Tom Wolfe's "Back to Blood" Sexifies L.A. Noir For Miami
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"Back to Blood" Cover
Author Tom Wolfe flips Miami over to reveal its Cuban underbelly in his newest book “Back to Blood.”
Wolfe examines the social dynamics that are particular to Miami, a trait that's carried out throughout his books including his first hit, “Bonfire of the Vanities.”
Wolfe’s writing style is cut with an overabundant use of punctuation. Colons, exclamation marks, hyphens and ellipses make “Back to Blood” a spectacle of grammar don’ts.
But his heavy hand with punctuation reflects the style of New Journalism, a movement Wolfe codified in 1973 and included other writers like Truman Capote, Hunter S. Thompson, Norman Mailer and Joan Didion.
The characters in “Back to Blood” are also in typical Wolfe fashion: over-the-top and larger-than-life.
“Back to Blood” primarily comes through the perspective of Nestor Camacho, a Cuban police officer, who faces shame from the Cuban community after a daring rescue results in a Cuban illegal immigrant’s deportation.
Camacho struggles with his childhood ties to Hialeah, the “real Little Havana,” and his entrance into the world of the “americanos.”
But Wolfe’s book jumps from other characters’ points-of-view too, making this 700-page book a cross-intersection of different lives and attitudes in Miami.
Other characters include Edward T. Topping IV, the white, timid editor-in-chief of the “Miami Herald”; Magdalena, a quiet nurse who wants to leave behind the confines of the Cuban community; Professor Lantier, a Haitian intellectual who is overly-conscious of status; Cyrus Booker, the black chief of police whose placement is intended to balance tensions between Cubans and African Americans; and John Smith, a young reporter from Yale who tackles two stories that are bound to shake the book’s already fragile treatment of the Miami backdrop.
Reporter Smith’s investigation of two stories – Camacho’s “damned-if-I-do-damned-if-I-don’t” rescue and a conspiracy of forged artwork donated to Miami’s newest museum – undercut the book’s plot as Wolfe’s characters unexpectedly cross paths.
The overuse of punctuation and intricate weaving of characters’ lives make “Back to Blood” a long, consciously tough read, but Wolfe manages to keep the interest level high despite its dense plot. “Back to Blood” is especially of interest to aspiring journalists who can appreciate Wolfe’s journalistic conventions in a fiction piece.
Wolfe sexifies L.A. noir - keeping some gritty undertones of the literary style - and repackages it for a new city, making "Back to Blood" a good study of interrace relations in the ever changing culture of Miami.
