Down and Out in Paradise: The Life of Anthony Bourdain

The world was shocked by the 2018 suicide of celebrity chef and travel show host Anthony Bourdain. Leerhsen’s (Ty Cobb: A Terrible Beauty) latest considers the man with a perfect job, international reputation, and a young daughter vs. the thoughts and feelings that might have led him to end his life. Narrated with solemnity and drive by Vikas Adam, the book starts with a chronicle of “Tony’s” adolescence and early adulthood. Adam channels Leerhsen’s intensely honest approach, portraying Bourdain as an upper-class suburban Jersey boy who struggled with career choices until he worked at a Cape Cod restaurant one summer. He attended the Culinary Institute of America and worked in a string of Manhattan restaurants. The publication of Kitchen Confidential set him on the road to hosting several television shows, including CNN’s Parts Unknown. He had two failed marriages and a stormy relationship with Italian actress Asia Argento. Bourdain appears to have been an enigma—kind, generous, outgoing, and well spoken, but also moody, unpredictable, controversial, and self-destructive. While Leerhsen provides excerpts of interviews, emails, and texts from Bourdain’s friends and lovers, listeners may be disappointed at the lack of new information.