Customer Reviews

The Bobby Gold Stories : A Novel (Bourdain, Anthony. Bobby Gold.)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I was really excited when I started reading this book. The characters were fairly deep and well-developed, and the circumstances were at once amusing and understandable. And then I was halfway through the book and nothing had happened yet. Lo and behold, I finished the book, and still, nothing really happened. There is a rushed bit about robbing a restaurant and running from gangsters, but it all happens so fast that there is no time to really care. The writing is good, the characters are interesting, but this book should have been at least twice as long as it is. In its present form, it reads like a story from a talented writer who realized on Monday night that he had a dealine on Tuesday morning.

For those of you looking for more in the vein of 'Kitchen Confidential' or 'Cook's Tour,' you may want to skip to the next item on your To-Read list. Anthony Bourdain switches to his fiction hat in his latest outing - a brisk paced read written in minimalist brushstrokes chronicling the adventures of Bobby Gold a tough-as-nails, recently released ex-con who is smitten w/the fetching saute cook at a niteclub/restaurant that he works the security detail on. For fans of hard-boiled crime fiction, this book may leave you feeling a bit unsatisified as the narrative is somewhat lacking in painting pictures of grimy crime worlds, and ingenious criminial schemes, et al. But what Bourdain clearly excels at and ultimately makes this slim-read somewhat worth your while are the moments detailing the inner workings of restaurants and the capturing of colorful banter between chefs, cooks, doing their jobs and talking smack amongst each other.

I could not wait to get another book from Tony. However, this one seems to be missing something. I liked "Bone In the Throat" and felt that "Gone Bamboo" was good as well. This one, however, seems overwhelmingly simple in comparison. It does have Tony's wit and the food references and the mafia connection but not as many twists and turns as the other two books. We also miss out on the colorful scene descriptions. It's just too simple. If you haven't read Bourdain's fiction yet, start with the other two and then finish off with this one. Tony, I hope the Les Halles cookbook will be better.

Too bad. I was hoping for a book as good as (or even better than) Bone In The Throat or Gone Bamboo. Instead he gives us some great characters, rushes them into interesting relationships, and then develops neither. There's no pay-off at the end when it could have gone so many different ways. Shame on you, bro!

Reviewer: A reader from Northampton, MA USA
I've read & relished Bourdain's Kitchen Confidential & A Cook's Tour. No, I did not expect the same from this, as it's obviously a hardboiled fiction. And no, I didn't expect or want some kind of sequel to his nonfiction books, to get that out of the way.
I am also a fan of hardboiled crime fiction, of which James Ellroy is obviously the undisputed magus of our times. Frankly, I think it's shameful that Bourdain's editor didn't have the fortitude to send this thing back to him for more fleshing out. But that would take some serious attitude when Kitchen Confidential sold like a billion copies. It's a shame that the editor shirked his responsibilities on this one. Because what little there is of this book is good, inventive & compelling, in an elemental, hardboiled, Chandler or Jim Thompson way. Which is high praise. But this book reads more like the skeleton of a novel, a plot outline, a barebones treatment, even within the basic standards of this genre. You have to almost suspect it originated as a screenplay treatment. The hero, Bobby Gold, is a complete cipher, Ok, we get it, he's the strong silent type, but the character development is so threadbare that his only distinguishing characteristic is that he wears black all the time. The shards of something quite good are there, if you want to look. Maybe the Bobby Gold character can be built into a heavy dude with some backstory. There is one sinister establishing scene on Bobby Gold in here, but it's not nearly enough to flesh the thing out. A completely forced & arbitrary denoument only puts the skeletal remains of this novel in starker relief.

I've read all of Bourdain's other books and had a special liking for his "culinary gangster" stories. This novella reads like a first draft or outline for a similar story. It needs filling out. I was disappointed and felt that it was rushed through editing in order to capitolize on the author's current popularity. Sorry Tony.

This was either a thrown together paycheck book or a failed attempt at an art piece either way it failed. if you insist on reading this save yourself the money and o to your library.

His non-fiction and essays are great, but this book, which is fiction, just comes off as flat. It was like he got offered a deal to write whatever he wanted based on his non-fic success and just decided to blow it on cramming in every fantasy plot idea he had into a very thin book.

