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In the Weeds: Around the World and Behind the Scenes with Anthony Bourdain
**Nominated for the 2022 BookTube Prize in Nonfiction**Anthony Bourdain's long time director and producer takes readers behind the scenes to reveal the insanity of filming television in some of the most volatile places in the world and what it was like to work with a legend. In the nearly two years since Anthony Bourdain's death, no one else has come close to filling the void he left. His passion for and genuine curiosity about the people and cultures he visited made the world feel smaller and more connected. Despite his affable, confident, and trademark snarky TV persona, the real Tony was intensely private, deeply conflicted about his fame, and an enigma even to those close to him. Tony’s devoted crew knew him best, and no one else had a front-row seat for as long as his director and producer, Tom Vitale.Over the course of more than a decade traveling together, Tony became a boss, a friend, a hero and, sometimes, a tormentor.In the Weeds takes readers behind the scenes to reveal not just the insanity that went into filming in some of the most far-flung and volatile parts of the world, but what Tony was like unedited and off-camera. From the outside, the job looked like an all-expenses-paid adventure to places like Borneo, Vietnam, Iran, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Libya. What happened off-camera was far more interesting than what made it to air. The more things went wrong, the better it was for the show. Fortunately, everything fell apart constantly.
407 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 5, 2021
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June 11, 2021I confess to being one of those still grieving the loss of Anthony Bourdain, despite having never met him. He was a phenomenon, but that's not precisely fair. He was extraordinary and extraordinarily human, flawed and searching and always moving forward until the moment he stopped.
Author Tom Vitale rose -- or, rather, worked and willed himself from the production office and edit room of his earlier show, to becoming one of Bourdain's preferred directors, and his friend. Whether or not the reader has inhaled every episode of Bourdain's TV travel oeuvre, Vitale's gift is to bring you along with him for the ride, including the bumps, the sights, the smells, the seasickness, the anxieties, and the food poisoning. He keeps the reader turning the page, even though we know the end before it starts.
While Vitale's vulnerable but never sappy writing reveals some of the behind-the-scenes Bourdain, a little bit more of the voice we miss so dearly, In the Weeds is far more than a celebrity-adjacent memoir. He allows the reader into the mind, heart, and struggle of a talented misfit who gives his all in the effort to amplify -- and in some ways purify -- the voice of Bourdain, another talented misfit, a lonely traveler surrounded by genuine admirers, rabid fans, good food, great liquor, excellent drugs, and constant adventure -- or so it seemed to those of us on the safe side of the screen.
Vitale is able to express the awkward moments between himself and Bourdain, neither of whom can bring himself to express affection, and in letting us into Bourdain's yearning to escape his analytical brain, we feel Vitale's yearning to escape his own, as we follow the tangled spaghetti (bolognese) of his efforts to interpret his dear friend and, ultimately, to protect Bourdain from as much of the world as he can control.
In the Weeds is a bemused love story, a travelogue, a treasure map, and a window into the mind of an artist. Readers will likely crack the book looking for Bourdain and perhaps for a why -- why did he kill himself when he seemed to have everything? Vitale's experience has an added dimension -- what could I have done to stop him? How could I have rewritten the ending? That is where Vitale turns a specific moment into a universal experience, and why his memoir is so powerful.
This is a book for the curious, the creative, the lonely, the lovelorn, and the misfit in us all. Heartily recommend.
Author Tom Vitale rose -- or, rather, worked and willed himself from the production office and edit room of his earlier show, to becoming one of Bourdain's preferred directors, and his friend. Whether or not the reader has inhaled every episode of Bourdain's TV travel oeuvre, Vitale's gift is to bring you along with him for the ride, including the bumps, the sights, the smells, the seasickness, the anxieties, and the food poisoning. He keeps the reader turning the page, even though we know the end before it starts.
While Vitale's vulnerable but never sappy writing reveals some of the behind-the-scenes Bourdain, a little bit more of the voice we miss so dearly, In the Weeds is far more than a celebrity-adjacent memoir. He allows the reader into the mind, heart, and struggle of a talented misfit who gives his all in the effort to amplify -- and in some ways purify -- the voice of Bourdain, another talented misfit, a lonely traveler surrounded by genuine admirers, rabid fans, good food, great liquor, excellent drugs, and constant adventure -- or so it seemed to those of us on the safe side of the screen.
Vitale is able to express the awkward moments between himself and Bourdain, neither of whom can bring himself to express affection, and in letting us into Bourdain's yearning to escape his analytical brain, we feel Vitale's yearning to escape his own, as we follow the tangled spaghetti (bolognese) of his efforts to interpret his dear friend and, ultimately, to protect Bourdain from as much of the world as he can control.
In the Weeds is a bemused love story, a travelogue, a treasure map, and a window into the mind of an artist. Readers will likely crack the book looking for Bourdain and perhaps for a why -- why did he kill himself when he seemed to have everything? Vitale's experience has an added dimension -- what could I have done to stop him? How could I have rewritten the ending? That is where Vitale turns a specific moment into a universal experience, and why his memoir is so powerful.
This is a book for the curious, the creative, the lonely, the lovelorn, and the misfit in us all. Heartily recommend.
April 11, 2022
4.5 stars, rounded up.
This memoir is a funny, sometimes emotional look at what it was like to work with Anthony Bourdain by someone who knew him well.
