Rating: 
Summary: Sophomore Slump
Review: A rather disappointing followup to "Bone in the Throat," this mob caper never reaches the breezy good humor of the Bourdain's debut. There are some decently interesting characters (a crossdressing mobster and a legendary ancient French commando being two), and some offbeat happenings, but the climax is wholly unsatisfying (at least to me). One redeeming aspect is that Bourdain doesn't shy away from killing some of the characters you least suspect will die. Definitely read "Bone in the Throat," before this, as some of characters overlap, and this comes second chronologically.
Rating: 
Summary: Very Entertaining
Review: All in all, the book was very entertaining. I read it on the airplane on a recent trip to Puerto Vallarta. I heard it was set in St Martin, and since we've been there before and are returning later this year the setting piqued my interest. The book starts out a little rough, but when the author eases up a little on the excessive adjectives it becomes much more readable. I didn't think the ending was great though. In fact, he tried to tie up loose ends after the climax, but the last part reads as though his publisher had told him that the book was too long and he needed to trim something. If that happened, it probably took the wind out of his sails and he took the easy route of chopping out final chapters. Who knows. I also think that Frances' character could have been developed better. When you read it, you'll find that there are definite inconsistencies with her personal skills (well... not all of them) and her vocational background. It's kind of odd to miss that with a main character. There were many parts of the book that made me roar with laughter though. It was well worth the read.
Rating:
Summary: Very Entertaining
Review: All in all, the book was very entertaining. I read it on the airplane on a recent trip to Puerto Vallarta. I heard it was set in St Martin, and since we've been there before and are returning later this year the setting piqued my interest. The book starts out a little rough, but when the author eases up a little on the excessive adjectives it becomes much more readable. I didn't think the ending was great though. In fact, he tried to tie up loose ends after the climax, but the last part reads as though his publisher had told him that the book was too long and he needed to trim something. If that happened, it probably took the wind out of his sails and he took the easy route of chopping out final chapters. Who knows. I also think that Frances' character could have been developed better. When you read it, you'll find that there are definite inconsistencies with her personal skills (well... not all of them) and her vocational background. It's kind of odd to miss that with a main character. There were many parts of the book that made me roar with laughter though. It was well worth the read.
Rating: 
Summary: Colorful characters make it good mob story
Review: Bordain is always appealing to carnal delights in one way or another. This is not some mind expanding book, so those seeking great truths or want noble characters ought to look elsewhere. While I found the plot of the story to be nothing very special, the unique characters are what make the story memorable.The main characters, Henry and Frances, a couple that live in St. Martin, spend most of the time getting drunk, smoking dope, passing out, hanging around the beach, and fornicating in unusual places. When Henry isn't engaging in these activities with Frances, he's a hit man. Hardly the usual sympathetic characters one usually roots for, but in the world created in this book, that's exactly what I found myself doing. I think Bordain uses a skillful touch. Any book with heavy set, cross-dressing mob boss could easily drown in the absurdity of such a character, but it doesn't here. The envelope is pushed, but the characters never seem to go over the top. Other characters are more convential, but I still found them unique. And we understand the motivations of each character without going into deep, heavy handed explanations into human experience. This isn't compelling, page turning stuff, but has a breezy pace like a pleasant day at the beach. Before I knew it, I'd knocked off 80-100 pages at a sitting. For those not particularly into mob stories, smart-aleck story telling, or characters with loose morals, try something else. For the rest of us, time well spent.
Rating:
Summary: Colorful characters make it good mob story
Review: Bordain is always appealing to carnal delights in one way or another. This is not some mind expanding book, so those seeking great truths or want noble characters ought to look elsewhere. While I found the plot of the story to be nothing very special, the unique characters are what make the story memorable. The main characters, Henry and Frances, a couple that live in St. Martin, spend most of the time getting drunk, smoking dope, passing out, hanging around the beach, and fornicating in unusual places. When Henry isn't engaging in these activities with Frances, he's a hit man. Hardly the usual sympathetic characters one usually roots for, but in the world created in this book, that's exactly what I found myself doing. I think Bordain uses a skillful touch. Any book with heavy set, cross-dressing mob boss could easily drown in the absurdity of such a character, but it doesn't here. The envelope is pushed, but the characters never seem to go over the top. Other characters are more convential, but I still found them unique. And we understand the motivations of each character without going into deep, heavy handed explanations into human experience. This isn't compelling, page turning stuff, but has a breezy pace like a pleasant day at the beach. Before I knew it, I'd knocked off 80-100 pages at a sitting. For those not particularly into mob stories, smart-aleck story telling, or characters with loose morals, try something else. For the rest of us, time well spent.
