Customer Reviews

Typhoid Mary

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Typhoid Mary was a cook.

That's the lens through which Anthony Bourdain filters his telling of her story. This is a bit longer than an essay & a bit shorter than an actual book, but a fun read. I especially enjoyed the parts where he talked about cooks & cooking & about the Irish women who immigrated to America during the potato famine. Also enjoyed reading about the foodies at the time.

I like Anthony Bourdain. He's smart & funny & passionate about food. He writes well, too.

I'm positive there are more in-depth academic tomes about Typhoid Mary with oodles of footnotes & citations & 10 or 12 different theoretical perspectives, but this one was just fine.

Bourdain is a brilliant writer, but his heart doesn't seem to be in this book. It feels as if someone asked him to write this book as an assignment, his usual style of pop-culture loaded hyperbole only takes off in a few chapters. Several entire chapters are filler copied from other sources.

'Kitchen Confidential' and 'Cook's Tour' are definately his most inspired books. If you have read those as well as 'The Nasty Bits' and are hungry for more I highly recommmend his crime fiction novel 'Bone in Throat'.

I am a fan of all things Bourdain - his writing, his traveling food fest "No Reservations," even the occasional stint as Guest Judge on "Top Chef." His passion for food, cooks, revering the animals that feed us (even the nasty bits.) Above all, his New York punk rocker attitude - snarky, cussing, cynical. Love him.

Typhoid Mary, on the other hand, I knew nothing about. Knew she carried a plague from house to house and that some people died. Had no idea she cooked for a living. That she was dishing out lingering death as a side order for the swells who could afford her slaving in their kitchens. Didn't know about the hysteria that ensued or the relentless quest to find her. Who knew?

Tony did. The fact that she cooked for a living had him on her side from jump street, and it's his fondness for kitchen workers that tempers this book. He gets into the nitty-gritty of turn of the 20th century attitudes - towards immigrants, women, hygiene, law enforcement. It's more of a long magazine article than a book, and certainly no scholarly treatise. The take away is that Mary was a tough old gal, lived a hard life, worked tirelessly, in denial about her affliction and its consequences.

It's typically funny, well written, and perfect for an afternoon, or an airplane or subway ride. By the end, you'll sympathize with poor Mary, hidden away to wait out her years until she leaves the planet. It's a little book, but a good read.

What a read! If you think you understood Typhoid Mary you are most likely wrong.A very open and heart felt look into the life and times of an infamous Chef by a world famous Chef.You will walk away with a better understand of both Mary's and Tony's world. I read this in one sitting and sent a copy to a friend that works at Johnson Wales. A walk into the past well written--as if the author walked in Mary's shoes. Find a copy and enjoy!

I contracted typhoid while traveling in Asia (yes, it's still quite prevalent in the world), and this little book lifted my spirits as I recovered. I appreciate Bourdain's personal approach to telling Mallon's story, and I think his book really helps redeem her from what I believe to be an undeserved reputation. A very fun read, maybe not suitable for readers who want lots of scientific data and history. Thank you Bourdain for helping me through that one!

I read this book with faith that the book would pick up, that the plot would
thicken, that, at least, everything would come together at the end.

None of these happened for me.

The earth did not move.

I would rate TM a 1: don't waste your time.