Flow Violento: A Scott Hulet Omnibus, The Surfer's Journal

by Scott Hulet

Collected from over 30 years of published works—including travel reports, journal entries, profiles, interviews, transcripts, and recipes—Scott Hulet’s Flow Violento is a 250-page ballad to decades spent traversing the edges of Mexico, Central and South America, and the Caribbean. From itinerant carnies in central Baja to shotgun-protected beaches in the Dominican Republic, foundational surf clubs in Lima to white seabass hauls in the Descanso Bight, this volume tracks the characters, the roads, the landscapes, the food, the music, the fish, the surf, and more of Latin America, all from the perspective of a participant and a writer on the ground and on the scout. Flow Violento is a great book for any surfer, traveler, or adventure enthusiast. Written by Scott Hulet and published by The Surfer's Journal.

Genres: Nonfiction

236 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 2024

Reviews

[Bernardo Aito]

Definitely overhyped. Belongs nowhere near Barbarian Days. Writing is quite essential and sometimes too crude and content is quite monotonous. Would not recommend

[Ben Manning]

Supa fun
Got me excited about waves and fish and adventure

Lowkey just read Barbarian Days if you’re looking for something in this genre

[Chris Robinson]

This book made me smile, really smile. Even giggle at times. I blitzed through it in only a few days. Hulet has a way of extracting the beauty from life on the water that is hard to explain. Reading it felt like an old friend recounting tales from a lifetime of adventures. Many areas, and their surfing and fishing, were described in this book from Dominican Republic to Ecuador but the Baja chapters were my favorites. It made me want to pursue areas less traveled in search of empty surf and dodge the herds who frequent the normal surf zones down south.

[Sean Watson]

Awesome cover, cool illustrations at the chapter headings, and writing that matches the packaging. There were stories I liked much more than others, but I really got into the style and the culture it was characterizing. I cracked open TSJ print to check out the pictures of the editions I had. The pictures definitely added to the overall package. It’s a very different book from Barbarian Days, but it does capture a spirit that speaks to it.

[Arielle Katz]

DREAAMING OF SURF FISH AND CONNECTING W COOL PEOPLE

[Jason Vasquez]

An enjoyable collection of previous Surfer Journal publications that provide a bit of escapism for those of us who haven't been to the Baja and Mexico areas Hulet writes about. His descriptive prose enables one to truly feel they are there with him. It's not only surfing adventures, but fishing as well (which this reader got lost in as I'm not familiar with the art of fishing).

[Michael McEwen]

This is not ‘Barbarian Days’, a great book in its own right, and that’s the point. Some really sharp , genuine surf prose and travel writing in one part, an ode to adventure through the Américas in the other

[Michael]

I read it initially because I was excited by the cover and hype around the book. I bought it in the set with Steve Pez’s book on surf writings. I liked his a lot more than Scott’s. Unfortunately, I read it before bed to put me to sleep. I didn’t get much out of the book and found myself reading it just to read. The style of writing felt disorganized and rambly to me.