Off the Back of a Truck: Unofficial Contraband for the Sopranos Fan

by Nick Braccia, Chris Andrew Ciulla (Read by), Stephen Graybill (Read by), Emily Tremaine (Read by), Phil Thron (Read by)

Overview

Unleash your inner Soprano and relive all of your favorite moments with this companion guide to the award-winning series The Sopranos.

We all know and love The Sopranos, one of the most important television dramas to ever hit the small screen having run for six seasons on HBO. The story of the Italian-American mobster Tony Soprano balancing his family life with his role as a leader of a criminal organization inspired decades of genre-bending “peak TV.” Now Off the Back of a Truck: Contraband for the Sopranos Fan takes you one step further into the world of Tony Soprano and his family, offering an Italian potluck of fresh and fun takes that any true fan can get lost in for hours.

Off the Back of a Truck is for everyone who finds themselves glued to the TV during Sopranos marathons and still searches the best scenes on YouTube.

This book includes:
-New looks at everyone’s favorite episodes, scenes, and characters: “The Pine Barrens,” Big Pussy’s death, and more
-All 86 deaths analyzed, evaluated, and ranked
-Reflections on the show’s use of true crime, music, food, and fashion from critics and culture writers who are also huge fans
-Commentary from special guests, TV critics, and pop culture influencers

This book takes you on a journey through the six seasons you have watched time and time again—just in time for David Chase’s September 2020 prequel film!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781797114736
Publisher:	Simon & Schuster Audio
Publication date:	12/01/2020
Product dimensions:	5.80(w) x 5.70(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Nick Braccia is a Cannes Lion and Clio-winning writer, director, and producer. In 2018, he cocreated and coexecutive produced the fictional horror podcast, Video Palace for AMC Network’s streaming service, Shudder. While working at the marketing agency Campfire, he developed immersive, narrative experiences for TV shows like Outcast, Sense8, Watchmen, The Man in the High Castle, Westworld, and The Purge. From 2009 to 2012, he hosted the popular podcast, Transmedia Talk, which focused on emerging storytelling formats. Braccia is a member of the Producers Guild of America and lives in Manhattan with his partner, Amanda, and daughter, Evie Blue.

Chris Andrew Ciulla, an Earphones Award–winning narrator, is a credited actor, host, voice actor, producer, boxing commentator/analyst, and radio personality. In addition to frequent film, television, and on-camera commercial work, he has voiced characters for the popular video game titles Fallout 4 and Mafia III and can be heard in national commercial campaigns. A versatile performer with over fifteen years of experience, he has dedicated his life to entertaining people.

Stephen Graybill is an actor, producer, and award-winning voice-over artist. He was seen on television in The Girls Guide to Depravity, Law & Order: SVU, Law & Order, and HBO’s The Wire. He has also acted on stage and done voice-overs for commercials, winning both a Gold Clio Award and a Silver Effie Award. He has also worked on over fifty audiobooks, including Jesus Swagger by Jarrid Wilson.

Emily Tremaine is an actress and audiobook narrator. She has acted in several major motion pictures, including The Wolf of Wall Street and Obvious Child, and was one of the narrators featured on the audio version of Chuck Klosterman’s Eating the Dinosaur.

Phil Thron is a classically trained actor who has worked on stage, TV, and behind the microphone for several decades. A voracious reader and a devoted chatterbox, bringing these skills to the world of audiobook narration was a natural evolution, and for several years now, a wonderful obsession. Now, nothing gives him more pleasure than bringing authors' worlds to life and getting listeners to "lean in." When he's not recording from his home studio in New Jersey, Phil can be found playing tennis, reading or listening to books, watching movies, spending time with his family, and, perhaps, playing guitar. Badly. Really badly. Don't laugh, it's just an unfortunate truth.

Read an Excerpt

Chapter I: The Families CHAPTER I The FAMILIES
Eighty-six episodes of The Sopranos aired on HBO from January 10, 1999, to June 10, 2007. Across its six seasons, we meet hundreds of characters, from Salvatore “Big Pussy” Bonpensiero (Vincent Pastore) to producer Bernie Brillstein, who plays himself in one of the DiMeo crime family’s executive card games. While we watch Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini) navigate his tumultuous home life, we also keep tabs on the ever-evolving dynamics within two Mafia families (New Jersey’s DiMeos and New York’s Lupertazzis) and their internal factions. These frequently shifting collectives are rife with betrayals, murders, reentries into society, and fresh indictments.

There’s a reason why the FBI uses big thumbtack boards that they plaster with mugshots, index cards, string, and Sharpie scribbles—there’s a lot of sausage to juggle! We’ve constructed this chapter to provide orientation (or reorientation) to the hierarchies in place at the beginning of each season as well as the new ones that emerge at season’s end, once the body count is tallied and the smoke has cleared. As you read through this book, you can always flip back to this chapter for a reminder as to who works for whom and when characters get promoted or planted.

Editorial Reviews

07/13/2020

According to radio and TV producer Braccia, this grab bag of ephemera about HBO’s Sopranos “isn’t a guide, it’s a party.” That description is largely correct, given that the book does not march from season one to six, but jumps all over in its eagerness to study aspects of the show’s 86 episodes. He discusses the socioeconomics of the series (referring to the characters as “the Italian-American Mafia’s B-team at the turn of the millennium”), the history of director and producer David Chase’s career (he wrote for The Rockford Files), and the show’s influences (Chase drew from David Lynch to write the show’s dream episodes). The writing of Braccia and a couple contributors—chef Eddie McNamara’s passionate defense of Italian American “red sauce” cooking is a gem (“Food is my favorite character on The Sopranos,” he writes)—are vibrant and astute enough to avoid full fanboy gushing. The throw-it-against-the-wall style doesn’t always work; the “Whack Attack” section’s dissection of each of the show’s 92 murders would be a slog even for the superfans who attend SopranosCon (an event that takes place in New Jersey). At its best, this book slices and dices Sopranos lore with humor, insight, and unabashed devotion. (Dec.)

