White Teeth: A Novel
by Zadie Smith
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Book Reviews of White Teeth: A Novel
Book Review: Clash
Summary: 4 Stars
Archie Jones, a white working class Englishman and Samad Iqbal, a Bangladeshi Muslim, have been friends since their days as army buddies during World War II. Both received permanent injuries during their service and both tended to live in the past. There is Archie's second wife, Clara, who is Jamaican and the daughter of Hortense Bowden, a very observant Jehovah's Witness. Samad is married to Alsana, who, like her husband is from Bangladesh. They have identical twin sons, Millat and Magid, who are as different from each other as apples and oranges. Where Millat was a handsome, somewhat frivolous ladies' man, who later gets involved with an extremist Muslim group, Magid was serious minded, scholarly, interested in scientific experimentation, and completely non-religious. The Jones' daughter, Irie, racially mixed and very bright and sensitive, was infatuated with the undeserving Millat.
Enter the Chalfens--Marcus, a Jewish scientist involved with a controversal genetic engineering project, and June, his Christian wife, who loved botany. Their son, Josh, was a classmate of Millat and Irie, who are both "semi-adopted" by Josh's parents (much to Josh's consternation) as a form of social engineering. Clara, and especially the naturally suspicious Alsana, viewed the Chalfen's efforts as meddlesome--or worse.
Zadie Smith has written a wise and extraordinarily funny book. The parts concerning Magid sitting with his jeans on in a bathtub filled with water and Joyce's comments to Alsana's lesbian niece and her girlfriend are laugh out loud funny. Sometimes the characters are a bit comic bookish--as are two of the domino playing denizens of O'Connell's Bar, Samad's efforts to have his so-called "revolutionary hero" great grandfather's portrait hung there, and Archie's being so indecisive that he cannot make a decision without flipping a coin. Ms. Smith, though, has a wonderful ear for dialogue and a real feel for adolescent angst.
Racial, ethnic, religious, and moral tensions reach a crescendo, with an inevitable clash near the end of the book. As in real life, the combatants find a specific focus for their hostilities. What ultimately happens may or may not have been a product of someone's hallucination.
Book Review: A brilliant novel from such a young writer
Summary: 5 Stars
****1/2
A smart, hilarious, and surprisingly knowing novel for an author of only twenty-three, White Teeth deserves its accolades. Beginning with the absurd failed suicide of a haplessly indecisive middle-aged Englishman named Archie, who reminds me a little of Arthur Dent from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, then moving on to his friend Samad, a hilariously self-important, argumentative Bengali (whose "slapping your salami" discussion had me snorting with laughter and trying not to drive off the road), the story eventually comes to encompass the key members of three colorfully fractious families, across several generations.
Smith writes with a keen eye for satire and an effortless authority that suggests much personal experience with born-again Jamaican grandmothers, irascible Indian housewives, white hippie-scientists with overly progressive parenting styles, and other figures that populate multicultural, urban Britain. Some readers (like my mom) might fault her for being a little too cynical with her characters, who are put into caricature boxes that they never quite manage to escape, or a little too self-indulgent (which I thought was true in spots) but, overall, I enjoyed her Catch 22-esque wit and felt that it was rooted in compassion, offering surprisingly mature insights into culture clashes, growing up, growing older, and the mental contortions people put themselves through in order to put on a front for the world or themselves, despite what they actually feel inside.
White Teeth isn't a very plot-driven book, taking snapshots of its central figures and their lives through multiple decades, but it's this epic sweep, I think, that really gives Smith's novel resonance. From beneath the comic posturing and postulations of her characters emerges a true sense of the vital undercurrents of history, as seen by a member of the generation about to inherit it. Few writers in their 30s show such talent, let alone those among Smith's 20-something peers (back when she wrote the book, that is). Vibrant, funny, and moving -- highly recommended.
(PS: The audiobook version was excellent -- the narrator did a great job with all the accents.)
Book Review: An excellent glimpse into culture and ones search to find belonging in the world
Summary: 4 Stars
The first thing I must praise is Zadie Smiths EXCELLENT writing style. She is truly masterful in her descriptions and she makes the characters, with all their hopes, flaws, and passions come alive. The writing is so beautiful that even if you are reading a part that isn't particularly entertaining, the writing is enough to keep you turning the pages until you get to a part in the story line you really enjoy. There are many quotes or paragraphs in this book that just ring out as true lessons about life. I loved it!
