White Teeth: A Novel
by Zadie Smith
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Book Reviews of White Teeth: A Novel
Book Review: I liked the humor, but my chuckling soon turned to tedium.
Summary: 3 Stars
Zadie Smith, the North London author of this big and ambitious novel was just 25 years old in 2000 when it was published. From her photograph, she is multicultural herself, and this modern-day multiculturalism is the glue that holds the book today. It is also quite humorous and I definitely found myself chuckling throughout. But as I got deeper and deeper into the book, my chuckling turned to tedium and I found it hard to get through its 448 pages.
The characters are interesting and unique and the timeline spans several generations. Mild-mannered Brit, Archie, and his Bangladeshi friend, Samad, meet during WW2 when they are both in the army. They remain friends throughout the years. Later, in middle age Archie marries Clara, a young dark skinned Jamaican woman who was raised as a Jehovah's Witness. Samad takes a young bride from his own country who he doesn't meet till the wedding day. The two couples become friends. Through the years, children are born and this novel encompasses these children's stories as well. Samad and his wife have twin boys, but one is sent back to Bangladesh for an education and the other is raised in North London. Archie and Clara have a daughter who falls in love with one of the boys. But then there is another family the three children are drawn to. The Jewish husband is a scientist who experiments with changing the genetics of mice; his English wife adores him. They have four children, and they seem to have a perfect life. But as we get deeper and deeper in the book, we are forced to look at every single little detail of contradiction in each one of these characters' very human stories. The plot gets more and more complicated and the conclusion is perfect as all the elements of the story are drawn together.
And yet, even though I applaud the author's talent and love the fact that she has taken the risk of dealing with rather uncharted territory, I soon tired of the book. Therefore, even though I consider the book worthwhile, I can give it no more than a mild recommendation.
Book Review: A Fun Read But Wait A Minute 4 Stars
I actually found the book very entertaining in the first half (of the 400+ pages) when it talked about Archie and Samad and their families. However, by the second half when the focus is on the Chalfens, SuperMouse and the weirdness of animal rights activists, Erie's sudden sexual involvement with the twins, and the meandering Jevohah's Witness' speeches, the book loses steam. The ending is kind of interesting but rather sudden after the rambling of the last 200 pages. I also felt that the way some words are joined together to make a more descriptive word, the manner in which some comments are itemized, and a certain elliptical way of approaching a subject all borrow from Arundhati Roy's The God of Small Things.As an Indian I thought the Indian/Bangladeshi references somewhat confusing/inconsistent. Some examples: <1> How did Mangal Pande - a caste Hindu (and the mutineer who "started" the First War for Indian independance) end up with a great-grand son Samad Miah who is a pure Muslim? - This made no sense to me at all and I kept hoping that there would be some explanation during the course of the narrative. <2> How did Samad meet Alsana (his future wife) in Delhi (which happens to be in India) in 1973/1974 when Alsana's family is from Bangaladesh? Bangladesh was formed in 1971 (after a war with West Pakistan, East Pakistan broke off to form Bangladesh). Did Alsana come all the way to Delhi in India to meet Samad? <3> Members of KEVIN (a terrorist Islamic organization in London), have members with distinct Hindu names - like Brother Rakesh. <4> During the 2nd World War, how could Samad Miah have been in the Royal Air Force, then become injured in one hand and then be shunted to the Army all by the age of 17? I know its just fiction but I can't imagine such 17 year old war veterans exist even in stories. Especially because Samad is from India with a college degree in Biology (or something - this means had to be at least 20 years old) and joined the Air Force as an officer.
Ultimately, I think it is a GREAT read. But keep an OPEN mind!!!
Book Review: Does Zadie Smith Own an Eraser?
Summary: 3 Stars
If you're familiar with the film "Wonderboys," you may remember the giant opus and monument to post-modern self indulgence that once successful novelist Grady Tripp had been working on for years. It was a book that took on an unfocused life of it's own, growing like untended weeds to the extent of including complete genealogical charts of a families horses and fattening itself to an unmanageable weight before finally blowing away in a harbor wind. "White Teeth" could very well have been that novel.