There's something about the Mafia and food, a not altogether strange connection between wiseguys and restaurants. Where would the Godfather saga be without the scene in which Michael takes care of that family problem by serving up a hot lead aperitif in an otherwise quiet little neighborhood eatery? Or consider that if Tony Soprano isn't standing in front of the refrigerator stuffing his face, he's meeting his cronies at some restaurant. Who knew that whacking people could make a guy so hungry?

So, at least in the fictional world, food and restaurants play an important role in organized crime. THE BOBBY GOLD STORIES, the latest excursion into fiction by bestselling author and noted food celebrity Anthony Bourdain, capitalizes on that connection by offering up a concoction that mixes Bourdain's insights into restaurant culture, his keen ear for street-seasoned dialogue, and his ability to draw characters as colorful and pungent as a bowl of ripe chilies.

Weighing in at under two hundred pages, THE BOBBY GOLD STORIES is surprisingly rich. As the story opens, Bobby Gold, college boy gone bad, is being arrested on a Florida highway for having a load of South American marching powder in the trunk of his car. Bobby then finds himself enrolled in the penitentiary, where he eventually majors in the Darwinian art of beating the hell out of people before they beat the hell out of him. After several years in prison, Bobby is back out on the street --- older, wiser, and considerably larger and more dangerous than when he went in.

Bobby reluctantly puts his hard-earned skills to work for his boss, Eddie, a reasonably well-connected lower-echelon mob wannabe. In his official capacity, Bobby is head of security for NiteKlub, Eddie's Manhattan restaurant. Off the books, Bobby draws on his pre-med knowledge of human anatomy while smacking around people who have in some way inconvenienced the lugubrious Eddie.

But Bobby isn't as cold-blooded as you might think, and he's frustrated by the unpleasant way he earns a living. He's not happy. But just when the clouds are beginning to darken, he meets Nikki. She's sexy, smart, as streetwise as Eddie, and a chef at NiteKlub. But that kind of package doesn't come without strings.

THE BOBBY GOLD STORIES is the third work of fiction for Anthony Bourdain, who has also written two works of nonfiction, including the bestselling KITCHEN CONFIDENTIAL. Bourdain is very much at home writing crime fiction. His sharp eye and sharper wit provide the necessary mix of mirth and menace that mark the best of the genre. If you're hungry for good crime fiction, spend an afternoon with Bobby Gold. He'll show you a wild time.

--- Reviewed by Bob Rhubart

I recently picked up "The Bobby Gold Stories" at my local, Mesa, AZ, library. Needless to say, it was the greatest book that I have ever read, if you consider the Escorts section of the Qwest Dex Yellow Pages and the heart-breaking tale of Larry "Bud" Melman's career beginnings as a fan dancer "great."

Bobby Gold is like a very tall, thin, face-busting, arm-breaking, Jewish Johnny Cash, except he can't play the guitar, or sing, or be memorable or have an impact on anything.

You can read the plot synopsis for yourself to see what this book is about. I read the bulk of the book in a few hours. This book is about as long as "Goodnight, Moon," and the plot includes less twists.

Memorable exchanges between Bobby and his hot, Asian-eyed romance pot of love, Nikki, include "You're a dangerous woman. You're going to get us both killed," and the ever-popular "Do you like the kind of music I like? 'Cuz if so, I'll climb on you!"-type comments like "I need to look at your record collection. I see any Billy f****** Joel in here and this ain't gonna happen." Nothing builds up a strong, sexy relationship like NOT enjoying the tunes of Billy Joel. I myself have spent many nights with my man, commenting on how much we hate "The Stranger" while sipping vodka and enjoying each other's company.

Maybe if I was a big New Yorker, I would be saying things like this. Maybe if I beat people up and stole things for a living, or was otherwise "cool," I would understand this novel. Maybe if I got all hopped up on the goofenthal, I would adore it if I wrote like this.

But I'm from Arizona, and even though it's to the left of middle America, I'm living across the street from a man with wooden signs tied to his bushes saying "Get U.S. Out of U.N." and "Waiting for the Rapture!"

This story is not fleshed out enough and I was embarrassed that I had read it. Does Mr. Bourdain have some sort of connection with the publishing industry that the rest of us don't? If you can come out of many years of drug use and still produce poo like this that can get published and make money, I better get out my spoon.

This book was hooey.