Customer Reviews

With Chatwin: Portrait of a Writer

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1 star:		(2)

 

 

I'd read a few of Chatwin's books before I read this memoir. I was curious to know a bit more about the almost invisible narrator of In Patagonia, but after finishing the book, I almost wish I hadn't started it. Yes I did learn a bit about Bruce, but although Clapp was a friend and is sympathetic to her subject, I didn't particularly like the man who emerged. He seemed quite vain, shallow, even childish at times. The book did not greatly enhance my enjoyment or understanding of Chatwin's work - and in some ways it made it less interesting by stripping away a bit of the mystery (I know that's my fault for choosing to read it, not the author's for writing it!) There is one great chapter in which the author discusses Chatwin and RL Stevenson - definitely a 5 star essay in a 3 star book. Other parts of the book read more like a Sotheby's catalogue - long lists of objects and people that will be of little interest to many readers. If you can't be bothered to wade through N.Shakespeare's doorstopper this is a good, but not great, intro to Brucie.

I knew before I opened this book that it was going to trouble me on two counts. Firstly, Susannah Clapp''s book is not a biography: it is a '`portrait of a writer". In other words, the incisive drive of the biographer was about to be replaced with the sycophantic anecdotal mush of a close friend (Clapp was once Chatwin's editor). And secondly, this book would possibly render Chatwin as real, and that really wouldn't do. As all Chatwin's work was hinged on the fact he was always present by his absence, to paint the author back in Clapp was about to deface the work of art that Chatwin had made his life.

I'd like to say that Clapp managed to surmount these difficulties for me, but unfortunately, she didn't. However, she also did not fail to surprise me

I have read several of Bruce Chatwin's books. When I first came upon this book I thought it would help complete the picture I had been forming of Chatwin. The memories of Chatwin based on Susannah Clapp's own experiences, as his editor, felt incomplete, somehow. I finished the book wondering why Clapp had written it, not that it was boring or anything, it just didn't pull me in (in a way that other accounts or biographies of other writers have). I wasn't sure when I finished the book if Clapp wasn't somehow trying to knock Chatwin down a peg. I maybe missed something. Having said that, I would still recommend it to anyone interested in Chatwin's life.

I'm not sure if this book is about Chatwin or it is about Clapp showing off who is who .... For example, Chatwin is liken to Christopher Isherwood, then Lord Snowdon's photo of Chatwin, than Jane Brown's photo ... blah, blah, blah, ... I agree with another reviewer about this book: pretentious and not much on the substance. After the first 10 to 15 pages, I skimmed the rest (there was more name dropping)!

If you are a Chatwin fan, skip this book!

I'll be honest here: I simply could not finish this book! I read the first 20 pages or so, then dipped & skimmed thruout the rest trying to find something worth reading. It was fruitless. This book is boring and pretentious. It's not even worth discussing further!