Status
Call number
Genres
Publication
Description
Biography & Autobiography. Cooking & Food. Performing Arts. Nonfiction. HTML: An unprecedented behind-the-scenes view into the life of Anthony Bourdain from the people who knew him best. When Anthony Bourdain died in June 2018, fans around the globe came together to celebrate the life of an inimitable man who had dedicated his life to traveling nearly everywhere (and eating nearly everything), shedding light on the lives and stories of others. His impact was outsized and his legacy has only grown since his death. Now, for the first time, we have been granted a look into Bourdain's life through the stories and recollections of his closest friends and colleagues. Laurie Woolever, Bourdain's longtime assistant and confidante, interviewed nearly a hundred of the people who shared Tony's orbit�from members of his kitchen crews to his writing, publishing, and television partners, to his daughter and his closest friends�in order to piece together a remarkably full, vivid, and nuanced vision of Tony's life and work. From his childhood and teenage days, to his early years in New York, through the genesis of his game-changing memoir Kitchen Confidential to his emergence as a writing and television personality, and in the words of friends and colleagues including Eric Ripert, Jos� Andr�s, Nigella Lawson, and W. Kamau Bell, as well as family members including his brother and his late mother, we see the many sides of Tony�his motivations, his ambivalence, his vulnerability, his blind spots, and his brilliance. Unparalleled in scope and deeply intimate in its execution, with a treasure trove of photos from Tony's life, Bourdain: The Definitive Oral Biography is a testament to the life of a remarkable man in the words of the people who shared his world..… (more)
User reviews
Bourdain was unlike anyone else before or since. I watch very little TV, but I watched all his series with my child. He brought us the world modeling how to move through the world as a thoughtful ally and a constant learner who respected people and cultures and largely succeeded in observing without judging. It was always clear that he did not consider himself and expert on anything, that he was a sponge for input. Who could have known that a recovering heroin addict who smoked and drank incessantly would be the one person on TV I wanted my child to emulate just a little (not in those ways, of course.) This book gave me a greater understanding of who he was and how those shows happened. Fascinating. But my heart is no less broken after reading it.
And speaking of heartbreak ... for those that are wondering, the book makes clear that Bourdain's suicide was his choice, his "fault." That said, Asia Argento found a broken person and seemingly intentionally pushed him as far as she could just to see what would happen. She comes off as a psychopath. One person says that Tony Bourdain did not allow his heart to break when she publicly threw his love in his face and humiliated him. The speaker guesses that if Bourdain had allowed himself to experience the pain of a broken heart and a touch of public embarrassment that he would still be alive. His heart would have broken and he would have healed, as do we all. He made a choice to stop the heartbreak in its tracks instead. What a terrible decision for himself, his family, his friends, and really the world.