“Is there such a thing as vacation-of-a-lifetime PTSD where your main tormentor is also your hero, mentor, and boss? After having had these intense experiences of being in the trenches together with Tony and with the crew, sharing these adrenaline-inducing, life-altering experiences, going back to my regular life felt like the real trauma.”
When famed chef, author, and television personality Anthony Bourdain committed suicide in June 2018, it shocked the world. This man, a kind of culinary badass, always seemed to be tearing into travel and food experiences around the world with such gusto and bravado.
But as much as his death shook the world, it affected his colleagues tremendously. Tom Vitale started working with Bourdain in 2002, and worked with him almost nonstop for 16 years, traveling the world with him, directing and producing nearly 100 episodes of three Bourdain programs— No Reservations , The Layover , and Parts Unknown .
In this tremendously affecting book, Vitale details what it was like to go along for the ride of his life with Bourdain. He recounts shooting in some of the most exotic—and some of the most dangerous—places, where they were threatened with violence, war, corruption, poor sanitary conditions, and sometimes, horrible food. (Being a picky eater, the latter was often a problem for Vitale.) It’s amazing just how much detail, stress, and often, strife, went into every show.
But where In the Weeds truly shined was where Vitale tried to make sense of his relationship with Bourdain, the finality of his loss, and what to do next with his own life. He shed light on the good and bad aspects of Bourdain’s personality, and what he learned about himself from doing the show and working with Tony. He also tried to figure out, as many others did, what signs they might have missed.
I thought this was excellent. It gets a little graphic sometimes in its descriptions of preparing animals for cooking, but that’s easily skimmed over. So glad I read this and that Vitale was willing to share his memories of Bourdain with us.
Check out my list of the best books I read in 2021 at https://itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blogspot.com/2022/01/the-best-books-i-read-in-2021.html.
See all of my reviews at itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blogspot.com.
Follow me on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/the.bookishworld.of.yrralh/.
This memoir is a funny, sometimes emotional look at what it was like to work with Anthony Bourdain by someone who knew him well.
“Is there such a thing as vacation-of-a-lifetime PTSD where your main tormentor is also your hero, mentor, and boss? After having had these intense experiences of being in the trenches together with Tony and with the crew, sharing these adrenaline-inducing, life-altering experiences, going back to my regular life felt like the real trauma.”
When famed chef, author, and television personality Anthony Bourdain committed suicide in June 2018, it shocked the world. This man, a kind of culinary badass, always seemed to be tearing into travel and food experiences around the world with such gusto and bravado.
But as much as his death shook the world, it affected his colleagues tremendously. Tom Vitale started working with Bourdain in 2002, and worked with him almost nonstop for 16 years, traveling the world with him, directing and producing nearly 100 episodes of three Bourdain programs— No Reservations , The Layover , and Parts Unknown .
In this tremendously affecting book, Vitale details what it was like to go along for the ride of his life with Bourdain. He recounts shooting in some of the most exotic—and some of the most dangerous—places, where they were threatened with violence, war, corruption, poor sanitary conditions, and sometimes, horrible food. (Being a picky eater, the latter was often a problem for Vitale.) It’s amazing just how much detail, stress, and often, strife, went into every show.
But where In the Weeds truly shined was where Vitale tried to make sense of his relationship with Bourdain, the finality of his loss, and what to do next with his own life. He shed light on the good and bad aspects of Bourdain’s personality, and what he learned about himself from doing the show and working with Tony. He also tried to figure out, as many others did, what signs they might have missed.
I thought this was excellent. It gets a little graphic sometimes in its descriptions of preparing animals for cooking, but that’s easily skimmed over. So glad I read this and that Vitale was willing to share his memories of Bourdain with us.
Check out my list of the best books I read in 2021 at https://itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blogspot.com/2022/01/the-best-books-i-read-in-2021.html.
See all of my reviews at itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blogspot.com.
Follow me on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/the.bookishworld.of.yrralh/.
November 27, 2021
The book was fantastic!!! 5 stars all around.
Reflective. Passionate. Thoughtful. Painful at times and a complete adventure.
The book opens up off rip with:
That opening alone should illustrate what you’re in for, but there was just so much more than that.
I questioned how much mayhem men are allowed to get away with down to the bitter end. I also questioned the ways that they harm each other intentionally and unintentionally. There were questions raised in me about the ways that we hold space for each other and what’s too much, where the line is, especially when the person is essentially your boss and lines have been crossed back and forth.
It was also a book about work and the commitment to greatness. I loved all of Tom’s stories including the complicated and disgusting ones of shitting and vomiting through a hole on a train moving through a jungle in a foreign land.
Tom Vitale did a great job of humanizing, magnifying, amplifying, shrinking and levelling the great Anthony Bourdain the man, the enigma, the author and the television personality. This book did all the things.
Although he never uses the word Love specifically, you can tell that Tom loved him, even if he feared him and was enraged by him at times. Tom’s curiosity and inspiration re: Tony comes through on every page. I really loved the photos towards the end of the book. Makes me want to go stream Parts Unknown from the first episode.
Great work and a touching homage, Tom Vitale!
Reflective. Passionate. Thoughtful. Painful at times and a complete adventure.
