The Bobby Gold Stories

Fresh out of prison (where he earned a fearsome reputation), Bobby Gold (nee Goldstein) reluctantly goes to work as an enforcer for his childhood friend, small-time gangster Eddie. Bobby wants another life for himself, but loyalty and limited options stand in his path. Could Nikki, a sassy chef in the club Eddie owns, be the answer?

Anthony Bourdain is best known as a bon vivant in the culinary world, but he has written fiction before. In fact, 2001’s The Bobby Gold Stories represents his third book of fiction. You wouldn’t know that from reading it though. A raw, clipped narrative, it reads like the work of a new author struggling to find his bearings.

This isn’t to say that Bourdain is a terrible writer per say. An experienced world traveler, he shows a great eye for local color. Whether it’s a busy restaurant kitchen, the New York club scene, or an exotic Asian locale, the settings are brought to life in vibrant, bustling detail. The dialogue is colorful as well and funny at times, though not as consistently successful. While the banter is snappy, its exaggerated profanity seems inauthentic, and there are some laughably bad lines (“He’s not one of us! He’s not a cook!”) along the way.

Perhaps the dialogue would be easier to appreciate if we were given some reason to care about the characters. We aren’t, though, and we are left feeling like we’ve seen them all before. Bobby’s “tough guy with a heart” shtick is old, Nikki’s instant attraction to him is conveniently contrived, no reason is given for the repulsive Eddie being able to hold onto power as long as he has, and the Mafiosi behind it all are walking clichés.

Having predictable characters naturally leads to predictable plotting. While there is no dead weight here, there is also nothing to grip us and no sense of surprise. The novel is presented as a series of short, breezy third-person vignettes that ultimately don’t add up to much. Obviously, Bobby can’t just make changes to his life; that would be too easy. No, in Bourdain’s world, such change has to come from without: a police tip, an encouraging girlfriend, some “missing” money, etc. James Sallis tackled many of these same themes and plot devices in Drive, but he was able to wring a lot more resonance out of a spare style and a familiar narrative.

As a quick read, The Bobby Gold Stories is a page-turner that is just passable enough to not put down. Try as he may to serve up something hard-boiled besides eggs, it is clear from reading this that Bourdain should stick to the kitchen.

5.75/10