The Bobby Gold Stories

I enjoyed this book as I did "Gone Bamboo" and "Bone in the Throat". So what if it was shorter?

Bobby Gold (also know as The Bobby Gold Stories) is a wonderful, hysterically funny novel about the title character, an unlikely mobster who wants to make a big change in his life. Unlike some people, I was not expecting this to be like Bourdain's other work because this book is clearly a work of fiction. His most famous works- Kitchen Confidential, A Cook's Tour, The Nasty Bits- are non-fiction books about Bourdain's life as a chef and a traveler with a wicked sense of humor. The humor is retained in Bobby Gold & Bourdain proves that he can create realistic characters and make the reader care about them. The only thing that disappointed me a little was the length. It's more like a novella than a full-fledged novel- my copy runs only 176 pages. On the other hand, this is sort of a nice change from some of the thrillers I've read lately. I swear that some of those authors must be getting paid by the pound- my arms ache after hours of reading them. Bobby Gold can be read in one night. It's light and fun and I highly recommend it, especially to fans of Anthony Bourdain's other work.

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

After devouring the much-heralded "Kitchen Confidential" and "Bone in the Throat" as well as the underrated "Gone Bamboo," Tony Bourdain quickly became my favorite author. Tony's style is so readable, his fiction's underworld heroes strangely loveable, and plotlines so addictive. I freaked out with excitement when I saw that Tony had written a new piece of fiction. While the same underlying infectious style is there, "The Bobby Gold Stories" is (refreshingly) written differently from "Bone" and "Bamboo," with a terse subtlety that I think is mistaken as simplicity by some other reviewers. It is true that the ending is oddly abrupt and leaves you wishing for more. Still, this reaction is probably rooted in the reality of being a Tony Bourdain fiction addict; and while this dose is not as potent as those past, it's still a great fix.

Bourdain returns to fiction after earning himself a place on the nonfiction bestseller lists with Kitchen Confidential and A Cook's Tour. Back in the mid '90s he wrote two crime novels, the excellent Bone In the Throat, and the decidedly inferior Gone Bamboo. Here, he returns to the seedy world of mob-backed New York restaurant/nightclubs where Bobby Gold is the head of security at NiteKlub. Although the title says "Stories", the book is really a novella in twelve chapters. The first two introduce Bobby by showing him getting busted for carrying a few pounds of cocaine and heading to prison for ten years and then emerging and working as a decidedly reluctant armbreaker for his "connected" buddy. Bobby's story takes off in subsequent chapters on his work as head of security and potential romance with the restaurant's sauté chef, Nikki. Throughout the book, a realization builds within Bobby that he needs to create some distance between himself and Eddie, the low-level mobster he's connected to. The resolution of that plays out in a rather dark way, as the book takes a decidedly grim turn in the last two chapters.Like Bourdain's previous fiction, this is a fairly graphic tale (both in terms of violence, sex, and language), and one that displays Bourdain's ear for dialogue and slang. There are scenes throughout that simply jump off the page, most notably, a scene where Nikki makes a meal for Bobby as the kitchen is shutting down while the rest of the kitchen watches in disbelief. Another great scene is where Bobby goes to see a man about a carburetor, and ends up drinking with a member of the Aryan Brotherhood. And yet another takes place when Bobby has lunch at a swanky Manhattan joint with Eddie, who plays havoc with the menu. All in all, the story is so simple and there are so many vividly filmic scenes, that I'd be shocked if this isn't made into a movie.If you're unsure about whether or not this is your cup of tea, the second chapter ("Bobby At Work") can be read online in its entirety at The Barcelona Review. A quick web search should take you to it.