The book opens up off rip with:
”“P.S. INCIDENTS INCLUDED IN THIS book are not intended to glamorize or endorse acts of cannibalism, drug use, smuggling, torture, extortion, bribery, wire fraud, attempted vehicular manslaughter, or the poaching of endangered species.” — Excerpt From In the Weeds: Around the World and Behind the Scenes With Anthony Bourdain by Tom Vitale
That opening alone should illustrate what you’re in for, but there was just so much more than that.
I questioned how much mayhem men are allowed to get away with down to the bitter end. I also questioned the ways that they harm each other intentionally and unintentionally. There were questions raised in me about the ways that we hold space for each other and what’s too much, where the line is, especially when the person is essentially your boss and lines have been crossed back and forth.
It was also a book about work and the commitment to greatness. I loved all of Tom’s stories including the complicated and disgusting ones of shitting and vomiting through a hole on a train moving through a jungle in a foreign land.
Tom Vitale did a great job of humanizing, magnifying, amplifying, shrinking and levelling the great Anthony Bourdain the man, the enigma, the author and the television personality. This book did all the things.
Although he never uses the word Love specifically, you can tell that Tom loved him, even if he feared him and was enraged by him at times. Tom’s curiosity and inspiration re: Tony comes through on every page. I really loved the photos towards the end of the book. Makes me want to go stream Parts Unknown from the first episode.
Great work and a touching homage, Tom Vitale!
March 15, 2022
You know when you're hanging out with a group of people who have been friends forever and they all stand around talking about the shenanigans they got into in college and it's kind of funny but also you're not laughing because it's really an inside joke and you don't get it because you just had to be there? This whole book was like that except imagine the person telling the story keeps babbling on and talking in circles and never really gets to the point but keeps laughing at his own jokes and slapping his buddy on the shoulder and you realize he's either high or drunk or possibly both and that's why you're confused even though it makes perfect sense to him. To say this book was a disappointment would be an understatement.
August 14, 2021
In the Weeds is a comprehensive look behind the scenes of working closely with Anthony Bourdain, written by his long-time director. It also includes some self-reflection on the author's part after Bourdain's passing, moving between past and present frequently.
I really wanted to enjoy this book as I would consider myself a fan of Anthony Bourdain, his writing, and his TV shows, but I found myself being turned off the more I read. Reading other reviews, it feels like I read a completely different book than everyone else.
Tom Vitale is a skilled writer, and the way he describes place and events was captivating. That was probably the highlight for me. The behind-the-scenes tidbits about filming Obama and scouting locations, etc., The less successful parts of the book for me were those that featured Bourdain - a chapter is spent highlighting different abusive behaviors and then he says some kind of redeeming statement at the end. After the first few chapters following this format, the book began to feel more hollow for me. As a person who has been in abusive relationships (platonic and romantic), I would have appreciated more of a discussion about this behavior before the very end of the book.
I kept trying to figure out how Vitale feels about his time spent working with Bourdain, and after reading the whole book (sans epilogue, which is forthcoming), I have no clue. Parts of the book highlight how great a friend and colleague he was, and other parts highlight how he could be very difficult to work with and be around. In the end, it felt like this book did not choose one stance or the other, and it didn't explain why it chose to settle on ambiguity. If there had been some writing about that, I may have felt differently in the end.
Thanks to Hachette Books and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
I really wanted to enjoy this book as I would consider myself a fan of Anthony Bourdain, his writing, and his TV shows, but I found myself being turned off the more I read. Reading other reviews, it feels like I read a completely different book than everyone else.
Tom Vitale is a skilled writer, and the way he describes place and events was captivating. That was probably the highlight for me. The behind-the-scenes tidbits about filming Obama and scouting locations, etc., The less successful parts of the book for me were those that featured Bourdain - a chapter is spent highlighting different abusive behaviors and then he says some kind of redeeming statement at the end. After the first few chapters following this format, the book began to feel more hollow for me. As a person who has been in abusive relationships (platonic and romantic), I would have appreciated more of a discussion about this behavior before the very end of the book.
I kept trying to figure out how Vitale feels about his time spent working with Bourdain, and after reading the whole book (sans epilogue, which is forthcoming), I have no clue. Parts of the book highlight how great a friend and colleague he was, and other parts highlight how he could be very difficult to work with and be around. In the end, it felt like this book did not choose one stance or the other, and it didn't explain why it chose to settle on ambiguity. If there had been some writing about that, I may have felt differently in the end.
Thanks to Hachette Books and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
June 14, 2021
Since Anthony Bourdain's death, there have been several books written about him by those associated with him during his lifetime. This most recent one is written by his producer of many years, and details the painstaking and meticulous planning that went into the creation of the shows.
Vitale also describes Tony (as he was known to those who worked with him) as the troubled, conflicted person he truly was. Although the book is written with adoration and almost cult-like devotion to Bourdain, we are also privy to his rage, nastiness, and the dismissiveness he wrought on those closest to him. The actual production of the shows and Bourdain's personality swings are described warts and all..
Vitale also describes Tony (as he was known to those who worked with him) as the troubled, conflicted person he truly was. Although the book is written with adoration and almost cult-like devotion to Bourdain, we are also privy to his rage, nastiness, and the dismissiveness he wrought on those closest to him. The actual production of the shows and Bourdain's personality swings are described warts and all..
