This book starts with an attempted suicide on New Year’s Day, 1975, and the remnants of an End of the World party, where Archie meets his future wife, Clara, as both try to leave the past behind. It goes on to describe a long-lasting friendship between Archie Jones, a white Englishman, and Samad Iqbal, a Bengali, who met during their service in the British Army in WWII. While the war does not take center stage, it forms the basis of the friendship and establishes the foundation for the rest of the story. Archie and Samad end up living near each other in a working-class neighborhood of North London. The story branches out to their wives, Clara and Alsana, and their children, Archie’s daughter, Irie, and Samad’s twins Millat and Magid. It engages in many flashbacks to their families’ histories in Jamaica, Europe, and Asia. It takes a dramatic turn when two of the (by then) teenage children start spending time with the Chalfen family, intellectuals that speak of themselves in the third person and engage in scientific rationalist thought.

This book touches on a variety of serious themes, such as identity, immigration, race, ethnicity, social class, genetic engineering, faith, friendship, and fate, but are handled in a way that reads like a “slice of life” in an ever-diverse world. Smith’s style is a bit frenetic, with a good dose of cynical humor. The characters are well-developed and realistic, and the flashbacks to the past provide insight into their motivations. Smith is adept at describing differences in intergenerational and marital perspectives that lead to disagreements. She writes believable dialogue using authentic-sounding dialects. She goes down a few “rabbit holes” that had me wondering where it was all heading, but she brings it together superbly in the end.

Smith comments on what it means to be part of today’s modern society where globalization is the norm and people of many diverse backgrounds interact regularly. It also touches on traditions of the past and the desire not to lose cultural identity. It explores attempts at controlling the future and reveals them to be, largely, an exercise in futility. Some of the wildly disparate elements of this story include: a scientific project to genetically engineer a mouse, animal rights activists reacting to the mouse, the Jehovah’s Witness religion of Clara’s mother and ex-boyfriend, and a fundamentalist Muslim religion, Keepers of the Eternal and Victorious Islam Nation, adopted by Millat (“KEVIN?...We are aware that we have an acronym problem”). It seems appropriate that this book was published in 2000, in time for the new millennium. Recommended to readers of literary fiction and multi-cultural family sagas.

REALISMO ISTERICO


Incroci culturali, meticciato…

Non so come mai a distanza di quasi vent’anni dall’apparizione di questo esordio letterario ho avvertito il bisogno di affrontarlo: cos’è che mi ha spinto a prenderlo in mano ora mi sfugge.
Però adesso mi è molto chiaro come mai non l’ho fatto prima.

E non credo che lo rifarò: ritengo che la mia personale conoscenza di Zadie Smith si possa fermare qui, va bene così a entrambi, funziona meglio così sia per me che per lei. Lei ha tanti lettori e riconoscimenti e apprezzamenti, non necessita di averne uno in più. E io so che lei non è my cup of tea: so che pur apprezzandola, non la godo, non mi diverto a leggerla.



In queste pagine ho trovato talento e scrittura sapiente, semplice ma elaborata allo stesso tempo: che a 24/25 anni Zadie Smith fosse già in grado di scrivere così mi spiega come mai sin da subito è stata cliente del padre (madre) di tutti gli agenti, Andrew Wylie (uno che si definisce sciacallo, e che rappresenta anche Bob Dylan).

Quello che ho trovato, e non ho apprezzato, e mi ha rallentato la lettura rendendola faticosa e non particolarmente gradita, è l’eccesso di storie e di storytelling, che si traduce in un eccesso di lunghezza (tante, troppe pagine).
È l’impressione che ogni rivolo narrativo possa trasformarsi in fiume, o generare altri mille rivoli, il cerchio sembra non chiudersi mai. E nel frattempo, si affastellano fatti e storie, ma i personaggi non sviluppano, non crescono.


Il cast inglese dell’adattamento teatrale.

