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I'm happy to report that Ms. On the contrary, the virtues of "White Teeth" are so intriguing that I wanted either a fuller, more comprehensive story of these characters and their lives, or else a tighter, more gripping version with the less fully-realized elements cut out. Indeed, from time to time "White Teeth" runs afoul of the tendency to discuss the issue explicitly. On to Ms. Smith never threw away a single idea.
Smith was too smart for that, but unfortunately she didn't quite have the chops to pull off the nifty structural idea she came up with to replace the classic form. What's more, because the characters are distinct, funny, heartbreaking, ridiculous and real, one wants to follow them straight through the plot to that museum no matter what distractions occur. Smith is careful to show the emotional cost of this identity confusion to parents and children both, and there's a good enough balance of humor and pain to make the story engrossing.A lot of current novels seem to think they can dispense with classic structure - the movement from beginning to middle to end in three acts - and simply throw a lot of imaginative detail and clever prose into a stew. The whole bunch of them, and the clever but insular Chalfen family of English Jews, gradually move toward a final confrontation one New Year's Eve at a London museum, bringing with them two kinds of religious fundamentalism, scientific controversy, political activism, adolescent sexual hysteria, homesickness, and a generous helping of good will.
She's being unnecessarily hard on herself; "White Teeth" is far from nauseating. Most of the time, though, Ms. Smith had introduced all her characters and themes as early as possible and followed them to her last page in some sort of rhythm. The issues facing such people are, of course, significant, and the second generation of the novel's two main families find various ways of establishing identities for themselves - some workable and some less so. This book is about 450 pages long, give or take.
Works fairly well. For a mid-length novel, though, it's a bit much.This is not even to bring up the question of what the book's title means. All the more remarkable that Zadie Smith, in her early twenties, also presented some believable older characters with a cooler (not necessarily wiser) approach to life.Thematically, this book wants to investigate the difficulties of immigrants to England (particularly people of color) and their London-born children. I have a hunch it would have worked much better if Ms. Teeth get a mention from time to time, and I half-expected someone to remark on the supposedly brilliant choppers of people of color; turns out that the image of white teeth is one of those metaphors that doesn't really refer to anything.
It should have been either 600 pages or 300 pages, I'm not sure which.That's not really a criticism as such. What we have here is manifestly the work of a young author, terrifically excited by her ideas and abilities, anxious to get it all said. It's a mark of Ms. Like a lot of first-time authors, Ms. As it is, she seems to pull in elements whenever her story happens to call for them, which makes the novel rather stumble around at times.Add to this structural weakness an overabundance of incident and character and you've got something very good rather than excellent. Smith's ability that I actually wanted more of all of it.
At most, it produces a mild case of indigestion.Fortunately, unlike over-rich foods, indulging in over-rich fiction like this is not bad for your health. Maybe that's what Zadie Smith meant when she admitted, in a recent interview, that today she finds her first novel "nauseating". Smith's more mature work - should be quite stunning.Benshlomo says, Here's to literary whipped cream, folks - dig in.
Not enormously important, merely a trifle confusing, but the title does emphasize the occasional over-richness of this particular dessert. She's not unlike some of her own younger characters in that way, which is rather charming. There's an account of Archie and Samad's convoluted war adventures, the history of Clara's family and its dedication to the Jehovah's Witnesses, Irie's body-image problems, Samad's desperate attempts to mold at least one of his sons into a good Muslim, the scene at Archie and Samad's favorite post-work hangout, Samad's endless insistence on his great-grandfather's heroism during the Indian Mutiny, at least two secret extremist organizations, and on and on.
In short, the novel begins in a diffuse panorama of miscellany, and concentrates its focus bit by bit to a pinpoint by the last few pages.I may have seen a similar design elsewhere, but if so I can't remember it. None of this material is new; novelists have been confronting it for close to a hundred years, and at first I wondered why we needed yet another book on the subject. "White Teeth" begins by kicking off tales from a variety of countries and historical periods, gradually coming to focus on two families: native Englishman Archie Jones, his much younger Jamaican-born wife Clara Bowden, their daughter Irie, Archie's old World War II Army buddy, the Bangaldeshi Samad Iqbal, Samad's much younger wife Alsana, and their twin boys Mittal and Magid.
The portrayal of various religions, ethnicity, and the like were so contrived it was laughable. Smith even bothered to read ANYTHING about Jehovah's Witnesses. About the immigrants she describes. Sorry, London and NYC ivory tower literati - I'm not falling for it. In a way I see what she was trying to do, and admire the effort.
Has Ms. novels.What this book seems like is the quintessential dumbing down of literature in a pseudo-intellectual package. I can see why it garnered accolades and publicity; no doubt this sort of spoon-fed marketing package travels well in literary circles. To anyone giving this more than 3.5 stars, I call your bluff.
Smith uses big words, but not in the same masterful context as Austen or the late David Foster Wallace. Several reviewers brought this up, but there are LARGE inaccuracies that could've been remedied by simple research in the subject matter itself. I wanted to like Zadie Smith as an author. Yes, she is of mixed ethnicity and went to Cambridge - this does not make her an expert on the 'trials' of London's lower middle class. Her plot is uneven, themes are jumbled, and the characters seem like laughable attempts for Ms.
Smith explores. Yes, Ms. Even the majority of reviews on Amazon which give it 4 and 5 stars reference her age, which is again disappointing. The premise was so appealing; a lovely, young, multicultural authoress with the wit of Austen, realism of Kerouac, wrapped in a multicultural package.
As a result, the overall message seems to be more about upholding the author's media image rather than about the substance of the book itself. This book would never have been published, or at the most generous been published without much fanfare, without the hype around Ms. Or even good, really. Smith to prove her own 'roots' by combining stereotypes with cherry picked reality. Smith's age and appearance.
There are better young writers out there, perhaps not with such skilled PR reps, but with greater talent. I question whether the same reviewers would have thought so favorably of this novel had the initial marketing barrage on the author been nonexistent.To summarize: it's not a terrible book, it's just not great. The emperor has no clothes. Better writers than this exist in this age group; MANY authors begin publishing novels in their 20's, in modern and historic times.
How utterly disappointing.Firstly, and no offense to anyone as I am white myself, but the large majority of people who find this book 'fantastic' are undeniably upper middle class white readers with little knowledge of any of the themes or areas Ms. She is not a poor writer, just not a strong one.The major problem with this book is in line with what Barthes addressed in "Death of the Author". The hype around this book was just another example of a giant disconnect between the increasingly pop-cultured literary world and reality, which doesn't speak well of future of post post modern (or are we post post post now). A Jehovah's Witness gets sent to Catholic school.
Anyone with first hand experience or knowledge of any of these subcultures of individuals would be insulted at the portrayal.
Utterly boring. Pitiful character development.no plot. It could be the cure for insomnia. This book is terrible. I couldn't get past 50 pages.
A definite must read. Brilliant: Zadie Smith and White Teeth, alike, yet differently.One of the most hypnotizing narratives I have read in a long time. The writing is perfect, the story-telling simply brilliant.
I avoid 99.9% of books written after 1980, but this is a rare gem.I have read all of her other books and enjoyed them as well. This book is by far the best example of modern fiction out there.
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