January 17, 2022
Check out all of my reviews at: https://www.avonnalovesgenres.com
IN THE WEEDS: Around the World and Behind the Scenes with Anthony Bourdain by Tom Vitale is an in-depth personal reflection, travelogue and memoir from Tom Vitale who was a long-time director and producer who accompanied Bourdain around the world for many years. I listened to the audiobook for this review. I enjoyed and appreciated hearing the emotional inflections of the author’s own voice reading his story.
I am a fan of all the No Reservations and Parts Unknown shows which of course made me a fan of Anthony Bourdain. Tom Vitale worked on many of my favorite episodes and to hear his accounts of all the happenings on locations, it made the final product seem even more miraculous. While he talks about his job and the many highs and lows of constantly working on a travel show and dealing with an often mercurial host, he also is dealing with his own grief throughout the story after the sudden suicide of that host.
This audiobook shares Vitale’s stress and loneliness of working on a travel show while also finding it to be the ultimate time of his life. He shares his friendship with Bourdain with an unfiltered lens of love, fear, and hate. He shares his grief over losing a colleague to suicide and his thoughts of what he could have done to see it coming or prevent it. This audiobook is for me the perfect balance of sad, funny, vulnerable, and introspective from a person on the other side of the TV camera lens.
IN THE WEEDS: Around the World and Behind the Scenes with Anthony Bourdain by Tom Vitale is an in-depth personal reflection, travelogue and memoir from Tom Vitale who was a long-time director and producer who accompanied Bourdain around the world for many years. I listened to the audiobook for this review. I enjoyed and appreciated hearing the emotional inflections of the author’s own voice reading his story.
I am a fan of all the No Reservations and Parts Unknown shows which of course made me a fan of Anthony Bourdain. Tom Vitale worked on many of my favorite episodes and to hear his accounts of all the happenings on locations, it made the final product seem even more miraculous. While he talks about his job and the many highs and lows of constantly working on a travel show and dealing with an often mercurial host, he also is dealing with his own grief throughout the story after the sudden suicide of that host.
This audiobook shares Vitale’s stress and loneliness of working on a travel show while also finding it to be the ultimate time of his life. He shares his friendship with Bourdain with an unfiltered lens of love, fear, and hate. He shares his grief over losing a colleague to suicide and his thoughts of what he could have done to see it coming or prevent it. This audiobook is for me the perfect balance of sad, funny, vulnerable, and introspective from a person on the other side of the TV camera lens.
September 25, 2023
Anthony Bourdain never fit the Foodie mold. Can you imagine Bourdain in a studio kitchen demonstrating recipes? Competing on Iron Chef? Launching product lines? I can’t even imagine him remaining a restaurateur. As a food-travel-social commentary host, he not only found his niche, he developed it in a way that was uniquely his.
He didn’t do it alone. Tom Vitale worked with Bourdain for almost 16 years in various capacities on over 100 episodes for the Food Channel and CNN. This is a page turning recount (I binged this in one day) of what it was like in this “dream job” of travel, adventure, food, booze, drugs and the art of storytelling.
This dream job has the usual stress of deadlines, costs and equipment along with that of conscience when working in dangerous countries. In dictatorships you ask for help from people who, if they agree, can be doing this at great cost to themselves. In places were starvation is prevalent, how does one feel about having and filming food? What about betrayals/scams of the locals you hire?
To add to this, phobia prone Vitale always feels on the verge of being fired (even many years of touring). Things go wrong (as they do in any job) Tom stresses out. He has to prod a moody and reluctant Tony for “content” or direction. Tony would single Tom, (sometimes others) out and humiliate him (them). The chicken incident in the Congo stands out.
Vitale writes about the different local fixers they worked with; how they hired a militia; the problem of tainted food (the crew rarely eats the camera food; it eats locally) and paying bribes along with the logistics of filming food. He has to be sure the locals do not cook a protected or beloved species for Tony. He shows how they worked with the secret service to make sure everything was perfect for an appearance of President Obama. In the Caribbean they saved a beach and public fishing zone from further high end development. There are many wonderful (positive and sad) stories all over the globe.
If you traveled with Tony you might be shocked, but not surprised, by his suicide. There are some examples of Tony's dark side and one episode, known to Tom alone, may have been an earlier attempt. Tony made some stray comments and not funny jokes like this paraphrase: “The hotel was so bad that the shower curtain bar couldn’t hold me if I tried to hang myself.” They worked in places where they risked their lives. Was Tony immune to risking his life?
Tom writes about Asia Argento, Tony’s girlfriend. When he was emotionally ready, he met with her to share grief. He asked her the very delicate question of how she felt about breaking up with Tony just before the suicide. She says about all she can say … she has to live with it.
In the CNN episodes the team seems to be on its own. While they work for an independent production company I was surprised (since the series carried the CNN name) that they blazed their own trails when the CNN news teams could have at least recommended fixers in Libya, the Congo, Iran, etc.
Despite Tony’s stinginess in complements (and Tom’s need for them), there had to be tremendous synergy. Tom pursued technical quality and the art of the show. Had he not prodded Tony for the "content", story line and perspective that only Tony could offer, I don't think we would we have had so many wonderful episodes.
I highly recommend this book.
He didn’t do it alone. Tom Vitale worked with Bourdain for almost 16 years in various capacities on over 100 episodes for the Food Channel and CNN. This is a page turning recount (I binged this in one day) of what it was like in this “dream job” of travel, adventure, food, booze, drugs and the art of storytelling.
