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    Down and Out in Paradise: The Life of Anthony Bourdain
    Down and Out in Paradise: The Life of Anthony Bourdain
    Down and Out in Paradise: The Life of Anthony Bourdain
    Audiobook8 hours

    Down and Out in Paradise: The Life of Anthony Bourdain

    Written by Charles Leerhsen

    Narrated by Vikas Adam

    4/5

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    About this audiobook

    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.

    Editor's Note

    Brash and reflective…

    Anthony Bourdain’s (“World Travel,” “Kitchen Confidential”) suicide in 2018 left a major void in the travel and culinary worlds. Leerhsen explores the life of the late chef, including working his way up in NYC kitchens and creating hit TV shows like “No Reservations” and “Parts Unknown.” Based on interviews with people who knew Bourdain, Leerhsen also speculates on his mental health in those final months as well as his fraught relationship with Asia Argento. Though brash and fast paced (just like its subject), this unauthorized biography reflects the deep well of emotions Bourdain inspired in us all.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSimon & Schuster Audio
    Release dateOct 11, 2022
    ISBN9781797145617
    Author

    Charles Leerhsen

    Charles Leerhsen is a former executive editor at Sports Illustrated. He has written for Rolling Stone, Esquire, and The New York Times. His books include Ty Cobb: A Terrible Beauty; Crazy Good: The Story of Dan Patch, the Most Famous Horse in America; Blood and Smoke: A True Tale of Mystery, Mayhem, and the Birth of the Indy 500; and Butch Cassidy: The True Story of an American Outlaw. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife, Sarah Saffian. Visit him at Leerhsen.com.

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    • 4/5
      Interesting book, although I wish the author could have rambled on a little less in the first three-quarters of the book before reaching the pinnacle of Tony’s story, which is about his final days and possibly why he did what he ultimately did.
    • 4/5
      I was not a bad book. What is the read?