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Bourdain

In Stories

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Bourdain

By: Laurie Woolever
Narrated by: Laurie Woolever, full cast
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About this listen

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.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2021 Laurie Woolever (P)2021 HarperCollins US
Culinary Travel & Tourism

What listeners say about Bourdain

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Great listen.

You really get a sense of how much Tony effected the people around him. Awesome.

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Listen to it!

Very cleaver - took a chapter to get into it. Once into it you can appreciate how well put t

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Insightful

A real insight into the man who was Anthony (Tony) Bourdain, from his family and those who loved and worked with him.

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Great insightful portrait of a complex man

This is a unique and fascinating biography told by those who knew him. I was totally engaged.
A collection of insights that coalesced into a richly detailed portrait.
I’d always admired Anthony Bourdain and this book absolutely confirmed that he was an exceptional man, worthy of admiration.

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Heart felt

Wonderful wonderful collection of love and stories from the people closest to him.
A glorious wake for a magnificent man.

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The perfect farewell

I appreciate that it can feel a little disjointed to start, skipping between narrators, but what Laurie Woolever achieves is nothing short of spectacular, weaving together stories from dozens of friends and colleagues. This feels like the perfect farewell, the curtain well and truly pulled back, a warts and all wrap up of Tony Bourdain's story. I can't think of a better way of saying good bye.

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Really good, then sh**, then good again.

This book can be divided up into 3 parts, 2 of which are really good, but the other not so much.
The first third is really good, consists of contributions from his family and friends from before Kitchen Confidential, they’re all very interesting to hear from.
The second third is the not so good one. It’s mostly hearing from his friends he made while at the peak of his career success and fame… so famous people. To be frank, a lot of these people come off like d bags.
The third is when the wheels start falling off, and the situations and factors that ultimately lead to his awful demise. Obviously very compelling listening/reading.

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awesome

awesome, beautifully presented, through the voices that matter, what a life to remember, ponder and reflect upon

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Struggled to get into this book

I was so looking forward to this book but struggled to get into it. I often didn't know whose memory was being shared and it felt a little all over the place. I gave up on it as I really didn't enjoy the short memories and recollections of Bourdain's life in what felt like an unstructured format. Maybe it's a book better read in hard-copy.

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