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Rating: 
Summary: More than a biography
Review: Before I started the book, I'd read a great deal about it, and heard Nicholas Shakespeare on the radio. I had great expectations, and they were fulfilled. It is interesting how little one can learn of Bruce Chatwin from reading his books, but Shakespeare fleshes out his subject wonderfully well. You get the feeling, "So this is what Bruce Chatwin was really like.", and, "So this is what Bruce Chatwin really meant." But what impressed me most was how occasionally I would be stopped cold and forced to think, not about Bruce Chatwin, but about my own (albeit far less spectacular) life. Shakespeare not only knows Bruce Chatwin well, he also knows something of the human condition.
Rating: 
Summary: Highly recommended
Review: Finally, a definitive Chatwin biography! I waited years for this -- and I wasn't disappointed. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in learning more about this fascinating writer. The thing to remember about Chatwin is that he was a very English character and I think this may frustrate some non-English readers who -- forgive me for saying so -- may lack the taste or patience to appreciate him (as some of the petulant comments from previous reviewers suggest). He was such a difficult man to figure out even to his friends and I am not surprised that he ultimately comes across as unknowable in this otherwise thorough, valuable book.
Rating:
Summary: Perfect
Review: I can't recommend this book highly enough. Shakespeare has constructed the finest biography I have ever read. At times, it even seems that Chatwin's merely a supporting cast member to Shakespeare's storytelling. I found mself limiting how many pages I could read a day so that I could drag it out as long as possible. It's not just for Chatwin fans either. I went into the bio with no knowledge of him.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant biography- if you are already a Chatwin fan
Review: I loved this book. I thought it was the best biography I have ever read. But, like shakespeare, I am biased, coming into the reading of it already captivated by Chatwin's writings and personality. Those who are of a similar disposition must read this book, each line is carefully researched and laid out to present the complex facets of Chatwin's life in all its glory.
People who are not Chatwin fans will probably find this book so so, and may feel annoyed by the selfish, arrogant, insensitive and, at times, brutal attitude of Chatwin's personality - exemplified over issues such as his explotation of people in Patagonia and Australia to generate his own unique material for 'In Patagonia' and 'The Songlines' and his frequent betrayal of his devoted wife. Some people I know even think Chatwin deserved his premature death in 1989 from Aids.
Although Shakespeare is obviously in the former category- in a review of Utz he calls Chatwin 'the greatest stylist writing in England today'. But he does consider all the sides of Chatwin's remarkable personality and left me at the end shaking my head at what a remarkable life he led, wishing I could have met him in the flesh.
Rating: 
Summary: Beware of house-guests...
Review: I was most eager to read this book described by William Dalrymple of the Literary Review as "Quite simply the most beautifully written, painstakingly researched and cleverly constructed biographies written this decade". Alas, he must have been reading another volume. As far as I am concerned, Shakespeare spends far too much time chit-chatting about all the 'in people' that Chatwin sponged off rather than what I would have found interesting - Chatwin's travels. We are told of how wonderfully received Chatwins books were, but there are few examples in this biography of his literary skills. Ultimately I feel sadness for most of the players. His wife for her empty bed, his friends for being blinded by his supposed beauty and Chatwin for his infatuation with wealth and pose. The only people in this book who I felt any affinity with were those who were not duped by Chatwins charm nor impressed by his roamings and writings. I suspect Dalrymple must have been reading Peter Ackroyd's biography of Charles Dickens.
Rating:
Summary: No there there
Review: It's hard to know if my reaction to this biography is due to the subject himself or is the fault of the biographer. Nicholas Shakespeare's "Bruce Chatwin" is long, well-researched, & has the full cooperation of Chatwin's family. Yet, all throughout the book, I never really got a sense of who Chatwin was, & why his family & friends (even casual aquaintances) viewed him so adoringly despite his cavalier treatment of them. Admittedly, this may be due to Chatwin himself. An ambiguous, intensely guarded man, it's hard to tell even from his writings such as "In Patagonia" exactly what he thinks about a place or person. Personally although "The Songlines" is one of my favorite books, I never have cared for the other Chatwin's I have read ("In Patagonia", "On the Black Hill", "What Am I Doing Here"). Reading "Bruce Chatwin" has even made me lose some of my admiration for "The Songlines" as it turns out to be fiction, not the well-researched ethnological treatise I had believed it to be! However, this review should be of the biography, not the subject's writings, so among faults I found in Nicholas Shakespeare's "Bruce Chatwin" are: 1)The author assumes knowledge the reader may not have; if a quote is in French he offers no translation. If discussing Malvert or Osip Mandelstam, no explanation of their work or significance is given. 2)Although we are told Chatwin's wife Elizabeth was the instigator of this book & cooperated fully, her presence in the book is that of a shadowy background figure. Her feelings, reactions, methods of dealing with Chatwin's neglect of her, all are ignored or glossed over. Another interviewee mentions they once saw great tenderness between the Chatwin's yet Elizabeth herself never gives any indication this was more than a one-way relationship. There is not even a clear photo of her in the book! 3)Names are mentioned, travels listed, yet there is never a feeling of connectedness to Chatwin. When we are told so-and-so thinks this about that, we don't know how close they were to Chatwin, when they met, why this person is even being quoted about this particular subject. The author mentions "That October & November Bruce & Elizabeth went to the Himalayas" but that's the end of journey. No further information is given as to why they went, what happened while there etc. In sum, I ended up as frustrated after reading this biography as I did after reading "In Patagonia" & I still don't know if it's Chatwin's fault, Nicholas Shakespeare's fault, or if I'm just not intelligent (or is that pretentious?) enough to grasp Chatwin's writing. Unless you live & breathe Chatwinia, this book is probably a waste of time!
