way.

an insult to intelligence

There is barely a plot, no mystery, tension or story arc. The characters are shallow stereotypes, and racially offensive. I could go on and on, but will not waste your time with more than two examples.
The female "protagonist" ( in quotes because its hard to tell if we are even suppose to like her) is a psyciatric nurse, yet so stupid she does not understand the meaning of many words, even those as simple as aura. This is supposed to be because she is of Cuban descent.
One of the male "protagonists" is also of Cuban descent, born in Miami and a police officer, yet is lost in Broward county, which is right next to Dade county where he lives. In fact, he seems lost anywhere outside of his small Cuban neighborhood of Hialea, even within Miami itself.
He is so naive, ignorant and clueless when it comes to "American" culture that one would suspect he was not even from America himself. At one point he is sort of undercover in a strip club, and repeatedly states that all the women are whores. And by repeatedly I mean multiple times within in ten minutes.
This book makes me wonder how it was even published, much less narrated by a famous actor.