K.M. Kaung: A Masterpiece from One Whose Life was Too Short - book review of Utz by Bruce Chatwin -

I had "heard about" Bruce Chatwin from an article about him and the fatwah, by Salmon Rushdie who traveled with him in Australia before he died. Rushdie had just heard of the fatwah when he went to Chatwin's funeral.

Around 1994 a friend had recommended Utz to me.

But I did not get to read it till relatively recently.

The inexpensive Amazon price was a real deal, though Chatwin's books have been published, it seems to me, on cheap paper, but that's not Amazon's fault.

Anyway, the book did not disappoint at all.

In fact, it more than lived up to its advance billing.

It's a very satisfying read, though tightly written it does not sound terse at all.

I read about the Meissen Collection and August the Strong in an issue of Architectural Digest.

Utz's obsession was with European china, but the Collection consists mostly of blue and white Kang Xi china, real China china.

Kyi May Kaung


Left on Amazon.com site
8-13-2011