Bourdain

In Stories

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Bourdain

By: Laurie Woolever

Narrated by: Full Cast, Laurie Woolever

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Bloomsbury presents Bourdain by Laurie Woolever, read by Laurie Woolever and Full Cast.

'This unique oral history builds to a comprehensive portrait and an important biography' Observer
'Reveals a vulnerable side to the man and adds remarkable depth to his onscreen persona' Financial Times

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, José Andrés, 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: In Stories is a definitive testament to the life of a remarkable man in the words of the people who shared his world.©2021 Laurie Woolever

Laurie WooleverFull CastLaurie WooleverBloomsbury Publishing

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Critic reviews

With pages of personal Bourdain photos, this warm book about an ultimate cool guy — vibrant and vulnerable — is dished up with finesse by Woolever

A fascinating account of Bourdain's childhood through his untimely death, conjuring him as he evolves from curious kid to punky teen to young, heroin-addicted cook ... A roundly true-feeling portrait of a captivating person. Bourdain's fans will find it impossible to put down

A chorus of candid voices creates an engaging biography

Celebrated chef and author Anthony Bourdain cuts a charismatic yet enigmatic figure in this kaleidoscopic oral history ... This fascinating mosaic ... capture[s] the inimitable legacy he left behind

A candid, compelling look at the man and his work

Reveals a vulnerable side to the man and adds remarkable depth to his onscreen persona

This unique oral history builds to a comprehensive portrait and an important biography

Most relevant

I have watched all of Anthony Bourdain's available TV programmes and read most of his non - fiction books so I consider myself a fan who, like many others, was heartbroken when he passed away so shockingly. This collection of reflections from those who knew him gave me a greater insight into the man behind his public persona. I listened to it with tremendous sadness for what we have lost but more importantly that a man with such an appetite for life, felt compelled to end it by his own hand. I also watched Morgan Neville's 'Roadrunner' and found it to be an excellent companion piece. Soon I will listen to Tony's novels. The world is a much greyer place without Tony in it.