First time novelist Zadie Smith is nothing if not ambitious, as "White Teeth" is the type of book where you will come to dread the simple act of a man walking into a grocery store to buy some chips. In the following pages it's quite possible you will be bludgeoned with the history of the currency the customer produces, the unseemly hygenic habits of the cashier, or the love life of the architect who designed the building. If a child so much as glances at a cathedral you can be sure that a complete hagiography will soon follow. Ultimately this type of exhaustive information succeeds only in quelling the natural momentum the story might have gathered under the knife of a more scrupulous self-editor. As it is, "White Teeth" stands as one of the least intimate books I've read, at times being more of a pyrotechnic display of Smith's obsession with her own cleverness than an actual story of believable flesh and blood characters. I'm assuming that with the advance she apparently recieved, editors were too cowed to actually change anything, and the book's the worse for it.
Although "White Teeth" is ultimately frustrating, and in my opinion quite overrated, at times Smith does write beautiful prose (the dialogue is another matter) and it makes you wonder how good this book could have been had she written it when she was a little older, didn't have quite so much time on her hands, and tired of constantly reaching for strange "teeth" analogies.
Book Review: Poetry of the Mouth
Summary: 3 Stars
While reading Zadie Smith's White Teeth, I was continually trying to answer the question, "Why did Smith title this book White Teeth?" Finally on page 379, I found the key. Describing the inner life of Irie Smith, author Smith writes: "Despite opting for a life of dentistry, she had not yet lost all of the poetry in her soul, that is, she could still have the odd Proustian moment, note layers upon layers, though she often experienced them in periodontal terms."With this clue, I then looked backward and forward in the book to catch the poetry, discern the Proustian moments, and observe the "layers upon layers." Smith has indeed written a novel that is multicultural, multigenerational, multi-religious, multi-racial, and mutli-layered. She makes much of the concept of fundamentals and fundamentalism. It is a condition that afflicts many of her characters and makes them headstrong, with narrow visions. These characters are so completely wrapped up in their (pick one) religion, family history, cult, cultural background, private philosophy that they are blind to the reality of their lives. They miss the benefits of diversity, cannot recognize the layers of experience, and anguish over their failures. Irie Smith, by the novel's end, has broken from this mind set and has experienced the poetry of life.
There is depth here, but whatever meaning, whatever thoughtful statement about modern life Smith might be making - these were largely lost to me because of the absurdity of characters and plot. Don't get me wrong; I whipped through the book because I enjoyed it. But at the end, I was left feeling like I do after a T.C. Boyle read: cynically amused. I do not doubt that this is a valid - perhaps inevitable - reaction to our world, which, it seems, becomes increasingly polarized and viewed in simple shades of black and white. Keeping poetry in the soul is difficult. Bravo to Smith for this book. She is sure to have a long and important career as a thoughtful chronicler of the chaos we create.
Book Review: A Novel Worth Reading
Summary: 4 Stars
In the past, I have shunned "popular books" because quite often they are just fluff, they lack substance. White Teeth, however, is a popular book with substance. It was published in June of 2001, three months before 9/11 and four years before the London subway bombings on 7/7/5. It is quite possible that the main substance of the novel, the struggles of Muslim immigrants in London and their complex multi-generational assimilation into European society, is more pertinent today than even Zadie Smith could have ever imagined. Or perhaps, this novel proves that at least one person, the author herself, could see the writing on the wall. Immigrant assimilation, however, is not the sole focus of the book; it is simply the central one. Friendship, ageing, struggle, and love also get their due, but it is in her exploration of the complex reality of immigrants and their children that Zadie Smith proves herself as writer. It is in that plot line that she demonstrates that she is capable of developing a plot, creating compelling characters, and being funny. And it is in that plot line that she proves that when she puts pen to paper she aims higher than simple entertainment. However, the one weakness in this novel is that she tries to do too much. Because of that, the novel sometimes looses trick of itself, it loses focus. That is not to say that those parts of the book are not enjoyable to read, they are, they just cloud what I believe to be this novels primary message. That criticism aside, White Teeth is a novel I recommend. It is a popular novel with substance, substance worth the time it takes to read.
On a side note: I finished this book on July 4th of all days and upon putting it down I wondered about two things. Would my review of this book have been different if I had read it in its first month of release? Would Zadie Smith have written it differently if she wrote it today?