I loved the format of this book on Bourdain. Interviews/commentaries from the people who actually knew him or worked with him. Brought a huge realism to his public persona.

I was one of the masses who was devastated when I head of his death. He seemed so engaged with life I thought. Reading this book made me realize he was a genius in so many ways yet a deeply flawed and damaged individual too.

Laurie Woolever has brought him back to life. If only for a brief time.

A beautiful and haunting portrait of a man who fed people's minds and stomachs, started a family, broke the hearts of his many associates and friends in life, and tried and tried to escape the darkness that he eventually succumbed to in the end. As a fan of the recent Bourdain documentary, Roadrunner, it was great to get an even fuller picture of this fascinating man.

Laurie Woolever, who worked with Bourdain, has interviewed multiple people that were close to him that provide insight into the late chef. In the opening pages, there is a list of all the people the author interviewed and the book starts off with his early life. Overall, this is really a book for the big Anthony Bourdain fan in your life. For someone unfamiliar with Bourdain, I wouldn't recommend starting here. Read his memoirs, then if you want more information about those that knew him well, you could pick this book up.

This was a hard one for me to read for so many reasons. I have many of Tony's last season of his CNN show saved still because I haven't been able to watch them. It's still too hard. He's been part of my family since before my parent's divorced.

While the insight into his life from his lifelong friends and family, Bourdain was a man we all considered part of our own family - or at least - mine does.

Honestly - the last part of the book was the upsetting part - the relationship with Agento. It's troublesome still and it's still 'too soon' for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Heartbreak all over again…a wonderful history of Mr. Bourdain, told by many different people who were fortunate enough to know him. I always felt he was deeply empathetic and insightful, and this book only reinforces this. A must read.

An interesting style of biography told through the many voices of friends and family. I am a big fan of Bourdain and this was really interesting first hand perspective from the people that knew him best.

Reading comments from friends and family members gives such an honest view of a very complicated person. Unlike a typical biography, the style of this book has a personal feel. I was a big fan of Anthony Bourdain and I think the book serves as a fitting tribute to a man who will be missed by many.

Anthony Bourdain was an interesting, unique and complex man.
His celebrity was one of connection; with people, places and of course, food. In this marvelous oral biography, his spirit shines. Told through numerous interviews and anecdotes with his family; mother, brother and daughter Ariane, girlfriends, ex-wives, friends and his peers, the pages of his life are an open book. Through every trial and tribulation one thing stands out, his impact and his presence was enormous. His accomplishments were many. His appeal, flamboyance and charm made him an enigma of sorts. Yet, there were moments in Bourdain’s life that were filled with desperation. The breadth and depth of his depression were all consuming. His popularity was enormous but his loneliness and desire for peace within was even greater.
Laurie Woolever, I loved this book because of its honesty. It does not glorify Bourdain but reveals this multi-faceted man for everything he was, wasn’t and everything that will be missed.
Thank you NetGalley, Ecco and Laurie Woolever for an ARC in exchange for an honest book review.
Highly recommended.

I think the author hit on a genius way to publish a biography that requires minimal writing talent; just use quotes from other people. It actually works very well for those with a short attention span; the reader, that is. I actually liked the style for this particular book. For me it was fascinating forming a psychological profile of Anthony Bourdain gleaned from all the viewpoints of people in his life. Thanks to NetGalley for a complimentary copy of the book in exchange for my honest review.

I'm not the type of guy that goes gaga for celebrities or obsesses over them, but Anthony Bourdain was a rare exception to that rule. I connected with him over the course nearly two decades of television between No Reservations, The Layover, The Taste, and Parts Unknown, not to mention his books, Kitchen Confidential and Medium Raw. (I have, but have not yet read, his comics, which include two volumes of Get Jiro and Hungry Ghosts.) I share a birthday with his death day, and remember waking up the morning of June 8, 2018 to the news that he had hung himself in a French hotel while filming his CNN series. I've never really mourned or grieved the loss of a celebrity before, at least not in anyway beyond a superficial, "Man, that sucks, it's a shame they won't be making any more movies or books or music" kind of way. Bourdain's suicide hit me hard, though, and even though I did not know him, it hit with me all the force of a lost friend or relative. Honestly, I'm still not over this loss, or the loss of what could have been given Bourdain's talents and potential. The fact of the matter is that, although I didn't know him, I kinda-sorta did. We all did. I had invited him into my home every week for years. I shared meals with the man. He introduced me to people and places I could not otherwise know. I sipped on hot coffee or glasses of whiskey while he told me stories of life as a line-chef or shared his irrational fear of the Swiss. While we didn't share addictions, we both certainly shared common ground in terms of mental health issues, which often led to dark jokes and wry, negatively-charged observations from each of us. Anthony Bourdain possessed a level of authenticity and honesty that was impossible to ignore, and he meant a lot to a lot of people around the world who never really knew him.

