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White Teeth: A Novel
NATIONAL BESTSELLER - The blockbuster debut novel from "a preternaturally gifted" writer (The New York Times) and author of On Beauty and Swing Time--set against London's racial and cultural tapestry, reveling in the ecstatic hodgepodge of modern life, flirting with disaster, and embracing the comedy of daily existence.
One of the New York Times's 100 Best Books of the 21st Century Zadie Smith's dazzling debut caught critics grasping for comparisons and deciding on everyone from Charles Dickens to Salman Rushdie to John Irving and Martin Amis. But the truth is that Zadie Smith's voice is remarkably, fluently, and altogether wonderfully her own. At the center of this invigorating novel are two unlikely friends, Archie Jones and Samad Iqbal. Hapless veterans of World War II, Archie and Samad and their families become agents of England's irrevocable transformation. A second marriage to Clara Bowden, a beautiful, albeit tooth-challenged, Jamaican half his age, quite literally gives Archie a second lease on life, and produces Irie, a knowing child whose personality doesn't quite match her name (Jamaican for "no problem"). Samad's late-in-life arranged marriage (he had to wait for his bride to be born), produces twin sons whose separate paths confound Iqbal's every effort to direct them, and a renewed, if selective, submission to his Islamic faith.
"[White Teeth] is, like the London it portrays, a restless hybrid of voices, tones, and textures...with a raucous energy and confidence." --The New York Times Book Review
One of the New York Times's 100 Best Books of the 21st Century Zadie Smith's dazzling debut caught critics grasping for comparisons and deciding on everyone from Charles Dickens to Salman Rushdie to John Irving and Martin Amis. But the truth is that Zadie Smith's voice is remarkably, fluently, and altogether wonderfully her own. At the center of this invigorating novel are two unlikely friends, Archie Jones and Samad Iqbal. Hapless veterans of World War II, Archie and Samad and their families become agents of England's irrevocable transformation. A second marriage to Clara Bowden, a beautiful, albeit tooth-challenged, Jamaican half his age, quite literally gives Archie a second lease on life, and produces Irie, a knowing child whose personality doesn't quite match her name (Jamaican for "no problem"). Samad's late-in-life arranged marriage (he had to wait for his bride to be born), produces twin sons whose separate paths confound Iqbal's every effort to direct them, and a renewed, if selective, submission to his Islamic faith.
"[White Teeth] is, like the London it portrays, a restless hybrid of voices, tones, and textures...with a raucous energy and confidence." --The New York Times Book Review
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Community Reviews
the beginning was pretty slow, and even though it picked up about 20% in, i never really got hooked. i think i missed something bc i was just not moved emotionally or intellectually by this even if i could tell that certain themes or points were trying to be made⦠just didnât grab me sorry
roomie book bracket #9
rating: 2.5 stars
roomie book bracket #9
rating: 2.5 stars
it's the 3rd time I'm reading this book (for the book club this time), and for some reason, it appears weaker than before. I'm leaving 4 stars but in fact it's 3.5 for me this time
Really enjoyed Zadie Smith's fresh style, wit, and cultural ruminations on race, family, and religion as seen through the eyes of three very different families. I found myself laughing out loud on the train more than once, though I wouldn't characterize this book as a comedy by any means.
The first few chapters made me think this would be one of my favorite books ever, but then it just kept going and going and going and I got tired of it tbh
I like the main characters and I like the *idea* of the interactions between the main characters: Hortense, Archie Jones, Clara Jones (especially Clara), Irie Jones, Samad Iqbal, Alsana, Magid Iqbal, and Millat Iqbal. The first family is part native English and part Jamaican immigrant, the second family is Bangladeshi-English. And Smith writes really well. So right at the beginning, it seems like this will be an amazing book.
But then the story starts meandering, and then more and more characters and relationships get piled on, and suddenly we're exploring genetically-altered mice. And I just wanted it to end for so many pages.
But then the story starts meandering, and then more and more characters and relationships get piled on, and suddenly we're exploring genetically-altered mice. And I just wanted it to end for so many pages.
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