This dream job has the usual stress of deadlines, costs and equipment along with that of conscience when working in dangerous countries. In dictatorships you ask for help from people who, if they agree, can be doing this at great cost to themselves. In places were starvation is prevalent, how does one feel about having and filming food? What about betrayals/scams of the locals you hire?
To add to this, phobia prone Vitale always feels on the verge of being fired (even many years of touring). Things go wrong (as they do in any job) Tom stresses out. He has to prod a moody and reluctant Tony for “content” or direction. Tony would single Tom, (sometimes others) out and humiliate him (them). The chicken incident in the Congo stands out.
Vitale writes about the different local fixers they worked with; how they hired a militia; the problem of tainted food (the crew rarely eats the camera food; it eats locally) and paying bribes along with the logistics of filming food. He has to be sure the locals do not cook a protected or beloved species for Tony. He shows how they worked with the secret service to make sure everything was perfect for an appearance of President Obama. In the Caribbean they saved a beach and public fishing zone from further high end development. There are many wonderful (positive and sad) stories all over the globe.
If you traveled with Tony you might be shocked, but not surprised, by his suicide. There are some examples of Tony's dark side and one episode, known to Tom alone, may have been an earlier attempt. Tony made some stray comments and not funny jokes like this paraphrase: “The hotel was so bad that the shower curtain bar couldn’t hold me if I tried to hang myself.” They worked in places where they risked their lives. Was Tony immune to risking his life?
Tom writes about Asia Argento, Tony’s girlfriend. When he was emotionally ready, he met with her to share grief. He asked her the very delicate question of how she felt about breaking up with Tony just before the suicide. She says about all she can say … she has to live with it.
In the CNN episodes the team seems to be on its own. While they work for an independent production company I was surprised (since the series carried the CNN name) that they blazed their own trails when the CNN news teams could have at least recommended fixers in Libya, the Congo, Iran, etc.
Despite Tony’s stinginess in complements (and Tom’s need for them), there had to be tremendous synergy. Tom pursued technical quality and the art of the show. Had he not prodded Tony for the "content", story line and perspective that only Tony could offer, I don't think we would we have had so many wonderful episodes.
I highly recommend this book.
August 9, 2023
Tom Vitale was a producer to Anthony Bourdain's television shows, in particular No Reservations and Parts Unknown. In this book, Vitale talks about his experiences working with Bourdain and about the kind of person he was both on and off the camera. He brings about very intense expeditions that they took, such as visiting Burma as soon as it reopened to tourists after being closed off for quite sometime, Libya during the height of Gaddafi's reign, and he also talks about Bourdain's meeting with Barack Obama in Hanoi during an episode of Parts Unknown.
There are so many stories that can be told about Vitale's experiences, even if the concentration and Vitale's writing was not perfect. I am inclined to look into Anthony Bourdain's projects, even though he is sadly no longer with us in this world.
While it is not in this book, I found it interesting (in a peculiar sort of way) that while Anthony Bourdain was willing to visit so many places across the globe, he had a strange fear of Switzerland, due to a handful of things the country is most known, and thus would not visit there on any of his expeditions.
There are so many stories that can be told about Vitale's experiences, even if the concentration and Vitale's writing was not perfect. I am inclined to look into Anthony Bourdain's projects, even though he is sadly no longer with us in this world.
While it is not in this book, I found it interesting (in a peculiar sort of way) that while Anthony Bourdain was willing to visit so many places across the globe, he had a strange fear of Switzerland, due to a handful of things the country is most known, and thus would not visit there on any of his expeditions.
January 24, 2023
This is a tough one to review.
If you loved the spare, potent, lyrical voice of Anthony Bourdain, this might jar you a bit. I listened to the audio book, which was read by the author. It was hard to listen and not compare the two voices and you can imagine how Tom fares in the battle of Tom vs. Tony.
But.
If you can get past that, it's a very satisfying behind the scenes look at a very complicated man.
If you loved the spare, potent, lyrical voice of Anthony Bourdain, this might jar you a bit. I listened to the audio book, which was read by the author. It was hard to listen and not compare the two voices and you can imagine how Tom fares in the battle of Tom vs. Tony.
But.
If you can get past that, it's a very satisfying behind the scenes look at a very complicated man.
December 21, 2021
Really recommend this as a companion book to the Bourdain oral history. It's fundamentally a book about grief and processing it and not feeling like the star of your own life story. Really, really good.
December 30, 2021
This is my favorite book of 2021. Thank goodness I read it in December because other books would’ve been hard to read after this.
Why is it my favorite? A lot of reasons.
First and foremost, I really related to Vitale having a job that seems awesome to everyone on the outside. Having worked in TV myself, everyone told me how cool my job was and how jealous they were, not knowing what happens behind this scenes. From a working standpoint, I really related to him. But don’t get me wrong, I LOVED my job in TV. But it was hard work and ended up being a very toxic environment.
I also had so much empathy for the lack of life Vitale had. I know that sounds rude, but again, because of his job, he got to travel a lot. But when you travel for work, it’s not a vacation or glamorous. It’s hard work.
And last but not least, it’s a story about grief. About losing someone without warning, learning how to grieve each and everyday, and what to do next. What do you do when your whole life is about someone else? It’s a lot to process, it’s emotional, but done in the most profound way.
