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A review by fredsphere
Back to Blood by Lou Diamond Phillips, Tom Wolfe
Did not finish book.
I loved [b:The Bonfire of the Vanities|2666|The Bonfire of the Vanities|Tom Wolfe|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1389856895s/2666.jpg|1080201] and other TW novels, but now the schtick is wearing thin. TW's presentation of homo fornicatus is reductionistic; human love is conspicuous by its absence here, making the novel unreal, and by now I simply don't have time to read (or in this case, listen) to such entertainment when so many other more worthy works clamor for my attention.
B2B is entertaining, at least in places. The narcissistic psychiatrist (inevitably, he's a sex addict who treats sex addicts) was an amusing caricature but was not portrayed in a way that explained his nurse/concubine's attraction. The narrator couldn't pull off his braying laugh. It got so I dreaded any appearance of this major character.
TW is on more convincing, and definitely more entertaining grounds, when he describes Miami's tense mix of Cuban, Haitian, Black, and Anglo tribes. A cuban cop's heroic act boomerangs on him when it earns him the admiration of Anglos but the ire of his family and neighbors. (He saves the life of a Cuban immigrant in a way that prevents him from gaining refugee status.)
Meanwhile, a Russian oligarch donates many millions of dollars worth of almost certainly forged paintings to the local art museum and its corrupting influence topples some dominoes that gets my curiosity going; if I could read just that part of the ending, I would. And I have to admit TW's description of a work of performance art, lewdly charged with sexual politics, although completely revolting, odious, and disgusting, was both believable and hilarious.
So, a mixed bag. Half way through, I had to give it up. No rating, because I did not finish. I can't even imagine what rating I would have given it if I did.
B2B is entertaining, at least in places. The narcissistic psychiatrist (inevitably, he's a sex addict who treats sex addicts) was an amusing caricature but was not portrayed in a way that explained his nurse/concubine's attraction. The narrator couldn't pull off his braying laugh. It got so I dreaded any appearance of this major character.
TW is on more convincing, and definitely more entertaining grounds, when he describes Miami's tense mix of Cuban, Haitian, Black, and Anglo tribes. A cuban cop's heroic act boomerangs on him when it earns him the admiration of Anglos but the ire of his family and neighbors. (He saves the life of a Cuban immigrant in a way that prevents him from gaining refugee status.)
Meanwhile, a Russian oligarch donates many millions of dollars worth of almost certainly forged paintings to the local art museum and its corrupting influence topples some dominoes that gets my curiosity going; if I could read just that part of the ending, I would. And I have to admit TW's description of a work of performance art, lewdly charged with sexual politics, although completely revolting, odious, and disgusting, was both believable and hilarious.
So, a mixed bag. Half way through, I had to give it up. No rating, because I did not finish. I can't even imagine what rating I would have given it if I did.