July 25, 2022
Biographer Leerhsen (Ty Cobb) delivers an irreverent treatment of chef and reality TV star Anthony Bourdain (1956–2018). Leerhsen sources dozens of interviews and documented conversations to bring light to Bourdain’s private relationships, particularly with his parents. Growing up in the upper-class suburb of Leonia, N.J., Bourdain developed, in his own words, a “spoiled romanticism” born of a “smothering chokehold of love and normalcy.” He followed his high school crush (and later wife), Nancy, to Vassar College, where he struggled socially and academically before leaving to join the Culinary Institute of America (CIA). Leerhsen shows how, while Bourdain grew in confidence at the CIA, he piled on drugs and debt, and later survived several New York City kitchens before landing at the now-famous Les Halles, obsessively scribbling in notebooks all the while. Leerhsen teases from the beginning that Bourdain’s tumultuous relationship with Italian actor Asia Argento, which began in 2016, intertwined with the growing desperation that led up to his suicide. Leerhsen also speculates on what that pivotal romance as well as relationships with restaurant owners, and other supporting characters reveal of Bourdain’s tortured psyche, despite how guarded his team keeps his posthumous image. Throughout, saucy quips are amply ladled on. It’s a three-dimensional view of a man who cultivated authenticity while he was alive, relayed with similarly frank humor.
August 1, 2022
Like its subject, this razzmatazz biography zips along nicely. After writing successful biographies on such colorful personages as Ty Cobb and Butch Cassidy, Leerhsen takes on "crash test dummy extraordinaire Anthony Bourdain (1956-2018), who "didn't hide his scars and other imperfections as most celebrities do." With zesty verve and material from more than 80 interviews, the author dramatically unfolds an entertaining, ultimately tragic tale. A "comic book obsessed nudnik," Bourdain was born in Manhattan on his literary hero's birthday (George Orwell) and grew up in New Jersey. Deeply influenced by Hunter S. Thompson, "Angry Anthony" was raised in a household under the "smothering chokehold of love and normalcy," as he wrote in Medium Raw. Traveling with his parents in France, he had his "Madeleine moment" when he ate his first oyster. Or did he? According to Leerhsen, Bourdain was quite adept at tweaking his own bio. After spending summers in Provincetown working in restaurants, the college dropout attended the Culinary Institute of America. Though undisciplined and often drug-addled, he learned discipline at CIA as well as a "bare-knuckled philosophy of human relations." In 1978, he went to New York City to write fiction and got a job cooking at the Rainbow Room. Leerhsen deftly works his way through Bourdain's many cooking gigs as he climbed up the ladder while developing his belief that he could "perform a kind of alchemy that would somehow meld cooking with the twangy-angry punk music he held so dear." On April 12, 1999, the New Yorker published Bourdain's popular article, "Don't Eat Before Reading This: A New York Chef Spills Some Trade Secrets," which "hit all the tetchy talking points that would make him first a best-selling author" and a star with Kitchen Confidential. There followed his many popular TV shows, which "would get richer, more nuanced, and also sadder as time passed." Pair this with Tom Vitale's In the Weeds and Laurie Woolever's Bourdain. A chatty, quick-witted portrait of a complicated, tormented man.
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August 1, 2022
Leerhsen's (Ty Cobb: A Terrible Beauty) latest joins the already-crowded field of Anthony Bourdain biographies, but his well-researched, thoughtful examination of the late Bourdain (1956-2018) claims to not cede to the marketing and protection of Bourdain's legacy but instead uncover the truths of the enigmatic chef's troubled life. Leerhsen is unapologetically honest about Bourdain's outright "obnoxiousness," obsession with fame (it's alleged that he was constantly checking social media for mentions of himself), and mediocrity as both a chef and a fiction writer (as proven by many examples of Bourdain's early writing). Delving into Bourdain's childhood, Leerhsen explores possible reasons for the young man's anger issues. He also examines Bourdain's three main romantic relationships, his complicated friendships with fellow restaurant employees, and his addictive personality. Leerhsen asserts that Bourdain remained an immature adolescent, and his relationship with actress Asia Argento fizzled due to his overwhelming neediness; the book argues that this created a perfect storm of desperation that led to Bourdain's suicide. VERDICT Leerhsen's page-turner provides a well-rounded portrait of Bourdain, acknowledging his many faults as well as his empathy, work ethic, and creativity.--Lisa Henry
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September 15, 2022
Leerhsen (Butch Cassidy, 2020) seeks to relate how Anthony Bourdain's seemingly perfect life of traveling the world while writing groundbreaking television ended tragically in suicide. Following the 2021 biographies Bourdain by Laurie Woolever and In the Weeds by Tom Vitale and the documentary film Roadrunner, this unauthorized biography peels back the veneer of the Bourdain brand for an in-depth profile of a suburban kid turned New York chef who became a world traveler, spending 200 days a year away from home on behalf of all the rest of us. Leerhsen shares salacious details, but with an air of respect toward his much-beloved subject. Those looking for insights into the troubled relationship between Bourdain and Italian filmmaker and actress Asia Argento will find plenty of material here. Through Leerhsen's detailed narrative, Bourdain's life reads like a cautionary tale of a man who wished for something--and got it. Bourdain's drive to escape what he called the "original sin of being born suburban"--through food and relentless, uninhibited travel--took its toll. The world is better for his work, but at such a devastating price.
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