I think it’s no secret Bourdain had a very brass personality, and although that was TV culture, Vitale found a way to navigate around it. Reading about Vitale’s stories and the adventures they had brought a smile to my face.
Big thank you to Hachette for this gifted copy. It’ll have a place on my shelf forever.
Content warnings: suicidal thoughts, suicide, animal death, addiction, panic attacks/disorders, grief, homophobia, sexual assault
Why is it my favorite? A lot of reasons.
First and foremost, I really related to Vitale having a job that seems awesome to everyone on the outside. Having worked in TV myself, everyone told me how cool my job was and how jealous they were, not knowing what happens behind this scenes. From a working standpoint, I really related to him. But don’t get me wrong, I LOVED my job in TV. But it was hard work and ended up being a very toxic environment.
I also had so much empathy for the lack of life Vitale had. I know that sounds rude, but again, because of his job, he got to travel a lot. But when you travel for work, it’s not a vacation or glamorous. It’s hard work.
And last but not least, it’s a story about grief. About losing someone without warning, learning how to grieve each and everyday, and what to do next. What do you do when your whole life is about someone else? It’s a lot to process, it’s emotional, but done in the most profound way.
I think it’s no secret Bourdain had a very brass personality, and although that was TV culture, Vitale found a way to navigate around it. Reading about Vitale’s stories and the adventures they had brought a smile to my face.
Big thank you to Hachette for this gifted copy. It’ll have a place on my shelf forever.
Content warnings: suicidal thoughts, suicide, animal death, addiction, panic attacks/disorders, grief, homophobia, sexual assault
November 29, 2021
Tom Vitale really got out of his comfort zone to work this "best job in the world." He didn't particularly like adventurous food, and he was forced to travel to places like Libya where being gay could get you beheaded.
The job sounded so stressful that I was getting agita reading about it. Not only was filming in places like the Belgian Congo difficult and dangerous, but Tony Bourdain was an unpredictable perfectionist when it came to the editing and voiceovers. While he inspired intense devotion from those who worked for him, he could also be somewhat of a bully in that he knew everyone's weak spots and seemed to enjoy exploiting them (everyone likened it to a cult that they would gladly join again).
That's not to say the book is not laugh out loud funny. He describes one of the show's high water marks, the interview with President Obama, which nearly went off the rails over seemingly minor issues despite the fact that it was all the President's idea. The big question was, "Why is he doing this?"
After Bourdain's suicide, Vitale, along with the rest of the crew, felt he had lost his entire purpose in life and spent a year in stupor, wondering A) if he could have seen it coming and prevented it, and B) was Tony ever really his friend? And why did everyone put themselves in so much danger for a food show?
It makes me want to rewatch some of the episodes he did for CNN because I have not seen those as many times.
The job sounded so stressful that I was getting agita reading about it. Not only was filming in places like the Belgian Congo difficult and dangerous, but Tony Bourdain was an unpredictable perfectionist when it came to the editing and voiceovers. While he inspired intense devotion from those who worked for him, he could also be somewhat of a bully in that he knew everyone's weak spots and seemed to enjoy exploiting them (everyone likened it to a cult that they would gladly join again).
That's not to say the book is not laugh out loud funny. He describes one of the show's high water marks, the interview with President Obama, which nearly went off the rails over seemingly minor issues despite the fact that it was all the President's idea. The big question was, "Why is he doing this?"
After Bourdain's suicide, Vitale, along with the rest of the crew, felt he had lost his entire purpose in life and spent a year in stupor, wondering A) if he could have seen it coming and prevented it, and B) was Tony ever really his friend? And why did everyone put themselves in so much danger for a food show?
It makes me want to rewatch some of the episodes he did for CNN because I have not seen those as many times.
November 10, 2021
I feel like I did not read the same book as other reviewers. I found Vitale to lack any sort of reflection of depth about his time with Bourdain. Like maybe he wrote the book too soon and didn’t give the experience enough space to form meaning (I mean he does confess he wrote it at the last minute having procrastinated the deadline). I also felt like I didn’t walk away with a better or nuanced understanding of Bourdain (the topic of the book).
December 21, 2024
This is a compelling look into a world famous chef, traveler, tv personality. I only watched a few episodes of the shows discussed and remember liking them, so getting the behind the scenes was interesting. However, while I appreciate everything Bourdain did to bring lesser known cuisine to viewers, I found him off-putting and at times a jerk. I also think the author could probably benefit from some therapy.
April 19, 2022
Excellent
I felt oddly betrayed when Anthony Bourdain died. It didn't, still doesn't, make sense. I didn't know him; I didn't even compulsively watch his shows and hadn't read his books. Reading "In The Weeds" helped me start to understand why I felt this way. Somehow, I seem to have realized how complicated a person he was and was subconsciously annoyed that now we would never have a chance to understand him.
Tom Vitale doesn't have the answers - no one does. But his book offers clues and insights about someone he spent thousands of hours and many years with. Alternately funny, sad, angry and gracious in his descriptions of life on the road with a difficult and complicated man, Vitale has helped me understand Bourdain a bit more. I thank him.
I felt oddly betrayed when Anthony Bourdain died. It didn't, still doesn't, make sense. I didn't know him; I didn't even compulsively watch his shows and hadn't read his books. Reading "In The Weeds" helped me start to understand why I felt this way. Somehow, I seem to have realized how complicated a person he was and was subconsciously annoyed that now we would never have a chance to understand him.