Reading Bourdain: The Definitive Oral Biography, it's clear that those impressions were hardly a fluke. The line separating Bourdain the person from Bourdain the TV character was narrowly thin. While there were certainly differences between who he was and what he allowed himself to reveal in front of the TV camera, what you saw or read was largely who he really was. A brilliant writer, a charismatic and funny host, a lover of food and travel and people, constantly curious and knowledgable, narcissistic but also incredibly self-aware, one of the coolest cats around but a giant nerd at heart, an introvert in many ways, but one who could command the attention of an entire room and made himself the center of that attention and who gave his time selflessly to those around him. A former heroin addict, Bourdain was constantly finding and feeding new addictions to keep him clean, from travel to jiu jitsu, and romantic obsessions that he knew were doomed, such as his love affair with Asia Argento.

Writer and editor Laurie Woolever was Bourdain's personal assistant, his lieutenant, for over a decade and co-authored Appetites: A Cookbook and World Travel: An Irreverent Guide with him. For The Definitive Oral Biography, she interviewed over 90 people that knew Bourdain at various points of his life, including his brother, Christopher, his mother, Gladys (who passed away in 2020), ex-wives Nancy and Ottavia, daughter Ariane, and those who worked closest with him, such as producer-director for Zero Point Zero Production, Helen Cho and Tom Vitale (whose own book about working and traveling with Bourdain, In the Weeds: Around the World and Behind the Scenes with Anthony Bourdain, releases in September), Bourdain's literary agent Kimberly Weatherspoon, chefs José Andrés, Nigella Lawson (who co-hosted The Taste with Bourdain), Eric Ripert, and Roy Choi, as well as David Simon and Eric Overmyer, the cocreators of the HBO series, Treme, for which Bourdain wrote, movie director Darren Aronofsky, CNN reporters Anderson Cooper, Christiane Amanpour, and president of CNN worldwide, Jeff Zucker, and many, many, many more.

Through all these various personalities, we're given an incredibly well-rounded, and, more importantly, honest, portrait of the late Bourdain, the good, the bad, and the ugly. As Woolever notes in her introduction, this biography is far from a hagiography and makes no attempts to deify the man it's about, just as Bourdain no doubt would have wanted. There's no sugar-coating the lesser aspects of Bourdain's personality, his addictions, or the questionable decisions he made along the way, including his toxic relationship with Argento and his final choice to commit suicide at the age of 61 in a Le Chambard hotel room. Even a year or two removed from Bourdain's death, you can feel the shock and grief and confusion in the words of those interviewed as they continue to struggle with the emotional fallout and process his reasons and behavior during the last year of his life as he was consumed by his affections and infatuation for Argento, a relationship that Bourdain was keenly aware was doomed to fail right from the start, telling friends, "It's gonna end so badly." Neither Bourdain or Argento come across particularly well in the accountings and recollections compiled here of that time, with the latter almost appearing as a virtual hurricane that upended Bourdain's life and wreaked devastation upon those closest to him, while Bourdain himself kowtows to the Italian actresses demands at the expense of his own long-term personal and professional relationships, and, ultimately, seemingly, his own mental health and well-being.

Bourdain: The Definitive Oral Biography is a wide-ranging exploration of the man's life and larger-than-life legacy from those who knew him best. It's not always a pleasant read, particularly in the build-up to, and exploration of the aftermath of, his suicide, but for fans of the man hoping for a peek behind the curtain it certainly is a necessary read, for better or worse.

a well written and concise biography of the life of Anthony Bourdain; not limited to just his cooking genius but his travels to enjoy the culinary world. A great biography about a masterful chef, I enjoyed his Kitchen Confidential. Highly recommended.

Thanks to Netgalley, Laure Woolever and Ecco for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Available: 9/28/21

Excellent bio from someone who knew Bourdain well. I enjoyed finding out more about a man I truly admired

At nearly 500 pages and with multiple interviews and insights from 91 different people who were important in his life at some point during his 61 years, this is the definitive biography of Anthony Bourdain, Contributors include his brother Chris, his mother Gladys, his wild and crazy guy friends who encouraged him to live carelessly, serious girlfriend Paula Froelich, his ex-wives Nancy and Ottavia. His daughter Ariane speaks about her father eloquently and lovingly. Many peers- journalists, chefs, television producers- have plenty to add to who they percieved Bourdain to be. And the most common refrain was that nobody really knew Tony.

Parts of the book within some interviews reflected upon loneliness in a situation where one is beloved by the world but not at peace inside. The rigors of constant travel, airports, hotels, setting up scenes to produce his various shows, and the toll it took on Bourdain. The depth and helplessness of his depression is very evident.

The final section of the book in which Asia Argento, his last girlfriend, dominates his life is especially troubling. Someone equates it to Yoko Ono in a Beatles recording session. But it was clear that Tony Bourdain changed, more troubled and depressed, after meeting her and claiming to be deliriously in love.

A very profound book. Many thinks to NetGalley and the publisher for ARC.