Too Close To The Sun
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Observer
"Dense, moving and insightful: a pleasure"
The Sunday Times
"Evocative"
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
36 of 37 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Following the very successful film Out of Africa there have been several biographies of the principal real-life characters, Karen Blixen and Denys Finch Hatton and their times - roughly the first three decades of the 20th C. Sara Wheeler has undertaken an enormous amount of diligent research to bring us Too Close to the Sun, the most comprehensive biography I have seen of the latter, an English aristocrat to whom Karen Blixen gave herself, body and soul, in what seems to have been a largely unrequited relationship. Karen was undoubtedly a snob and even her concern for the Africans on her lands, the only redeeming feature tempering that defect, could be seen as treating Africans more as children or pets than fellow human beings. However, she was honest and straightforward and the genius that some thought worthy of a Nobel Prize for Literature was not far from the surface during her relationship with Finch Hatton. What Karen Blixen realised too late was that Finch Hatton had little concern for anybody but himself. Sara Wheeler's beautifully written dispassionate biography makes his inherent selfishness all too clear and for this reader gave her account of his life a mesmeric fascination. Finch Hatton was a man of his class and his time; a member of the English aristocracy (far removed from Robert Redford's anti-Brit American adventurer) and committed to King and Country and Class above all else. His upbringing as the younger son unlikely to succeed to the family title may well have formed his character. There is much in his life we can admire, a certain grittiness about getting on with what has to be done, courage in war and in the wilderness and the usual manly virtues. He formed enduring friendships within his class, which eased his passage through society wherever he found himself; he was admired by men and adored by women. Sara Wheeler tells it all, glosses over nothing and makes her biography of Denys Finch Hatton essential reading for any student of his times and the great social changes that have ensured those days are gone forever. Strongly recommended.
19 of 20 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is a cleverly written book about someone who did little and achieved less but was by all accounts a great charmer. His main claim to fame, posthumously, was through Karen Blixen's memoir Out of Africa. With so little information on Denys Finch Hatton's (DFH) life and indeed little to write about - the main themes are endless trips back and forth from England to Kenya and failed business ventures - the author wisely gives the book the sub title, The life and Times of DFH. This enables her to pad the book out with describtions of events in England and Kenya during DFH's lifetime. This is the saving of the book as the author is both witty and has an eye for the absurd. However, at times she falls into the trap of adopting the same writing style as her subjects with many archaic phrases and describtions. The biggest drawback of the book, however, is the subject himself. DFH's life appears little different from the hundreds of wealthy englishmen who went out to Kenya in the early part of the last century, even his romance with Blixen has the air of a relationship of convenience - certainly not the great romance that Blixen made it out to be. The book therefore comes accross more as a gentle stroll through Kenya/English society in the 20s and 30s rather than a biography of someone who probably doesn't merit one.
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I agree with the negative reviewer: "Disappointing Slapdash". Apart from a few good photographs I have not seen of Finch Hatton before, there was little in this book that made me think it was more informative about the character than what I had read previously by Errol Trzebinski. I was disappointed as I felt she had a good opportunity to really research the character of Finch Hatton. Some of the descriptions of Kenya I felt were "flowery" and again I refer back to Trzebinski who obviously had a deep love and understanding of the country and knew how to bring it to life with minimum yet effective phraseology. For me there were too many unaswered questions about Finch Hatton which I feel a good biography should address She doesn't really make clear why she did not like Karen Blixen initially and that makes me wonder if she researched the character thouroughly enough. There is so much to know about this fascinating woman
and yet I feel Sarah Wheeler did not give a balanced account of the relationship between Finch Hatton and Blixen. After all if the relationship had not existed would there have been a need for a biography about him at all?
and yet I feel Sarah Wheeler did not give a balanced account of the relationship between Finch Hatton and Blixen. After all if the relationship had not existed would there have been a need for a biography about him at all?
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Average book on an average guy
Like some of the other reviews,I agree with the viewpoint that Finch Hatton wasn't that worthy of a book. Read more
Published 1 month ago by P. SKEATES
A Bounder and a Hero
Denys Finch Hatton was a charmer, one of East Africa's greatest big-game hunters, a traveller and an adventurer but he was perceived by some to possess many different... Read more
Published 3 months ago by Mr. R. D. M. Kirby
`He had seen what men with imagination cannot help seeing in a dream...
This biography is about Denys George Finch Hatton (24 April 1887 - 14 May 1931). Finch Hatton was one of the British settlers of East Africa early in the 20th century, was a... Read more
Published 4 months ago by J. Cameron-Smith
Lout of Africa
Over a 500-year period, a large number of badly-behaved characters have passed through the Porters' Lodge of Brasenose College; Denys Finch Hatton is in the company of John... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Robert H
Too Close to The Sun
Too Close to The Sun is a biography by Sara Wheeler about Denys Finch Hatton, the outstandingly handsome younger son of the 13th Earl of Whinchilsea. Read more
Published 6 months ago by R. A. Rach
Book club recommendation
Belonging to a small book club gives me a broader list of authors to read. This is the first of the bunch, looks very interesting.
Published 8 months ago by Mrs. J. K. Kelly
relive the real africa
This book is written in a non pushy style and lets the imagination take you on a journey back to the old east africa. Read more
Published 23 months ago by icarus
Fascinating insight into a bygone era
Too Close to the Sun: The Life and Times of Denys Finch HattonI thoroughly enjoyed this insight into the life of Denys Finch Hatton. Read more
Published on 3 Jan 2010 by Chloe Malik
finch hatton, an icon
superbly detailed book that describes a real life character warts and all from a time when Britain produced men and women that broke the mould and shaped the world as we know it... Read more
Published on 4 Aug 2009 by M. Bradshaw
Too hurried a biography
What could have been Sara Wheeler's very finest book to date is sadly marred by signs of over-hasty research and writing, with some irritatingly obvious errors intruding on an... Read more
Published on 4 May 2006 by C. L. Mckelvie
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