Tom Vitale doesn't have the answers - no one does. But his book offers clues and insights about someone he spent thousands of hours and many years with. Alternately funny, sad, angry and gracious in his descriptions of life on the road with a difficult and complicated man, Vitale has helped me understand Bourdain a bit more. I thank him.
March 5, 2023
I struggled with rating this book. It’s one of the odd ones where I landed on a 3, but will definitely recommend that people pick this one up.
On one side, it was a 1-star read. Surprise surprise, Anthony Bourdain is a fucking asshole. This book was tough to read for that reason alone. But the way that literally every person in this story took the treatment Tony gave them.. I’m horrified. And shocked.
On the other side, Tom’s telling of this entire experience was a 5-star ride. I just want to hug him at a Margaritaville bar.
On one side, it was a 1-star read. Surprise surprise, Anthony Bourdain is a fucking asshole. This book was tough to read for that reason alone. But the way that literally every person in this story took the treatment Tony gave them.. I’m horrified. And shocked.
On the other side, Tom’s telling of this entire experience was a 5-star ride. I just want to hug him at a Margaritaville bar.
March 27, 2022
You could tell that Tom needed to write this book more for himself than for the general public. He's constantly redefining his relationship with Tony and that definition becomes even more complicated after Tony's death. I liked hearing about Tom's own growth along with all the behind the scenes stories while filming.
July 10, 2021
This was a chronicle of Tom Vitale's years of working with Anthony "Tony" Bourdain on his television series. For ten years Vitale was Bourdain's director/producer and reports on the realities of filming the various episodes of No Reservations, Layover, and Parts Unknown, and many revelations were real eye-openers! Vitale was privy to Tony's mercurial temperament and writes about their relationship although in the end, Vitale still wasn't sure if he would consider Bourdain a close friend.
This book is a must for anyone who has watched the shows or has admired Bourdain's writings and adventures. Also being published in October is Bourdain: The Definitive Oral Biography by Laurie Woolever, Bourdain’s longtime assistant and confidante, which promises to be a more in-depth look at Tony's life.
Publication date: October 2021. Thanks to the publisher for the advance e-galley from NetGalley.
This book is a must for anyone who has watched the shows or has admired Bourdain's writings and adventures. Also being published in October is Bourdain: The Definitive Oral Biography by Laurie Woolever, Bourdain’s longtime assistant and confidante, which promises to be a more in-depth look at Tony's life.
Publication date: October 2021. Thanks to the publisher for the advance e-galley from NetGalley.
January 29, 2024
Striking the perfect balance between funny, sad, contemplative, introspective, and irreverent, this memoir had me hooked from the author’s note at the beginning. Tom Vitale paints a complicated and nuanced picture of Anthony Bourdain and their work and travel together. I didn’t feel he took the easy way out with any of his stories. Parts of this book made me laugh out loud, and parts made me very sad. All of Vitale’s visual storytelling experience really shines through; scenes and characters are so richly described you can really see them. This was exceptionally well written and I very much enjoyed reading it.
January 14, 2022
Really expected very little of this, simply needed to get more of Tony. I couldn’t put this down. The passage on the Chateau Marmont was so beautiful it moved me. Tom can really write. Tony’s team was the crème de la crème. May he rest.
July 25, 2021
They say the true test of any relationship is to travel with someone. While this is usually applied to friends and loved ones, testing a work relationship with travel is probably the toughest one of all. Vitale succeeds in writing of how aware he is of this saying in the pages of In the Weeds. While the rest of us mourn the loss of Anthony Bourdain as an admired public figure, Vitale suffered his loss as a colleague. Vitale did not shy away from why he's writing this book, but also takes us through enough stories (good, bad, and weird) from the trenches before landing the heavier punches near the end of the book. He doesn't hesitate to go into detail about how much work and stress goes into a show that makes travel and human interactions appear near-effortless, but he also makes it clear that he knows he is lucky to be doing this for a living. In conclusion, Tom Vitale needs a hug but since that would be creepy coming from a stranger, please buy/read this book. It's the closest any of us will ever get to traveling and working with Bourdain. (I received a copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion.)
October 4, 2021
First off, thanks to #NetGalley for the Galley which made my September more fun.
I genuinely enjoyed this book in the same way that I enjoy watching hours of talk show interviews with a favorite celebrity. It's fun, sometimes bland and repetitive, but oddly addicting. Tom Vitale's insights and behind the scenes "shock factor" of making Anthony Bourdain TV felt like a tell-all with a heavy dose of personal reflection and hunt for resolution.
The narrative and general structure of the book seemed to jump from one anecdote to the next as if it was a television show. A format that I don't believe worked as well when pen was put to paper. Nevertheless, I appreciated the story and how this memoir seemed to serve as therapy, a mode of putting everything on the table. It was fascinating to know how themes of othering and tracking who the beneficiary of tourism really is in these destinations was consistently in the minds of those filming. I enjoyed the story and it's play on the control we can create in telling others' stories as well as our own.
I genuinely enjoyed this book in the same way that I enjoy watching hours of talk show interviews with a favorite celebrity. It's fun, sometimes bland and repetitive, but oddly addicting. Tom Vitale's insights and behind the scenes "shock factor" of making Anthony Bourdain TV felt like a tell-all with a heavy dose of personal reflection and hunt for resolution.
