Anthony Bourdain was best known as a chef, but along with his books on food and cooking, he wrote two novels, Bone in the Throat and Gone Bamboo, and Typhoid Mary. The latter book is a short history of the famous typhoid-carrying cook who unknowingly spread the disease all over New York. Bourdain brings a new angle to the story of Mary Mallon by writing about her as a fellow cook, bringing a personal dimension to a historical narrative. I thought it was an interesting and informative read about someone whose story has been distorted by history.
At the turn of the century, Mary Mallon was an Irish immigrant living in New York. She worked as a cook for eight families, seven of which contracted typhoid just before she left. An investigator, George Soper, was hired after the daughter of her employer died of typhoid, and he identified Mary as the source of the disease. It took him a while to catch her, and she put up a lot of resistance, but eventually she was housed in Willard Parker Hospital. She was released after a number of years, but continued cooking and spreading typhoid, so she was rehoused in the same hospital for the rest of her life.
It’s a sad story, and for the most part Bourdain is sympathetic. A lot of the book consists of him imagining Mary’s thoughts and feelings during the pursuit by George Soper and subsequent imprisonment. It’s a convincing account, even if we’ve no way of knowing what her thoughts and feelings actually were. In this respect it’s less a conventional history than a sort-of creative non-fiction, thought that doesn’t make it any less worth reading.
The story is relevant today for some obvious reasons, but also for looking at how social circumstances have changed for women. Mary was very unique for her time. She was tall, and well-built, possessing formidable strength (when she was caught, she had to be sat on by a number of people to keep her from escaping). She was never demure or submissive, often swearing and using aggression to get what she wanted. She had a boyfriend, Alfred Breihof, who she lived with despite not being married. They may have bonded over their status as foreigners in the US: she had emigrated from Ireland at age 15, and he was German. All in all she was an outsider and noncomformist who never lived in the way women were meant to at that time. This gives the exploitation and abuse she went through in the hospital and even more sinister sexist dimension, as if they were punishing her for not fitting in as much as for carrying typhoid.
Bourdain can really write, and the way he describes not just the time period but also the atmosphere of a kitchen and the lifestyle of a cook is evocative, making you feel what it might have been like. It provides valuable insight into a profession not understood by most people, and a period in history that sadly mimics our own. Mary was the first known ‘superspreader’, and thanks to her we have better knowledge of how to deal with those who are unfortunately infected in such a way. It’s a fitting tribute to a misunderstood and demonised woman whose life was a tragedy and a lesson for future generations.
Review by Charlie Alcock
It’s a sad story, and for the most part Bourdain is sympathetic. A lot of the book consists of him imagining Mary’s thoughts and feelings during the pursuit by George Soper and subsequent imprisonment. It’s a convincing account, even if we’ve no way of knowing what her thoughts and feelings actually were. In this respect it’s less a conventional history than a sort-of creative non-fiction, thought that doesn’t make it any less worth reading.
The story is relevant today for some obvious reasons, but also for looking at how social circumstances have changed for women. Mary was very unique for her time. She was tall, and well-built, possessing formidable strength (when she was caught, she had to be sat on by a number of people to keep her from escaping). She was never demure or submissive, often swearing and using aggression to get what she wanted. She had a boyfriend, Alfred Breihof, who she lived with despite not being married. They may have bonded over their status as foreigners in the US: she had emigrated from Ireland at age 15, and he was German. All in all she was an outsider and noncomformist who never lived in the way women were meant to at that time. This gives the exploitation and abuse she went through in the hospital and even more sinister sexist dimension, as if they were punishing her for not fitting in as much as for carrying typhoid.
Bourdain can really write, and the way he describes not just the time period but also the atmosphere of a kitchen and the lifestyle of a cook is evocative, making you feel what it might have been like. It provides valuable insight into a profession not understood by most people, and a period in history that sadly mimics our own. Mary was the first known ‘superspreader’, and thanks to her we have better knowledge of how to deal with those who are unfortunately infected in such a way. It’s a fitting tribute to a misunderstood and demonised woman whose life was a tragedy and a lesson for future generations.
Review by Charlie Alcock
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