Rating: 
Summary: Gone Bamboo
Review: Following his hilarious first novel, Bone in the Throat, with another antic tale, Bourdain establishes himself as a new master of the wiseass crime comedy. Henri Denard, an ex-Vietnam War hero who was trained as an assassin by the CIA and is now cozy with the French government, is living a peacefully hedonistic life as a ponytailed hippie on St. Martin with his wife, Frances'who's smart, gorgeous and similarly handy with a gun. But Henry's past is coming back to haunt him: a year ago, 320-pound crossdressing mob boss Jimmy "Pazz" Calabrese hired him to knock off two rivals at a ski resort. Henry botched the job, allowing one of the mobsters, D'Andrea "Donnie Wicks" Balistieri, to survive. Now, not only has Donnie Wicks made a deal with the FBI to testify against Jimmy Pazz, but he's also ended up as Henry's neighbor on St. Martin. After weighing his options, Henry decides to confront Donnie directly. To gain access to the mobster, Henry and Frances befriend Donnie's friends and housesitters'uptight failing restaurateur Mickey and his fun-loving girlfriend, Rachel'and end up hitting it off with Donnie, too. Meanwhile, the thug Jimmy's hired to hit Donnie'and maybe Henry, too'has found true love with an Indian prostitute and isn't at all eager to complete the task. As Jimmy grows frustrated, the number of players'federal marshals, French spies and a variety of small-time gangsters'continues to mount, threatening mayhem and bloodshed. A potentially routine mob caper is brought to life by tight plotting, appealing characters and a stylish mix of irony, snappy dialogue and amoral verve. Author tour.
Rating:
Summary: Less cooking this time, and more shooting . . .
Review: Henry Denard is an American ex-pat living with his wife, Frances, in a nice hotel on the Caribbean island of St. Martin. They hang around with friends, eat barbequed chicken, and drink a lot. And every so often, Henry gets paid to kill someone. It's a good living and they're happy. Then Henry messes up an assignment by only wounding the target, which irritates the customer -- a cross-dressing New York wiseguy, whom you may find amusing in the first chapter but who quickly becomes more menacing and a lot scarier. At the same time, "Donnie Wicks" Balistieri, an elderly capo and the target whom Henry failed to quite kill, has agreed to testify for the feds and is stashed away on the same island with a guard of U.S. marshals. This could be a problem for Henry and Frances. Then there's Mickey and Rachel, more recent escapees from New York (and who are perhaps the main characters from Bourdain's first novel), who live in Donnie's palatial home, and whom Henry hopes can be his conduit to old Donnie. Then there's Paulie the good soldier, and Kevin the hitman who finds love in a bordello, and Monsieur Ribiere, the French cop on the island. It sounds confusing, but the author is very good at laying out the plot clearly, pacing the action properly, and developing the characters in a way that hold your attention. He never lets you forget what these people really are, either. Just when you're smiling at the adolescent sexual antics of the middle-aged Henry and Frances, a bit of violence will remind you of the realities. If Bourdain cooks half as well as he writes, I'll have to make a reservation at his restaurant.
Rating:
Summary: Best Book I ever read
Review: I wet Myself--Laughin
Rating:
Summary: Gone Bamboo
Review: I'll move to New York and eat at Les Halles twice a week. Mid-week, of course. I loved "Bone in the Throat," and was delighted to find major characters re-appearing in "Gone Bamboo." I read it in an afternoon, and heck! I didn't think it was too hardboiled. In fact,I did cry in a couple of places. Like Elmore Leonard, Bourdain knows how to write dialogue. He also knows how to create characters, and write a pageturning plot. The sense of place, in this case St. Martin, is done so well that I could feel the sand between my toes, smell the barbecue shacks and want to run to the fidge hoping to find a bottle of Red Stripe. Bourdain has a nice touch especially with creating strong female characters. Frances, the female protagonist, is now my idol and role model.
Rating:
Summary: If Tony Bourdain cooks as well as he writes...
Review: I'll move to New York and eat at Les Halles twice a week. Mid-week, of course. I loved "Bone in the Throat," and was delighted to find major characters re-appearing in "Gone Bamboo." I read it in an afternoon, and heck! I didn't think it was too hardboiled. In fact,I did cry in a couple of places. Like Elmore Leonard, Bourdain knows how to write dialogue. He also knows how to create characters, and write a pageturning plot. The sense of place, in this case St. Martin, is done so well that I could feel the sand between my toes, smell the barbecue shacks and want to run to the fidge hoping to find a bottle of Red Stripe. Bourdain has a nice touch especially with creating strong female characters. Frances, the female protagonist, is now my idol and role model.
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