Publishers Weekly

According to radio and TV producer Braccia, this grab bag of ephemera about HBO’s Sopranos “isn’t a guide, it’s a party.” That description is largely correct, given that the book does not march from season one to six, but jumps all over in its eagerness to study aspects of the show’s 86 episodes. He discusses the socioeconomics of the series (referring to the characters as “the Italian-American Mafia’s B-team at the turn of the millennium”), the history of director and producer David Chase’s career (he wrote for The Rockford Files), and the show’s influences (Chase drew from David Lynch to write the show’s dream episodes). The writing of Braccia and a couple contributors—chef Eddie McNamara’s passionate defense of Italian American “red sauce” cooking is a gem (“Food is my favorite character on The Sopranos,” he writes)—are vibrant and astute enough to avoid full fanboy gushing. . . . At its best, this book slices and dices Sopranos lore with humor, insight, and unabashed devotion.”—Publishers Weekly

“I'm wrapping up my Sopranos rewatch. Sadly, all good things must come to an end. Luckily, when it comes to The Sopranos, there's plenty of ways to extend my passion. I'm immersed in Nick Braccia's Off the Back of a Truck: Unofficial Contraband for the Sopranos Fan , which offers all the listicles, hard-hitting essays, and fun trivia any devotee could desire, and more.”—Liz French, Library Journal

"More delicious than a slice of gabagool and ten times funnier than a screening of Cleaver, Off the Back of a Truck is an absolute must-read for any Sopranos super-fan. Insightful, witty, and astoundingly detailed, Nick Braccia's guide to the life and maybe-death of Tony Soprano is the next best thing to a trip to the Bada Bing."—Barry Hertz, Film Editor at The Globe and Mail

“A dynamic assemblage of dead-on insights and observations about The Sopranos.... For fans, this is better than a bowl of Artie Bucco’s ziti. In the introduction, Braccia gives readers permission to bounce around, which is refreshing.... It would be easy to label this collection as fanboy material, but the writing—Braccia’s [contributor] “friends” include professors, psychiatrists, film and TV writers, and filmmakers—is incisive in its dissections of the show’s elements. Wrapping up with a morgue’s worth of the story’s victims and the contributors’ favorite episodes, the book organically ends with a group conversation about the show’s most infamous episode, “Made in America.” Cut to black. An entertaining and engaging virtual watch party for a show that changed TV forever.”—Kirkus

From the Publisher

★ 12/01/2020

Twenty years after the premiere of The Sopranos, HBO's pioneering show about depressed and anxious New Jersey mob boss Tony Soprano, producer and director Braccia has gathered his friends and fellow fans together for a fast-paced, highly entertaining delve into the psychology of the show, its influences, and its profound mark on television history. Contributors reflect on such topics as the craft of the show, which includes the brilliant acting, artful cinematography, and the technique of dream sequences in many episodes. An enthralling chapter details the history of the real-life mob stories that influenced crimes committed by Tony and his cohorts. The section on food lists the show's "Top Ten Food Moments" and includes a mouthwatering recipe for breakfast spaghetti. Contributors also break down the songs played throughout the series and evaluate the wardrobes. The deaths over the course of the series are rated by "narrative impact," "killer performances," and "element of surprise," as well as by how "cinematic" they are. Braccia immerses himself in the culture, visiting New Jersey, interviewing a psychologist about the different therapy styles on the show and a professor on the Italian American experience, and attending the 2019 SopranoCon. VERDICT This love letter to the show is a must-read for all Sopranos devotees and TV history aficionados.—Lisa Henry, Kirkwood P.L., MO

Library Journal

2020-09-17
A dynamic assemblage of dead-on insights and observations about The Sopranos.

As producer and director Braccia notes, this book is not the place to start learning about the story arcs of one of the greatest TV shows of all time. However, if the phrase “cut to black” doesn’t ring a bell, you owe it to yourself to watch it. For fans, this is better than a bowl of Artie Bucco’s ziti. In the introduction, Braccia gives readers permission to bounce around, which is refreshing. “This book isn’t a guide, it’s a party,” he writes. “With fuckin’ ziti….It was conceived to feel like you’re walking into an apartment filled with a collection of smart, fun fans of the show, each with their own areas of expertise and passion.” Writing with “some friends of ours,” the author begins with a breakdown of the various factions, analyzes the crimes committed in the course of the show, and takes a deep dive into the careful craft, touching on editing and cinematography, the incredible method acting employed by the cast, and more tenuous concepts such as the psychology, points of view, and metaphors that help shape the narrative. These chapters are kind of heavy, so Braccia breaks it up with interstitial interruptions about the music, the omnipresent cuisine, costuming, and Italian American culture. Examining many aspects of David Chase’s genius, the narrative touches on the influences that form the show’s DNA, among them other gangster flicks, Westerns, and TV shows ranging from Wiseguy to Twin Peaks. It would be easy to label this collection as fanboy material, but the writing—Braccia’s “friends” include professors, psychiatrists, film and TV writers, and filmmakers—is incisive in its dissections of the show’s elements. Wrapping up with a morgue’s worth of the story’s victims and the contributors’ favorite episodes, the book organically ends with a group conversation about the show’s most infamous episode, “Made in America.” Cut to black.

An entertaining and engaging virtual watch party for a show that changed TV forever.

Kirkus Reviews