È la ricerca insistita martellante del comico più che dell’ironico.
È la rappresentazione di personaggi che più che caratteri sono caricature.
È un generale senso di eccesso, di esagerazione, di mancanza di misura, che spinge Smith a cercare il paradosso (eccentrico?) e forse perfino il grottesco.
È una generale assenza, per me, di verità, di realtà, Smith trasforma in un’entità iper-reale anche un hamburger.
La sensazione insistita d’essere all’interno di un fumetto senza disegni.

E credo che molto di questa scarsa attrazione per la sua letteratura e della mia frustrazione si spiega anche dalle dichiarazioni che Smith ama rilasciare, per esempio quando dice che non è compito dello scrittore, quindi certo non il suo, quello di dire al lettore come qualcuno sente e reagisce a qualcosa, ma piuttosto il compito di uno scrittore è spiegare come funziona il mondo.


Un momento della commedia.

Un critico inglese che ho cominciato ad apprezzare e seguire quando è stato ‘adottato’ in USA, cioè quando s’è trasferito a vivere e lavorare oltre oceano passando dal Guardian e dal New Republic al New Yorker, James Wood, definisce la letteratura di Zadie Smith e di alcuni suoi colleghi (Rushdie, DeLillo, Pynchon, Foster Wallace) ‘realismo isterico’.
E il suo pezzo dedicato a questo romanzo è intitolato “Umano, tutto troppo non umano”.
Mi sembra che colga in pieno il mio sentire.

1 Star - No

I absolutely hate giving books one stars and I hate to say this, but if I could I would give denote this book as zero stars.

If someone was to ask me what the plot is, I couldn’t answer it. The book rambles as it follows families through the decades. The end left me asking, what was the point?

Zadie Smith is a good writer, I’ll concede that, but this book just rambles on and on. It just wasn’t good. It should have been edited better. I found myself drifting while reading and I didn’t care enough to go back and reread what I had technically read but not absorbed; in fact, that was most of the book.

I don’t think there’s much more to say, other than skip this one.

ჩემი ყველაფერი მოვ**ან ეს ქალი თუ ნორმალური იყოს (ქალი, რა, გოგო იყო მაშინ).
ეს რაები დაატრიალა, საიდან სადამდე გვათრია მკითხველი. ღმერთო დიდებულო. პირი მაქვს გამშრალი და ხმა ჩამწყდარი გამოუთქმელი ემოციებისგან.
წარმოუდგენელი წიგნია. სრულიად ფანტასტიური და დაუჯერებელი.
და შეიძლება იფიქროს ვინმემ, რომ რადგან ამწამს დავასრულე, იმიტომ ვარ ასეთ დღეში, მაგრამ არამც და არამც, 20 დღეა ერთად ვცხოვრობთ მე და ეს წიგნი.
მარა, აი, არ მჯერა, მაინც, არ მჯერა.

The Short: The only thing this book hates more than its characters is you, the reader.

The long form presentation: Lets boil down the premise and get it out of the way. This book is about nature vs nurture. Don't worry about that theme too much, because this book hates its theme. It can't be bothered to come to a logical or even an irrational conclusion about that theme. It hates its theme nearly as much as it hates you, the reader. Didn't I just say that? Am I being redundant?

Right, there is too much, let me sum up.

Basic Storytelling annoyances: It would have been nice if the author could have picked less than 10 main characters to focus on. Or, would have stopped introducing characters long before the second to last chapter. (Tangential annoyance: This late group of card-board cut out characters is created to mock pretentious college student types (oh, the inadvertent irony), but is a complete regurgitation of Monty Python's "what have the Romans ever done for us?" scene from Life of Brian. Just a general Boo out to that.)
Or, if the characters were anything but stereotypical one dimensional shadow puppets with two modes: Shouty and Really Shouty.
The Narrator attempts to convince the reader (the hated reader) that racial stereotypes shouting at each other is funny. The Narrator will put a "Funny Here Marker" in her dialogue to underline what is supposed to be funny. The FHM is easy to spot; it is a F-bomb if its really funny or an "assing" or "bastard" if it is (supposedly) mildly amusing. Truth be told, in the 70000 or so pages, I may have accidentally chuckled at some bits, but it is really too painful to remember now.