Rating:
Summary: southamericanreader
Review: It's hard to know if my reaction to this biography is due to the subject himself or is the fault of the biographer. Nicholas Shakespeare's "Bruce Chatwin" is long, well-researched, & has the full cooperation of Chatwin's family. Yet, all throughout the book, I never really got a sense of who Chatwin was, & why his family & friends (even casual aquaintances) viewed him so adoringly despite his cavalier treatment of them. Admittedly, this may be due to Chatwin himself. An ambiguous, intensely guarded man, it's hard to tell even from his writings such as "In Patagonia" exactly what he thinks about a place or person. Personally although "The Songlines" is one of my favorite books, I never have cared for the other Chatwin's I have read ("In Patagonia", "On the Black Hill", "What Am I Doing Here"). Reading "Bruce Chatwin" has even made me lose some of my admiration for "The Songlines" as it turns out to be fiction, not the well-researched ethnological treatise I had believed it to be! However, this review should be of the biography, not the subject's writings, so among faults I found in Nicholas Shakespeare's "Bruce Chatwin" are: 1)The author assumes knowledge the reader may not have; if a quote is in French he offers no translation. If discussing Malvert or Osip Mandelstam, no explanation of their work or significance is given. 2)Although we are told Chatwin's wife Elizabeth was the instigator of this book & cooperated fully, her presence in the book is that of a shadowy background figure. Her feelings, reactions, methods of dealing with Chatwin's neglect of her, all are ignored or glossed over. Another interviewee mentions they once saw great tenderness between the Chatwin's yet Elizabeth herself never gives any indication this was more than a one-way relationship. There is not even a clear photo of her in the book! 3)Names are mentioned, travels listed, yet there is never a feeling of connectedness to Chatwin. When we are told so-and-so thinks this about that, we don't know how close they were to Chatwin, when they met, why this person is even being quoted about this particular subject. The author mentions "That October & November Bruce & Elizabeth went to the Himalayas" but that's the end of journey. No further information is given as to why they went, what happened while there etc. In sum, I ended up as frustrated after reading this biography as I did after reading "In Patagonia" & I still don't know if it's Chatwin's fault, Nicholas Shakespeare's fault, or if I'm just not intelligent (or is that pretentious?) enough to grasp Chatwin's writing. Unless you live & breathe Chatwinia, this book is probably a waste of time!
Rating: 
Summary: Flawed biography
Review: My main beef with the book was with its fawning biographer. I felt as if Shakespeare lost his objectivity, and fell under the star power of his subject. While he discusses Chatwin's flaws, he does so with an aspect of fan-worship, which, if one is to believe the biography, was par for the course - everyone fell under his spell. I would hope for better from the biographer - some more real balance, some real critisism. By-products of this were some seriously pedantic chapters. For example, the chapter about the cabinet wasn't painstakingly researched, it was painfully boring. I remember a relationship with someone who I loved so intensely that I was able to draw her likeness from memory, which was remarkable, given my complete inability to draw anything's likeness. Shakespeare appears to seek to recreate Chatwin through sheer intensity of concentration, spending inordinate time on irrelevant minutae. At the end of the day, he does his subject a disservice.
Rating:
Summary: Mixed feelings
Review: Nicholas Shakespeare got to the very essence of the man in this superb portrait. Bruce Chatwin, complex to the extreme, could not have been an easy subject, yet Shakespeare managed, in a totally non judgemental way, to give the reader a revealing insight into the life and times of this late, great writer. The good and the bad, the beautiful and the ugly, he told it as it was, which is what will make this excellent biography endure. After satisfying my cravings for knowledge of all things Chatwin, and savouring every last powerful word that Shakespeare wrote, I was left with one overwhelming question: "Who is this Elizabeth woman - when are we going to hear her story?"...
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