The book, as a whole, offers us a great glimpse into London and the various cultures to be found there and their efforts to maintain or find their identity in a foreign land. By cultures I mean beyond race to religion as well as age and each character's efforts to find meaning, love, and passion in their lives, whether that means dwelling on the past or joining a fundamentalist islamic group. Each character's search for their place and their identity is beautiful. You find yourself cheering them on and feeling their pain when they make a wrong decision or their dreams don't turn out the way a fairy book story should. I felt that Zadie Smith was presenting me with LIFE AS IT IS in a beautifully wrapped package full of great prose and heart touching stories.
Although I cannot say enough about how much I loved Zadie Smith's writing, it did feel at times that she went on tangents that didn't seem central to the story. However, these tangents were interesting but I found myself getting frustrated as I neared the end of the story and so much was left unresolved that so much room was spent on these tangents. Further, as you read, you may find yourself frustrated as Smith transitions from character to character with much unresolved and unsaid about the character you just read about. I found myself saying, "Wait! I want to know more about what happens here!" In the end, however, Smith masterfully ties all the characters and their story lines together in a blockbuster ending that keeps you turning the pages hoping it doesn't end where it does.
In all, it is an excellent book that makes you think about life, identity, love, and passion.
Book Review: A Somewhat Uneven Effort
Summary: 4 Stars
Zadie Smith's White Teeth was a pleasure to read, yet the novel left something to be desired - especially the inadequate resolution. Smith's impeccable wit is apparent from the first page of the novel, transforming what would normally be a grim attempted suicide into a comical, ill-fated endeavor. It is in such a manner that Smith brings up numerous thought provoking issues ranging from race, to war, to religion, her clever style making such issues seem so extraneous to real life while at the same time subtly disclosing the fact that understanding them and coping with them is essential. Smith pulls this off while moving the novel along at an extremely brisk pace - but this unfortunately works against her at some points. She waits until the middle of the novel to introduce entirely new, yet extremely important characters. Their link to anything preceding their entrance is weak, and the change in focus is too abrupt, bringing the pace of the novel to a sudden halt. It takes Smith some time to rebuild confidence in the novel, at which point the pace picks back up. Unfortunately, the end of the book arrives very quickly at such an instance, and after Smith had put a lot of work into building suspense, the climax was painfully unsatisfying and left me unhappy. Smith's characters are mostly well developed, but just like the brisk pace, this does damage to the novel at certain points. The more thoroughly developed characters shine in comparison with those that lack such depth. Hence, when Smith focuses on one of these flatter characters, the book becomes more of a chore to read than when the writing is centered on any of the more interesting characters. Essentially, Smith's problem is her inconsistent writing quality. There is so much excellent writing to be found in this book, but Smith fails to maintain her exceptional prose evenly throughout. As a result, it was difficult to enjoy White Teeth as I would have liked. The further development of certain characters coupled with a more satisfying resolution would have earned this book a higher score, but Smith's wit combined with the way in which she introduces and explores important issues make White Teeth well worth reading.Book Review: Believe the hype.....it's epic in breadth and sweep
Summary: 5 Stars
I have pondered but not penetrated the meaning behind the constant teeth reference in Zadie Smith's debut novel. Notwithstanding, what we have in "White Teeth" is an impressive and stunningly mature piece of work from a precocious new talent who writes likes she's already lived a hundred years, ingested the entire social and cultural history of mankind and applied those influences to create a wonderfully fresh new novel about multigenerational conflicts within immigrant families in England. There are even touches of the great Rushdie in this hilarious yet absorbing and relevant tale of racial, sexual, social and cultural confusion that now pervades the proverbial "green and pleasant land". There are many rivers and tributaries feeding into the soil of multicultural England. East Indians (Pakistan), West Indians (Jamaicans), you name them, they're there. What's fascinating about this explosion of influences coming from all sides including the host culture is the capacity they create for the unexpected. Nothing is what they seem. The wilful retreat of Samad into eastern conservatism, the clear eyed revolt of his wife, Alsana, who wishes to annihilate all references to her own motherland, the opposite natures of their twin boys, Magid and Millat, and the mindboggling paths they took towards their destinies, etc is the stuff of great fiction. I also loved the characterisation of the obsessive Chalfens, whose eccentricity is uniquely English. Joyce is an absolute scream. The novel just builds and builds. It never flags and indeed ends on a big note. Smith's language is quite simply dazzling but also occasionally overworked. That's when you develop a mild headache but it's a small criticism. "White Teeth" is such a massively enjoyable piece of fiction it will entrance readers for years to come. The second novel will be the big test but if Zadie Smith continues to produce novels of this quality and standard, she will soon find herself ensconced among the pantheon of great contemporary writers. Believe the hype. This novel is epic in breadth and sweep. Don't miss it. For once, the critics got it right.