Der Anfang des Buches war sehr vergnüglich zu lesen, sogar humorvoll. So blieb die Geschichte solange es um Archie und Samad ging. Verwirrend, haarsträubend und langweilig erschien mir die Geschichte um die Kinder der Beiden. Ich breche selten ein Buch ab, war aber hier nah dran. Die zwei Punkte hab ich dem Buch nur wegen der ersten 100 Seiten gegeben.

Audiobook #212

As usual, Zadie Smith shows her talent for being bitterly acerbic and cuttingly funny in a very sharp, precise and brutal dissection of some aspects of British society – most of which is applicable to American society or probably many other societies, as well – with a whole lot of social commentary thrown in on issues frequently swept under the rug, and those who’d prefer to keep them there. If this sounds like a long and needlessly complicated sentence, the book also juggles a lot of themes at once. She does this with much more agility than I do and I envy her ability and skill in delivering her darts.

This was Zadie Smith’s debut novel and there’s A LOT of her in it, as can be expected from a debut novel. One of the principal characters, Archie, is a divorced white WW2 veteran whose second marriage is with a Jamaican woman much his junior; Zadie Smith’s father was a divorced white WW2 veteran who married a Jamaican woman 30 years younger, Clara. Both marriages, fictional and real, produced a single mixed-race daughter. This is not to say that the book is semi-autobiographical but in writing classes, the first piece of advice is to “write what you know” and so this book didn’t come from thin air. Archie’s best friend, a Bangladeshi with whom he served in the war, Samad, was who urged him to find a much younger second wife because his wife was also much younger than him; he said that it would liven up Archie’s life but the two men frequently spend more time with each other than their wives, in a neighborhood eatery with other older men, and talk about the war – or their revised version of their role in it – all of which happened before their wives were even born. (I could relate because that’s what my generation’s fathers did, sit around and tell lies - or exaggerated truths – about the “good old days” while commenting on my anti-war, “free love” group. Archie is mostly oblivious to everything but Samad has a lot to say later on. A further similarity is that none of their lives turned out exactly as they’d dreamed when returning to civilian life; disappointments abound.) As the book unfolds, it develops the themes of racism, identity problems for mixed-race children, xenophobia and the immigrant experience. (Although Samad is Bangladeshi and Muslim, everyone mistakes him for Indian – “same thing.”)

Religion and cult worship also take a hit since Clara grew up with a mother who’s a Jehovah’s Witness and is the most unpopular girl at school because her mother insists that she pass out pamphlets to classmates to warn them that the final judgement is just around the corner. She starts to go out with the most unpopular boy at school but things take a delightful twist for the reader. Islam is not exempt either as rules are bent by devout Muslims (as happens in all religions) and there’s an excellent parody of the Nation of Islam and its former calypso singer, Louis Farrakhan. Finally, before we were ever besieged by the term “woke”, there is a great pointed attack on over-educated liberals and the dangers posed by those who think that education is a substitute for a brain. (Why think or examine when you already know everything?) This all culminates in an examination of genetic engineering.

This could have been a five-star read for me but it sort of veered off-course at the end with too much happening at once and too many coincidences and unresolved threads; it was as if the story grew beyond Zadie Smith’s ability to resolve all of it; she did this much better later in “On Beauty” with many of the same themes simultaneously developed, but finally resulting in a more polished book. Reading that first is what probably spoiled this a bit for me. Nonetheless, this book is braver and more accomplished, more accurate and wittier than 90% of other books addressing these themes. For this alone, it’s recommendable, but a word of warning: some of the darts may land dangerously close to home!

A truly impressive debut novel, as lively and fun to read as it is astute. Smith changes voices with ease, and manages to paint convincing portraits of a whole range of genuinely diverse, genuinely sympathetic characters. I understand the complaints lodged against this book--that it's too long, that the narrating voice is too smug and self-indulgent, that it presents (and pokes fun at) so many different worldviews that it doesn't seem to have a worldview of its own--and there were points in my reading when I felt a bit of the frustration of other reviewers. Ultimately, though, the qualities some readers find so irritating are the same ones that registered with me most. I love that Smith, in the hubris of her early 20s, was willing to take on such a sprawling story, and that she seems to have had so much fun doing it. I love the variety of experiences she presents, and I think the fact that she doesn't "take sides" only shows her maturity: the world is an endlessly complicated place, after all, and it would be simplistic, even dishonest, to depict it in black-and-white terms.

Altogether an excellent read, and one I've continued to think about and draw meaning from in the days since finishing it. If Zadie Smith's other output is as good as this, consider me a fan.