Back to Blood: A Novel (original 2012; edition 2012)

OMG Tom Wolfe. I had just returned from a week of driving around Miami when I got this book. I fear this colors my judgement because Tom is so spot on! Only four and a half stars because I am not a giant fan of fiction, although his is so borderline it should be in its own category. Loved it. ( )

Sharp ( )

This is the latest door stop from one of my favorite writers of all time, Tom Wolfe. What he did for (or to) Atlanta in A Man in Full, and New York in Bonfire of the Vanities, he does for (or to) Miami in Back to Blood. As usual, I found Wolfe’s descriptive writing to be vastly entertaining and his characters fascinating and spell binding.

While I have been to Miami (actually Key Biscayne), and am familiar with the influx of Cubans and the melting pot nature of present day Miami culture, I was not aware of the extremes to which these characteristics have evolved. If Wolfe’s Miami is in any way representative, this novel was a real eye opener.

Wolfe excels at writing about and describing conflict, and his best work involves scenes such as those in A Man in Full where the overextended real estate developer is dragged over the coals by his creditors. This novel contains numerous such instances, such as when the Latina driver of a $250,000 sports car goes to ridiculous extremes to snag a parking spot from a late middle-age, eco-car driving WASP and verbal Armageddon ensues; it’s fascinating.

Wolfe skewers modern art and the preening aficionados of even the most ridiculous examples thereof; he eviscerates the fields of psychiatry and psychotherapy; and he parodies the seemingly never ending racial politics involved in the stark multi-cultural melting pot that is Miami.

While I enjoyed the novel immensely, I must confess to being ultimately worn out with what must be Wolfe’s latest affectation, the rampant use of inappropriate punctuation, most annoyingly, repeating colons to indicate a character’s thoughts. For example, ::::::::::::I wonder what’s for dinner.:::::::::::: As he scoured the cupboard, his mother entered the room. ::::::::::::Oh my God, what does she want now::::::::::::::::::: His mother stood with her hands on her hips. :::::::::::::::::::::I hope she doesn’t tell me to take out the trash:::::::::::::::::::: “Take out the trash,” his mother said. :::::::::::Drat!::::::::::::::

It honestly became a serious distraction. Other than that, I’m hard pressed to find fault with this novel, which kept me entertained from start to finish. ( )

Tom Wolfe is such a wonderfully descriptive writer. You feel like you're right there at the scene. He paints a vivid picture. Only problem is I'm not interested in Cuban cops chasing illegal immigrants. So I didn't care much about the characters or the story in Back to Blood. But if that sort of story appeals to you, you'll be hard pressed to find anyone who can tell it better that Wolfe. ( )

I haven't read a Tom Wolfe book since Man in Full came out and I enjoyed Back to Blood thoroughly! Set in Miami, world collide involving a Cuban cop, an Anglo journalist, a Russian oligarch, a porn addicted billionaire, a French-Haitian sophisticate, and a Cuban-nurse intent on rising up in the world, to name just a few. Art fraud is committed, feats of heroism occur, race relations heat up, reality shows are choreographed. It is a enjoyable study in satire and pure Tom Wolfe. ( )