I let this book's bad reviews sway me and didn't read it until now. I thought it was great and I'm ashamed of myself.

After rediscovering Zadie Smith through an excellent interview by Ezra Klein and reading and swooning over NW and Grand Union, I’m afraid the love story came to an end with Autograph Man.

In good parts it reads a bit like Sara Stridsberg’s Drömfakulteten, making the blur a mode of transport for the reader to explore and let got. Unfortunately most of is more like Infinite Jest, long and dwindling with a plot that makes it hard to set your gaze.

Jag har suckat mig igenom läsningen, har fortfarande inga känslor för huvudkaraktären, en alkoholist som har svårt att få ihop sin skit, tror inte på händelseutvecklingen, får inte ihop det tidsmässigt, saknar hela sjok av gestaltning, kan inte bry mig mindre om hela grejen med autografer eller ens att möta en känd skådespelare och är mest förvirrad. Vilket SKULLE kunna betyda en god recension från min sida, förutom just det där att jag inte bryr mig, jag GILLAR komplicerat och underligt och snårigt men i det här fallet känns det faktiskt mest som rätt dålig litteratur. Jag förstår att det handlar om att sörja, att inte acceptera sin faders död, och så. Men nej. Jag tror att den hade behövt sju vändor till i redigeringen, så hade den kunnat landa någonstans. Väljer du mellan den här och andra av Zadie Smiths böcker, välj någon annan. Gillade Vita tänder och tror mer på tex Om skönhet, än denna.

Ho paura, al secondo tentativo dopo Denti bianchi con Zadie Smith, che non ritroverò più così tanto fascino e perfezione come nell'esordio. La penna è la stessa, ma molto più soffusa e il focus si perde più volte. È da leggere comunque per l'assurdità della trama e l'ironia feroce dell'autrice (è meglio rispetto a Swing time, per fare un paragone).
Nota a margine, non amo leggere di protagonisti costantemente ubriachi o alterati, perciò qui non ci siamo.

A well-developed diverse pool of characters, an interesting premise, and Zadie Smith's mastery of language should add up to a five star review - right? While there are several flashes of brilliance and insight, I mostly just wanted this book to end. It's long, it's meandering, and while I recognise that it may be a great study for an English Literature seminar, it just wasn't for me.

i’m going to pretend this wasn’t zadie smith and was instead some strange debut from someone i probably won’t read again

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★

The fact that this book took me eight months to finish is all you need to know.

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.

There are just too many books in the world to keep reading something you’re not enjoying, like this one. I love Zadie Smith but somehow this one just seems annoying.

Jag försöker verkligen detta med ljudböcker men har kommit fram till att det inte är något för mig. Ben Barnes läser denna bok perfekt så det är absolut inte uppläsaren. Det är något med ljudböcker, jag får svårt att koncentrera mig. Podd älskar jag att lyssna till men ljudböcker går verkligen inte, vet inte varför.

Det är den första bok av Zadie Smith jag ”läser”, jag kan inte direkt påstå att jag känner mig pepp på att läsa något mer efter denna. Den är seg och tråkig, otroligt rörig, det känns som att författaren medvetet har gjort det så tilltrasslat som det bara går.

Det är en udda samling karaktärer i ett mångkulturellt London och New York. Tur är att uppläsaren använde olika röster och dialekter så man inte blandade ihop dem för mycket då det var många karaktärer och namn att hålla reda på.

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.)