I felt a little strange. The second
half of the book didn’t fill me with the urge to travel so much as it made me a
little confused. I think Tony Bourdain lost me around Tokyo, or maybe it was
England when he begins elaborating on the life of a chef. I had been enthused
at first by his bad attitude, his smoking, the drinking and the danger, and in
the second half I was more critical of it. How much of his, “nothing to lose”
attitude was real or constructed? He was always careful to mention what could
go wrong in everr situation. When I watched a few clips of the show on YouTube,
I picked Cambodia and Russia, the two that fascinated me most. I don’t think
it’s the food so much as the place though. As Bourdain explains though I think
that they are intertwined enough.
In the show you can see his
mannerisms, as Kelsey Baak mentioned in class, and see how they apply within
the book. He is on the little boat in Cambodia cracking jokes about Gilligan’s
island while the cameraman shoots up close scary men that invade their boat.
I like being able to see this, but I enjoy the book more, because I feel like
his adventurous self is balanced out with honesty, if only a little.
It is however interesting to read
the book, and then go watch clips of it. I enjoyed seeing what matched up in my
head and what didn’t. The tiny fried birds in Cambodia looked exactly like they
did in the TV show. I didn’t know whether to be disturbed that I could imagine
the tiny crunch of bird bones, or pleased with my imagination.
But,
back to my original point. By the end of the story I had enough of Bourdain’s
bad attitude, his hating on vegetarians, his constant notation of ‘whores’ and
‘beautiful women’ throughout the narrative. What I had trouble reconciling with
was, isn’t Bourdain as privileged as these vegetarians that eat bland
vegetables and sit in their house that he spend a whole chapter complaining
about? After all, just because he has seen the plight of the world doesn’t make
him any better if he’s just seen it for his benefit.
I am reminded when he pays the boy
that has driven him around all night $2 extra, and yet he mocks people that sit
in their house and send a few dollars to help the reconstruction of the rain
forest. Is this not similar?
His
constant attention to women also leaves me a little confused. I begin thinking
things like, “where is Nancy,” and, “why did she not come with him.” Throughout
the story she is only mentioned when he needs to call her to remind her of
something, at least for the most part. There are exceptions, such as the
beginning and the end of the book where he seems genuine about his wife, and to
her. Because of this, I end up being conflicted.
In
the end though, there is still something in me that wants to eat a cobra’s
heart, even though I am absolutely terrified of snakes.
"What I had trouble reconciling with was, isn’t Bourdain as privileged as these vegetarians that eat bland vegetables and sit in their house that he spend a whole chapter complaining about?"
ReplyDeleteI was thinking the same during this chapter.
I do think he went a little far when he hates on vegetarians. After all, Sodexo has made me a de facto vegetarian. Vegetarianism also makes the most sense if you think about the laws of thermodynamics (most energy is stored in plants, primary consumers absorb 10% of this energy, then the consumers of those animals receive 10% of that 10%, etc.). It is efficient. Not all vegetarians are self-righteous in their campaign claiming that "meat is murder," some realize that we're consuming too much meat (or, what is supposedly meat) in the post-industrial world to be considered "normal."
Kate,
ReplyDeleteHow funny! We thought much the same thing about this part of the book. I'm SO GLAD you said what you said about Nancy:
"His constant attention to women also leaves me a little confused. I begin thinking things like, “where is Nancy,” and, “why did she not come with him.” Throughout the story she is only mentioned when he needs to call her to remind her of something, at least for the most part."
I was slightly disappointed that Bourdain didn't discuss calling his wife and sharing his experiences with her. Now I think it would be unfair to say, after reading the book, that Tony and Nancy don't have a healthy marriage. We only got a glimpse into his food life, and only saw what he decided to tell us about. He and Nancy may have talked all the time. Their relationship could be one based on trust and friendship and Nancy might well accept and appreciate Bourdain's comments on other women. We have no idea.
I think in some ways, I wanted this book to be more romantic and lovely than it was. I wanted Nancy to go along and travel and for them to have a really lovely time together, but that's not what it was. I'm glad he told the story as it happened for him, but I found myself feeling disappointed at some points just like you did.