Bourdain, The Definitive Oral Biography, Laurie Woolever

If you enjoyed Bourdain – his writings, his shows… this is a book you must take hold of, ingest, reflect, and breath in. No, it’s not the words of Bourdain himself, rather every important people in his life who shared their experiences with Bourdain from a child up and through after his death. The observations and reflections from those closest to him (his family, ex-wives, child, business associates, childhood friends, adult confidants) displayed the many sides of Bourdain that helped realize how complicated we can all be as individuals. To have a voice, and be able to write that voice, and be able to then produce a show that is completely in your voice, and even shot in a way that complements and is an extension of your voice is something many gravitated to… me included. It’s plainly seen that what happened in the end, for me, was not a surprise. I get it. He knew he was alienating friends, the people who loved him, who cared for him the most… and he’d gone so far where he felt he couldn’t come back. That and the combination of depression being humiliated by a girlfriend cheating on you in such a public way.. being who he was, there is no control over that. And for a man who swallowed being in control there is no other definitive answer.