of an AIDS-related illness aged 49 in January 1989 he had produced the startlingly original masterpieces that made his name. Chatwin came late to being a published writer;In Patagonia, his instant classic of what can loosely be termed "travel literature", came out in 1977. In the preceding years this precocious, intense figure had been an art specialist at Sotheby's, a journalist withThe Sunday Times, an archaeologist and a restless, questing traveller. By the time his novel of studying the Aboriginal dreamtime in Australia,The Songlines, was published, he had gained a worldwide audience.An obsessive art collector, Chatwin also acquired people as he did fabulous objects. He took both male and female lovers while continuing to remain married to his wife Elizabeth, seemingly the most enduring relationship of his life. It is her cooperation and tenacity which enabled this biography to come about, as well as Nicholas Shakespeare's exhaustive research (the book was eight years in the making). It is the international span of Chatwin's experiences that makes the reader appreciate his desire to know all cultures and disciplines. There is some excellent, evocative writing here, particularly in Shakespeare's account of Chatwin's last weeks, his disappointment at not winning the Booker Prize forUtzand the detailed passage describing Chatwin's awful, miserable death surrounded by friends and family. There are a plethora of adjectives used to describe Chatwin such as "elusive", "mercurial", and "charismatic". Yet what Nicholas Shakespeare brings across in this immense, excellent life of Chatwin is the complete aloneness of the man. He was a flamboyant fabulist, an unparalleled conversationalist, yet, as the Australian poet Les Murray is quoted as saying: "He was lonely and he wanted to be. He had those blue, implacable eyes that said: 'I will reject you, I will forget you, because neither you nor any other human being can give me what I want.'"--Catherine Taylor
Advantages: Brilliant portrait, detailed, sympathetic but honest Disadvantages: Can be heavygoing in places
...Bruce Chatwin was one of the UK's most extraordinary writers of the post-war years and, as the reviewers of this biography have stated, he was also something of an enigma.
He had worked as an art expert and studied archaeology before turning his hand to journalism and both fiction and non-fiction works - like In Patagonia and The Songlines. But his books defied description - the lazy would call it travel writing but Chatwin was keen to explore much deeper themes in his publications - the origins of man and humans as nomads for example. Shakespeare's wonderful biography paints a picture of a complex man, at times likeable and at others truly monstrous to his wife, friends and colleagues alike. He married but mostly had sex with men and was one of the UK's first high-profile AIDS casualties. He could be remarkably generous...
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Advantages: good insight into a foreign country Disadvantages: major flaws in the plot
...Shakespeare? I didn't know that the surname still existed, but as nothing is made of it on the cover, I assume that Nicolas is no offspring of William's. Anyway, the author's name was not the reason why I bought the book, I decided to read it because it's mostly set in Germany, parts of it in the former GDR (German Democratic Republic) and it interests me how foreigners see my country, if they understand it, if they've done their homework and researched thoroughly or if they've put their foot in.
When Peter Hithersay, a public-school boy obsessed with Arthurian legend (his sister calls him Bedevere) is sixteen years old, he gets a birthday 'present' from his mother that upturns his old life and determines his future one, she tells him that his Dad is not his biological father, his biological father is an escaped East German political...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Advantages: Brilliant portrait, detailed, sympathetic but honest Disadvantages: Can be heavygoing in places
...Bruce Chatwin was one of the UK's most extraordinary writers of the post-war years and, as the reviewers of this biography have stated, he was also something of an enigma.
He had worked as an art expert and studied archaeology before turning his hand to journalism and both fiction and non-fiction works - like In Patagonia and The Songlines. But his books defied description - the lazy would call it travel writing but Chatwin was keen to explore much deeper themes in his publications - the origins of man and humans as nomads for example. Shakespeare's wonderful biography paints a picture of a complex man, at times likeable and at others truly monstrous to his wife, friends and colleagues alike. He married but mostly had sex with men and was one of the UK's first high-profile AIDS casualties. He could be remarkably generous...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful
Advantages: wonderfully envisaged comic characters Disadvantages: lack of interest in the main characters
...monologues roll on without impediment, encompassing Shakespeare, partridges, hansom cabs and all sorts without the slightest reference to what her audience might or might not be interested in. Her idea of being courted by 'the gentleman in the small clothes next door' is fantastic, and her inability to understand why things occur as they do is always comic. The Crummles' theatrical troupe are a wonderful source of fun, particularly the 'infant phenomenon' (who is closer to teenager than infant). The way in which the troupe respond to Nicholas is magnificently 'in character'.
In short, this is Dickens at his most amusing. A very early novel, the dark elements he means to highlight - such as the appalling Yorkshire schools - are clear but unfold via a fusillade of humour and satire. This may be a seen as more of a skirmish between good and bad than...
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Advantages: Great help with understanding almost everything Disadvantages: the "activites" at the end of each act
...Like all students I had to learn Shakespeare ... boring, difficult and hard to understand, well untill I purchased the Heinemann Shakespeare book Romeo and Juliet.
The Heinemann Shakespeare series is designed specially for 11 to 16-year-old students and because it is designed specially for 11 to 16-year-old students it has lots of help to understand difficult words and phrases.
Like all books designed for kids illustrations are important and this book has very good illustrations to help you follow the story. The best example of this is at the start where the illustrator has drawn all the characters of the play.
I think this book it a must have for ALL students that are studying Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet....
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helpful 04.11.2000
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