Intermediate storytelling annoyances: Don't continue a scene when the Point of View Character has left that scene. Abrupt use of flashback and flash-forward highlights the thin, uncertain texture of your narrative. Never be afraid to use one word, whereas three will annoy your readers (the hated readers). Plot, generally nice to have. Drama is not shouty, mean people being mean and shouty to each other. Exposition. Dear Cthulhu! the Narrator is an exposition machine. Please stop the expositioning. Being told the the backstory of every random character who pops in to be belittled and mocked is both unwanted and unwise.

Advanced Annoyances: Stop being redundant. Redundancy, stop. The redundant things, they are being, they must stop. Everything is said at least three times in the book. Three times. Some things are said six or more times. Thrip x20. Very. If the Narrator says Very something, it will be said at least twice. It is infuriating. And it is not just words. Whole scenes are redundant and are put in just to drive the reader (the hated reader - ok you get it, I'll stop) insane.

Extreme Annoyances: A third of the way into this book, just when the barrage of unfunny sitcom scenarios has numbed the reader into submission, the Narrator starts throwing in little clues, hints, that the Narrator knows exactly what it is doing. And She is not just mocking the poor characters, but you, the reader. Little bits about "Corkscrew dialogue" and "redundant writing" shows up. What is Corkscrew dialogue? Google doesn't know. The only thing I can think of is this - this book is corkscrew dialogue. It goes around and around, seemingly going deep beneath the surface, but not really moving at all. And the cork - that sucker broke off. No wine for you.

Shaking that paranoia off, I continue. At the end of the day, this 'story' is just a bunch of shallow characters shouting religious catchphrases at each other. There is some non-sense about Nazis (Cthulhu help you if you fall for the "OMG FATE!" moment) thrown in at the end to make this 'story' weighty, but it is just more out of nowhere, hand waving junk that doesn't work, because the smug, beyond omniscient Narrator hasn't earned it. Can't say fairer than that.

So it's not perfect. I understand that.
But I can't remember the last time a book this long has thoroughly captivated me, entertained me and struck a subtle chord in me all at the same time.
A lot of other reviews have valid points: all the characters do diminish into caricatures at certain points (but don't we as well?), the last hundred pages or so were a bit tiring, and the ending felt a bit anticlimactic and rushed.
My favorite aspect of this novel was Smith's keen eye for turning entirely serious and sometimes overwhelmingly heavy situations into somewhat humorous snippets of life--all without relying on too much levity or a sense of defeat. It's a refreshing change of pace from my usual sullen and deeply cynical reading repertoire.

And besides, when the hell do you ever get to read about characters who are people of color with actual internal, middle-class dilemmas that aren't wrought in cheesy sentimentality and a guilty liberal consciousness of "getting in touch with your roots to find your true self" (I'm looking at you, Jhumpa Lahiri)? Assimilation (either in part or in full) IS a part of adjusting within a different country, after all.

p.s.: I do not understand some reviewers' point about her seeming "smugness." Race-relations are pretty much shit everywhere. What did you expect, an open-armed happy convert who gets shat on but learns to take it and becomes grateful for all the injustice? If you were a racial minority in a country where nearly 90% of the country is white and had the privilege to be well-educated to write from a critical viewpoint of something that, indeed, deserves some criticism, wouldn't you? And isn't it natural to have some manifestation of resentment mixed in there somewhere? I don't think it's as big of a deal as everyone is making it out to be.

3,5/5

Una historia muy oportuna para estos tiempos, en los cuales hay constante movimiento humano y no como consecuencia de la globalización con la que nos entusiasmaron, esa donde todos seriamos ciudadanos del mundo; sino de esa globalización subrepticia, de doble moral, incompatible con el respeto por la diferencia, con los derechos humanos, excluyente, corrupta y totalitarista. Es cierto, quizás haya un juez sin rostro, el guante de la mano de Adam Smith o el gran hermano. Esta novela es un fresco que hace Zadie Smith de la sociedad que somos, la que estamos formando y de la cual somos actores tangibles.

