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The Autograph Man

zadie smith

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From the New York Times bestselling author of Swing Time and one of the most revered writers of her generation comes an "intelligent ... exquisitely clever [novel] about fame, mortality, and the triumph of image over reality” ( The Boston Globe ) .

Alex-Li Tandem sells autographs. His business is to hunt for names on paper, collect them, sell them, and occasionally fake them—all to give the people what they want: a little piece of Fame. But what does Alex want? Only the return of his father, the end of religion, something for his headache, three different girls, infinite grace, and the rare autograph of forties movie actress Kitty Alexander. With fries.

The Autograph Man is a deeply funny existential tour around the hollow trappings of modernity: celebrity, cinema, and the ugly triumph of symbol over experience. It offers further proof that Zadie Smith is one of the most staggeringly talented writers of her generation.

347 pages, Paperback

First published September 12,2002
Literary awards
booker prize, orange prize, bollinger everyman wodehouse prize, jewish quarterly-wingate prize, 

This edition

Format
347 pages, Paperback
Published
June 17, 2003 by Vintage
ISBN
9780375703874
ASIN
037570387X
Language
English

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About the author

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zadie smith

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Community Reviews

Rating(4 / 5.0, 100 votes)
5 stars
29(29%)
4 stars
37(37%)
3 stars
34(34%)
2 stars
0(0%)
1 stars
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100 reviews All reviews
Profile Image for Kimberly .
AliAnimeCrack
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 25,2025
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A soporific sophomore effort that reads sort of like Philip Roth trying really hard to impersonate Kurt Vonnegut and losing track of his fingers on the way.

White Teeth quite impressed me, so I thought I'd buy the rest of her books and read them in order of publication. Reading Zadie in chronological order maybe wasn't the best idea. I'm looking forward to reading the rest of her books and hopefully I can consider this one just a little curio of Zadie fandom.
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fourthpetal
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 25,2025
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I was trying to decide between four and five stars which is kind of ridiculous because Smith is an extraordinary writer. She takes the scenes and actions of everyday life and describes them with words I would never think of using but when I read them I think there is no other away to describe what she is talking about. She and her prose are whip smart. I thought I would finish the book in two days, but I got bogged down a bit in the characters. The plot and the message being delivered seemed to get unnecessarily complicated; perhaps it would have helped if Alex was developed a little more deeply. Strange that I never read White Teeth or On Beauty, Smith's two more well-known books. Perhaps now I will.
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yHam
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 25,2025
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One of the single most memorable books I've ever read and totally underappreciated. It's so good. It's about a young man totally at a loss in his life and he has to do a lot of stupid things to realize he actually has it all pretty good. She chooses a very funny little adventure and a very special character to help him get his head sorted.

It's hard for me to say why this book is so great. I think Smith just has a lot of talent but is often constrained by others expectations of her talent. I think she knew that everyone expects the sophomore effort to suck, so she planned for it to suck, didn't worry about it and wrote a book so unbelievably effing good that I can't imagine she'll ever manage this sort of achievement again.

And I'm sure pretty much no one agrees with me on this one, but there it is. This book is one of my all time favorites. Definitely. I don't re-read many books, but I've read this twice and I have no doubt I will reading it again.
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lethargilistic
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 25,2025
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One of those serendipitous moments for me: looking for another of Zadie Smith's books, NW,, I chanced upon this one. What a find. It did take me a couple of pages to settle in with this story but I was hooked from then on. A novel about a young man, his friends and a few months in their lives shown deftly in the hilarious, droll, sometimes very serious but always brilliant words of Zadie Smith.

Alex-Li Tandem is half Chinese, is Jewish, has a black girlfriend, a best mate who's a Rabbi and another one who is secretly in love with him. He's writing his own book on the differences between Jewish and Goyish and he's an Autograph Man – he buys and sells autographs of famous people. His father died when he was fifteen and now at twenty-seven, it's coming up for his father's shul to be offered on his anniversary; something Alex has always failed to do so far. He has had a lifetime devotion to a famous 1940s movie-star but has never managed to acquire her autograph. Alex has always felt himself to be something of a failure but life is about to deal him some hands he never thought possible.

Loved it, loved it, loved it. The humor is sly and the descriptions have be Smith's own kind of wonderful. It is sassy and philosophical, it's warm-hearted and funny, it's wise and irreverent. I borrowed a copy from the library but I'm about to purchase one for myself. One of the best reads I've had this year. 5★
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kujokarizma
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 25,2025
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Sometimes, an overload of random losers being pointlessly pathetic just wears you out.

(Don't get me wrong: Zadie Smith is brilliant, but, boy, this is one half-assed book.)
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Raijin_-_
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 25,2025
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Z „Łowcą autografów” jest tak, że najpierw dajesz się uwieść książce jej specyficznym klimatem, a dopiero potem zastanawiasz się, o czym tak naprawdę ona jest.

Gdyby ktoś obudził mnie w środku nocy i kazał natychmiast powiedzieć, z czym kojarzy mi się „Łowca…”, w pierwszej chwili rzuciłabym: „Z pojmowaniem świata”. Naprawdę.

Książka składa się przede wszystkim nie z głównej historii, ale z różnych wspomnień i przemyśleń głównego bohatera… To taka kołdra z patchworku – niby łaty układają się w jakiś konkretny wzór, ale każdy z kawałków materiału jest dość wyraźnym, odrębnym elementem. Tutaj elementami naszej patchworkowej opowieści są te momenty, kiedy Alex percypuje świat. Przyswaja i osadza w sobie słowa, zdarzenia, zapachy, gesty… Jest kolekcjonerem życia, nie tylko autografów.

Książka jest zbiorem rewelacyjnych cytatów. O związkach, o starości, o pięknie, o sławie, o kulturze… O życiu. Często między jednym a drugim akapitem autorce udaje się wpleść myśl tak celną i napisaną tak prostym językiem, że ciężko jest wyrzucić ją z głowy.

Co irytuje? „Międzynarodowe Gesty”. Jak to męczy... Naprawdę. Wystarczyłoby te gesty opisać, nie trzeba pisać za każdym razem, jak bardzo są uniwersalne. Do tego – bohaterowie. Niby mamy tutaj różnorodność kulturową, rasową, płciową, ale zachowania i reakcje bohaterów zlewają się tak bardzo, że ciężko mówić o jakichś sporych różnicach charakterologicznych. Postacie są barwne, ciekawe, jakieś… Czasem tworzą jednak jedną wielką bezkształtną masę.

Przyznam otwarcie, że nie czytałam wcześniej „Białych zębów”, a „Łowca…” był moim pierwszym kontaktem z twórczością pani Smith. I nie ukrywam, że jest to „współpraca” na tyle owocna i zaskakująca, że chciałabym ją kontynuować.
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artemisxii
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 25,2025
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Este es uno de los libros más extraños que he leído en mi vida. La historia no me ha interesado mucho en ningún momento (exceptuando el primer capítulo, narrado desde el punto de vista del padre), pero tiene algunas partes que me ha deslumbrado por el estilo de escritura. Pero no he conectado ni con el protagonista, ni con su círculo ni con su historia. Eso sí, creo que será un libro del que guardaré algún recuerdo por lo diferente. Intentaré leer algo más de Zadie Smith.
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