Down and Out in Paradise

The Life of Anthony Bourdain

De: Charles Leerhsen

Narrado por: Vikas Adam

The bestselling, “unvarnished” (The New York Times), “engrossing” (The Guardian), “gritty, well-researched” (The Economist)—and definitely unauthorized—biography of the celebrity chef and TV star Anthony Bourdain, based on extensive interviews with those who knew the real story.

Anthony Bourdain’s death by suicide in June 2018 shocked people around the world. Bourdain seemed to have it all: an irresistible personality, a dream job, a beautiful family, and international fame. The reality, though, was more complicated than it seemed.

Bourdain became a celebrity with his bestselling book Kitchen Confidential. He parlayed it into a series of hit television shows, including the Food Channel’s Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations and CNN’s Parts Unknown. But his bad boy charisma belied a troubled spirit. Addiction and an obsession with perfection and personal integrity ruined two marriages and turned him into a boss from hell, even as millions of fans became enamored of the quick-witted and genuinely empathetic traveler they saw on TV. At the height of his success Bourdain was already running out of steam, physically and emotionally, when he fell hard for an Italian actress who could be even colder to him than he sometimes was to others, and who effectively drove a wedge between him and his young daughter.

Down and Out in Paradise is the first book to tell the full Bourdain story, and to show how Bourdain’s never-before-reported childhood traumas fueled both the creativity and insecurities that would lead him to a place of despair. “Filled with fresh, intimate details” (The New York Times), this is the real story behind an extraordinary life.

©2022 Charles Leerhsen. All rights reserved. (P)2022 Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved.

Someone has a grudge

This entire book is dedicated to shedding negative light onto Anthony. The book seems carefully researched, but it seems that the author has a personal grudge. I thought this would contain some positives, but this does not seem to be the case. It would be nice if the author just let go of the resentment and moved on. Instead he picks on a dead person and his parents. The whole book is just strange.

nothing new

I have read all of the biographical books by Tony, and by Tony's friends, and nothing presented here is new, or even remotely interesting, information. It feels like the author relished in sprinkling in hearsay, speculation, and his own opinions.

Most of the info in this book is recycled from Tony's own works. If you really want to know about the man, read his books, read Tom Vitale's book, watch his Travel shows, and peruse his social media history... This wasn't worth my audible credit.

It gets three stars, instead of two, for at the very least being well written and nicely performed. Good Job on the sound.

Bourdain Counterpoint Biography

This biography provides insights the already published bios and reminiscences did not, but combined with the others does offer a far more in depth picture of Bourdain the person.

A main thread not provided by the others is this work’s detailing the impact of Asia Argento on him, unfortunately a very negative one, but had it not been her perhaps some other person or situation might have had a similar effect.

Extremely well narrated.

excellent listen for true fans

I listened to this title twice, it was so well researched and well read. Fascinating life. Tragic death. As a huge admirer of Tony Bourdain, it really helped me understand the complexity of his self destruction.

Seemingly Unpopular Opinion

It is evident that many AB fans aren’t fond of this publication. I respect this opinion, but regardless my instincts, in conjunction with all I’ve read of AB & my observation of humanity, tells me that there is significant truth to this bio. In fact- the pushback alone leads me to believe that it struck a nerve of truth to certain people. Much of it is admittedly a reiteration of past AB works & common knowledge, but there are still some discovered nuggets and appreciated additional perspective. I will admit that certain parts of the book do imply that the author has a personal axe to grind with AB, but he nevertheless seems to come full circle. It’s as speculative as anything else of the like, but I found it cohesive, compelling, and well presented. Read between the lines.
Signed,
A non-literary professional who has much love for AB :)

Good read but leans towards gotcha’s

The book offers some interesting color points to the narrative that clearly the shows want to maintain. often seem to go out of its way to stress the negative and even embellish it

A lot of warmed over information

I felt like I was tearing a re-reading of Kitchen Confidential with very few new details. It was good to have “big foot” identified for instance. The narrator read at a pace that seemed hurried at times. Overall, it was a good read but probably just not what I expected.

Compelling Story & Reading

The book and reading are both terrific. Kudos to author Charles Leerhsen for his research and writing style.
Vikas Adam provided a reading that was compelling and comforting.

I had always said I'd never seen him cook anything

I read KC when it was initially released. I was fresh out of culinary school and it really got me fired up for my chosen career path. After a dozen, or so, years in the kitchen. After a few more books, and countless hours watching Anthony on TV, I realized food seemed to be more of a means to an end for him. Personally, I believe this is about as close as we'll ever come to seeing the real Anthony Bourdain.

This is Ottavia's story

I'll be honest and tell you from the beginning that I'm an ex Tony fan. I'll even tell you why: I'm from Philly where he haughtily snubbed an entire city of 1.7m people and all it's eateries for over a decade. I have not read Kitchen Confidential and have no desire to do so.

My friend was a huge fan and when she was gifted two tickets to see him at the Merriam Theater in 2011, I went with her.

He was miserable, uncomfortable, and rolling his eyes at almost every question asked from the audience, even calling one section of the theater "The drunk section". When asked if he had eaten in the city of Philadelphia as of yet, he said, while sitting next to his friend Eric Ripert, owner of Philly's 10 Arts restaurant, "No, I'll eat something when I get back to New York tonight...but I heard there's a good restaurant called Vetri or something...".

The next year, he did a quick spot about Philly on The Layover but he was still not impressed, and said the best cheesesteak he had during the trip was a dive bar in New Jersey. Most of Philly was over him after that, and jumping through hoops to impress him.

Now on to the book: This is clearly Ottavia's unheard story and I'm glad this side of the story was told. You can call it a character assination if you want, as some of it does seem a little juicy or catty, but you have to remember this journalist was given access to Tony's text messages and emails which are controlled by the Tony Bourdain estate, which is controlled by his wife Ottavia. I dont believe that just because someone is dead, that you should only say nice things about them, especially when the dead person was not a particularly good person. This is a story told by the people who were snubbed, judged and cast aside by Tony, which towards the end of his life, was nearly everyone. I appreciate hearing their side.

The book covers his early life and importantly points out how he got his breakthrough with KC -- it was his mother, an editor at the NYTs who passed his essay on to the right people but you will never know that because he never speaks about his mother. It also goes into detail about the relationship between Ottavia, his daughter and lastly, Asia, who seemed to make quick work of conning him into supporting her financially.

I won't give away some of the more juicy details but I think this was definitely worth a listen!