Con un tufillo a “This is England” (2006) la autora nos lleva al Londres poco turístico, una ciudad excluyente, xenófoba, violenta, con recursos limitados, familias separadas, con una juventud que se siente sola e inconforme, que vive en el underground. Aquí Londres no brilla por su humor, la intelectualidad o su glamur victoriano. El periodo donde se desarrolla el presente y grueso de la historia, coincide con la Inglaterra de Margaret Tatcher. No obstante, no es un relato dramático o trágico, porque Zadie Smith le ha dado voz a un narrador omnisciente con personalidad propia y es el que arrancaría la novela con un humor soberbio y con apuntes ocurrentes. De otro lado, los personajes también son víctimas de la propia autora. Ella los hace maleables hasta el ridículo, pero cuando los descubre no muestra más que su propia fragilidad humana. Pero la historia no va solo de un par de familias de inmigrantes (o mixtas, para el caso de Archie y Clara) en un barrio popular de Londres, también se atiende a “la familia prototipo de Londres”, clase alta -pero que se auto identifica como clase media- padre científico, madre naturalista con presencia en los medios, hijos prodigio, casa de ensueño. Una familia “modelo” donde sus aires progresistas se reflejan en una risita condescendiente frente al marginado. Y así es como la autora dibuja una sociedad que está formada con harapos y telas finas sin zurcir, una sociedad sin dialogo multicultural porque se invalida al otro, porque se desconoce a sí misma, porque tiene los mismos genes del Ratón Futuro RM*.

En cuanto a la realidad del inmigrante, si bien Zadie Smith pone sobre la mesa la patria, la religión, la cultura, para mí, ella centra su atención en la imposibilidad de tener reconocimiento que siente el inmigrante. Entonces, lo que presenciamos hoy son muchachos que se debaten entre ser ingleses o reivindicar sus raíces, sin hallar aceptación o lugar.

Pero dientes blancos es un libro también con carencias. Si bien, tiene un arranque avasallador por el original humor del narrador, luego dicha voz se va callando y se cae en un punto de desinterés, Empero, creo que la genialidad de Zadie Smith trasciende más que sus defectos y es por ello que voy colocando entre mis pendientes “sobre la belleza”.
Zadie Smith una escritora que vale la pena leer!

*Ratón futuro: es un ratón transgénico que “crea” el científico Marcus Chalfen, perteneciente a la familia inglesa de la historia.

After reading Swing Time I wasn't sure if I would enjoy this book, but I loved it. Funny, rich characters and great story.

Listicles are where it's at these days and I want to adapt my writing for today's short attention-span crowd. So with that in mind, here are ten and a half quick things you need to know about Zadie Smith. Maybe I'll score a job will Buzzfeed, where I'll compile such delightful articles as "twelve facts about bunions" and "seven beloved corporate mascots that have appeared in pornography" that we can all chortle at over our coffee.

1. Her dialog is incredible, just incredible. It's like she wanders around London and zooms in on the details of everyone's dialect, vocabulary and vocal tics and sets out in her writing to recreate them almost exactly, only adding in the bits that would make those conversations sound cooler. Which would be maddening if her judgment w/r/t coolness wasn't so damn accurate.

2. See also her prose style. Smith comes out of the DFW school where her prose isn't the most gorgeous you'll read but is an utter triumph of the imagination. Her juxtapositions of words and death-defying metaphors and goddamn her way of picking exactly the verb to describe not just exactly the action but exactly what's beneath the action as well... phew. Good shit.

3. Her characters are admittedly just a little hit-or-miss, but they hit a lot more often than they miss. it's hard not to like a sarcastic lesbian feminist intellectual known as "niece-of-shame" who flaunts those exact shameful qualities. Neena has multiple certifications in badassery.

4. She makes no secret of her ambition whatsofuckingever. Remember how every Philip Roth book became a Philip Roth Book About America toward the end of his career? Zadie Smith's sort of like that about Britain, except her first book was a Zadie Smith Book About America. And she released it at twenty-four. At that same age, Roth's fiction was in full personal mode: recounting a lost romance, piecing together his Jewish identity, reminiscing about old friends. Political for sure, but not on-the-sleeve political like Zadie Smith. Whose writing is also, if her essays are anything to go by, highly personal.

