Weekend Guide: 05.07.2021
I guess we've really gone bamboo
From what I can gather, Anthony Bourdain was universally loved. If you were to judge a persons impact by the magnitude of grief spilled out across the internet post mortem - Anthony Bourdain may have been the most beloved white man on planet earth 🌍. So, it’s probably best to skip over the part where I share my love of the dude.1 It’s all so obvious anyway. Another New Jersey born, bad boy-with a heart of gold, a true cultural behemoth. May he rest in power.
Before his days as an international celebrity chef/television host, Bourdain was a writer. Yes. He was a Chef. I know. From washing dishes at The Lobster Pot in P-town to Head Chef at Michelin darling Les Halles.
But that was his day job. In the mid nineties he published two poorly received mystery-crime novels Bone in Throat and Gone Bamboo before striking gold in 2000 with his dishy, restaurant tell all, Kitchen Confidential. From there, he never looked back. He also never wrote another novel.
On 4/20 World Travel: An Irreverent Guide hit bookstores. Billed as the last Bourdain book I had to grip a copy ASAP. It sold out on Amazon and Bookshop.org so I had to trek-it to a local bookstore2 to grab a few copies. It’s a really good looking book that is currently sitting on my coffee table. It’s more of a travel companion (where to stay, where to eat) and less of a book you read cover to cover.
Since I wasn’t going to read World Travel, I figured I would pick up one of those poorly received crime novels. I had owned Gone Bamboo for a year or so. I bought it on a whim because Bourdain’s name was emblazoned on the cover. It was an afterthought in a large used bookstore haul. Left for dead under a stack of paperbacks on the floor of my office.
I never felt compelled to give it a shot. For some reason, I wasn’t ready to admit that “yeah, maybe this motherfucker can really do it all!” and read one of his novels. In hindsight that was pretty misguided.
I am not in the book summary business, but Gone Bamboo is about a ponytailed hitman living the beach bum lifestyle with his beautiful wife on the french half of Sint Maarten. Mob entanglements, lots of sex on the beach, ice cold Heineken, being naked, eating in French restaurants, getting drunk on boats. People die. Hilarity ensues. More sex.
This is Anthony Bourdain writing about Anthony Bourdain.
“I wanted to write a sociopath beach book. I wanted a hero and heroine as lazy, mercenary, lustful and free of redeeming qualities as I sometimes see myself.”
-AB
👙🏝
Gone Bamboo feels like a piece of Bourdain that not everyone else has gotten their dirty mitts all over. Like, he can still be your own little secret. Your ace in the hole. Bourdain was, and will continue to be a light to the world. But there are still stones in his oeuvre that have been left unturned.
This book is far from perfect. But it’s fun and it reads quick. Think of it as the perfect introduction to beach reading season 🏝. Just listen to what the man said:
“I can only suggest you pop open a Red Stripe, grease up with some SPF 15 and read on. Treat the little inconsistencies like sand-fleas or the guys hawking time shares and sea shell jewelry - ignore them and they’ll go away. Put down the book, have another beer, take a dip… have sex… read another chapter. And please. Get sand between the pages”3
-AB
*Season 2: Episode 1 of A Cook’s Tour is a really nice companion piece to Gone Bamboo. In it, AB shows you around his beloved Sint Maarten. Food tastes better with sand between your toes.
Enjoy your weekend. We are entering the zone of longer brighter days. I hope you are taking full advantage. As always, if you have any questions, comments, or suggestions on anything I should be checking out - leave them in the comments. Peace and love!
Always happy to dialogue about Bourdain. Feel feee to leave a comment, or email me directly at dansvizeny@gmail.com.
From the introduction to Gone Bamboo.