Mr. Leerhsen has done a decent job of a job difficult subject.
Anthony Bourdain became famous on television and for all intents and purposes, should have been a happy man.
But he committed suicide while on the top of his success.
Why? That is what this book attempts to answer……I was a huge fan of Anthony Bourdain: I loved his speech, his travels, his occasional arrogance. But as years went by…it was impossible to not notice that he was getting less pleasure from his work..
Getting more jaded. If you have traveled you might know what I mean. The first time you see a place, it is exciting and new and different…
By the the third time, the cracks begin to show. That would be the epitome of Bourdain life.
As a child he lived pretty well upper middle class, when that was less than he wanted….he tried a lower class, drugs, alcohol, .
But he kept striving to find “ It” that thing which would be perfect. Marriage.? Fame? The perfect place? Love?
Like most wildly popular people there is a slim margin between greatness and outright misery and , like many before him, ultimately he chose to commit suicide. We don’t really know why ( he did not leave a note ) we can see through the lens of his youth and middle age, that the choice between suicide and personal happiness was always going to be a coin flip. His alcoholism probably helped him choose his ultimate path.
Well written and thought provoking.
Thank you to the publisher, author and NetGalley for allowing me this ARC in exchange for my unbiased opinion.

This unauthorized biography of Anthony Bourdain basically repeats and rehashes the same information and stories found in two previous and extensively researched biographies I found more informative : Bourdain: The Definitive Oral Biography and In The Weeds, both written by colleague/friends of Bourdain's. The interviews in this book seemed gleaned from conversations the author had with people who had been tangential to Bourdain's life, or relationships from his past.

I would recommend either of the previous biographies ,written by people who knew Anthony Bourdain in his daily life.