4a. Unlike Roth, however, Zadie Smith is actually interested in women as complex human beings. See also: 3.

5. Can you think of any writers who got hit with Promising Young Writer Syndrome faster? The Autograph Man gets trashed around here, NW was derided as a disappointment by no less of an authority than that person in line behind me at the library who saw I had a copy of this guy, and On Beauty wrecks my rule entirely, but you have to wonder - flame-out or hype cycle? I'm almost through with NW right now and it's not White Teeth-good, but the third big chunk that's told entirely in vignettes is a sparkling good novella about Britain.

6. Can we please stop saying "hysterical realism" like the holy temple of realism has been desecrated, especially w/r/t Smith and DFW? Something tells me Smith's style was exactly the shot in the arm realism needed. Maybe I've been too brainwashed by the postmodern ideology to think any other way and need my whole way of seeing things redone by a lifetime of Raymond Carver and Tobias Wolff, but none of those same six arguments against maximalism ("the characters are thin," as though character studies are our only options for novels. "The prose is too difficult," as though we can't be expected to exert ourselves every so often) hold any water as far as this bucket's concerned.

7. The ground this novel covers is astounding. You thought One Hundred Years of Solitude was a bursting-at-the-seams family saga? You ain't seen nothing yet. doot, doot. bu bu bu baby. We go from an attempted suicide to a media circus in under five hundred pages. You know you want to find out how we got from point a) to point b).

7a. No, that wasn't a spoiler, not really. Note how I didn't say what caused the media circus.

8. Sometimes they're onto something when they dump a bunch of awards on a novel. Don't you forget, mindlessly rejected prizewinning fiction is just as foolish as mindlessly reading prizewinning fiction. The operative word is "mindlessly," not "prizewinning."

And hey, thanks to the miraculous power of subpoints, that's technically TEN THINGS!

Wait, one of them was only tangentially related to Zadie Smith?

Okay.

9. Her essays are sharp.

Bang! Ten! In disguise as nine! Buzzfeed, here I come!

Wow, 24? Was Zadie Smith really only 24 when she wrote this? Hats off! "White Teeth" is indeed a well-constructed, in a sense even a kaleidoscopic novel that you would expect from a much more mature author; also the psychological portrayal of the characters is quite impressive, and then there is the list of themes she has integrated in her novel, like the integration/acculturation of immigrants, genetic engineering, the nature versus nurture debate, generational conflicts, the role of chance in life, etc.

Zadie Smith is often compared to Rushdie, and I understand where that comes from, both in style and content. But Smith is much closer to real life, and her stories are so much easier to read, with humor too, so that you can guess who has my preference. On the plus side there also is a remarkable focus on the milieu of islamic fundamentalism, just a few years before the dramatic bombs in London. Occasionally her tone a little too sarcastic and some passages earned a bit more editing, but this book remains impressive. It is a pity that Zadie Smith, judging by the reviews of her other books, could not maintain this level afterwards. (this one: 3.5 stars)

A perfect book to re-read! This is a very funny book chronicling the lives of immigrants in the United Kingdom and focuses on issues such as children of immigrants forming new, collective identities due to identity crisis, the whole question about who is really English and problems in a multicultural community, such as which religious holidays schools should celebrate and so on. It's a very entertaining read.

I've always wanted to read a book with muslim characters, feeling that it is a culture that deserved to be presented in more books and White Teeth was perfect for that ! Zadie Smith is a talented author who has so many bright ideas and I feel like I have to read this book over and over again because it is so dense that you have to read it more than once to really appreciate it.
Don't get me wrong, this book is not about muslims, it is about cultural diversity in UK in the 20th century from 1907 to 1992. This is the story of two immigrants' families from Bangladesh and Jamaica who try to integrate the english society but it is also the story of a young generation of immigrants who lost their identity completely...
This book is very well written, and Zadie Smith has succeeded in describing all the contradictions that we can observe in a muslim society, I totally recognized some members of my family in this book, it was really brilliant ! I can't recommend it enough.