The narrative and general structure of the book seemed to jump from one anecdote to the next as if it was a television show. A format that I don't believe worked as well when pen was put to paper. Nevertheless, I appreciated the story and how this memoir seemed to serve as therapy, a mode of putting everything on the table. It was fascinating to know how themes of othering and tracking who the beneficiary of tourism really is in these destinations was consistently in the minds of those filming. I enjoyed the story and it's play on the control we can create in telling others' stories as well as our own.
March 5, 2022
It’s hard for me to like a book featuring a whiny narrator writing about his sometimes sadistic, often detached boss- who gets unreasonably angry when being asked to do his job. Further, I think that Vitale’s misgivings about filming feasts and wasting food in countries where people are literally starving were justified- I’m not sure what the purpose of some of these trips was other than to satisfy Bourdain’s whims. I listened to this one on audio, and really wish Vitale had left the narration up to a professional, rather than doing it himself. His hesitant reading and weak attempts at accents could be heard even at the sped-up pace at which I was listening.
January 18, 2022
I found this memoir fascinating. Anthony Bourdain was someone I have loved watching and a celebrity I will miss. He was thoughtful, yet impulsive, sensitive and angry, he was less than perfect. Tom Vitale has such a unique perspective. He spent his career filming and framing Bourdain for the wider world, 1and then one day, Bourdain was no longer here. Vitale is honest in his assessment of his emotions and he continues doing what I assume he knows best. Shaping another narrative about Tony Bourdain.
May 25, 2023
This book brought me to tears. Such a wonderful book, and I’d recommend it to anyone, especially those who admire the adventurous and complicated life of Anthony “Tony” Bourdain. The book highlighted Anthony’s wild life while also not neglecting his struggles and how it affected those around him. Also love reading it after I read kitchen confidential, thought it was a nice highlight of Tony’s life. Highly recommend!!!!
May 20, 2021
Tom gives us the gift of seeing Anthony as he did - as a co-worker, friend (of sorts?), and as a complicated human...who was hard to work with. As a TV producer myself, I was blown away from Tom's writing and honesty about not only working with Tony, but also the grind of TV production. I read this in one sitting.
This was an advanced copy given by #NetGalley
This was an advanced copy given by #NetGalley
December 5, 2021
I’ve recently wanted to know more about Anthony Bourdain, and maybe In The Weeds was not the place to start. I liked the fast paced nature of the book and that it educated you about the places they went in addition to the food, the show, and Tony. However, it was a little much about Tom’s need for acceptance from Tony and his own neurosis about the experience. (Which feels very harsh to say…)
August 24, 2023
I bounce between 4-4.5 ⭐️. I had many laugh out loud moments reading this and had no problem imaginIng Tony’s delivery of some expletive or snarky story. There were also many solemn moments in both reflecting on Tony’s loneliness and isolation, and Tom’s own blame about his death. Anthony Bourdain is a comfort character in my adolescence and adulthood and I found myself rewatching old episodes with a new lens after reading this book. A wonderful reflection of a crazy career and life with the legendary Anthony Bourdain, he is missed.
September 23, 2024
Oh Tom.
I adore Bourdain and Tom was a big part of making him who he is.
Most food shows suck. Food is inherently a physical entity and so watching it through pixels and regurgitated prose is usually unfulfilling. TikTok and Instagram content be damned, I don’t think I’ve ever really enjoyed a cooking show other than Bourdain’s. And realistically, it’s not for the food, it’s for the storytelling. Tom was a big part of that throughout Bourdain‘s career
This book is interesting in that you get to see how the sausage was made. Chaotic shoots and logistical nightmares, propagandistic regimes and egotistical chefs. It’s all there.
However, the same disconnect I feel when I see a post about a “great restaurant” is present here. You can have many photos of sizzling fajitas, but that doesn’t replace the smell and the actual experience. Tom tries to ape Tonys style at times and it falls flat. The focus is on the wrong elements. There’s a sort of special Tony-esque poetry that just doesn’t quite translate in Tom’s writing that I kept wishing would break through. The stories are good. But the writing is to Tony’s prose, what a photo is to a real taco. This book left me hungry for more.
I adore Bourdain and Tom was a big part of making him who he is.
Most food shows suck. Food is inherently a physical entity and so watching it through pixels and regurgitated prose is usually unfulfilling. TikTok and Instagram content be damned, I don’t think I’ve ever really enjoyed a cooking show other than Bourdain’s. And realistically, it’s not for the food, it’s for the storytelling. Tom was a big part of that throughout Bourdain‘s career
This book is interesting in that you get to see how the sausage was made. Chaotic shoots and logistical nightmares, propagandistic regimes and egotistical chefs. It’s all there.
However, the same disconnect I feel when I see a post about a “great restaurant” is present here. You can have many photos of sizzling fajitas, but that doesn’t replace the smell and the actual experience. Tom tries to ape Tonys style at times and it falls flat. The focus is on the wrong elements. There’s a sort of special Tony-esque poetry that just doesn’t quite translate in Tom’s writing that I kept wishing would break through. The stories are good. But the writing is to Tony’s prose, what a photo is to a real taco. This book left me hungry for more.
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