Zadie Smith
Paperback | Pages: 448 pages Rating: 3.77 | 116066 Users | 6972 Reviews
Specify Appertaining To Books White Teeth
| Title | : | White Teeth |
| Author | : | Zadie Smith |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | Anniversary Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 448 pages |
| Published | : | June 12th 2001 by Vintage (first published April 1st 2000) |
| Categories | : | Fiction. Contemporary. Novels. European Literature. British Literature. Literary Fiction. Literature. Adult Fiction |
Commentary Supposing Books White Teeth
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. Set against London’s racial and cultural tapestry, venturing across the former empire and into the past as it barrels toward the future, White Teeth revels in the ecstatic hodgepodge of modern life, flirting with disaster, confounding expectations, and embracing the comedy of daily existence.Define Books During White Teeth
| Original Title: | White Teeth |
| ISBN: | 0375703861 (ISBN13: 9780375703867) |
| Edition Language: | English URL https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/169680/white-teeth-by-zadie-smith/ |
| Characters: | Alfred Archibald Jones, Samad Miah Iqbal, Clara Bowden, Alsana Begum, Irie Ambrosia Jones, Millat Zulfikar Iqbal, Hortense Bowden, Mr Topps, Joyce Chalfen, Marcus Chalfen, Magid Iqbal, Joshua Chalfen |
| Setting: | Willesden, North London,1974(United Kingdom) |
| Literary Awards: | Orange Prize Nominee for Fiction Shortlist (2000), Guardian First Book Award (2000), James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Fiction (2000), Whitbread Award for First Novel (2000), John Llewellyn Rhys Prize Nominee (2000) Puddly Award for Debut Novel (2001), National Book Critics Circle Award Nominee for Fiction (2000), Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Best First Book Overall (2001), Sunday Times/Peters Fraser + Dunlop Young Writer of the Year Award (2001), Betty Trask Award (2001) |
Rating Appertaining To Books White Teeth
Ratings: 3.77 From 116066 Users | 6972 ReviewsAssessment Appertaining To Books White Teeth
White Teeth is an expansive, detailed, and beautifully written attempt to encapsulate the social chaos that blossoms at the bridging of generational, national and sexual mindsets. It reminds me very much of the freeflowing histories written by Marquez and Allende, as well as Salman Rushdie's strange little one-off treatise on cultural alienation, Fury. (Samad, in particular, reminds me quite a bit of Fury's Malik Solanka.)The book does many things well. Smith has a serious ear for dialogue andI'm about a decade late to Zadie Smith's White Teeth, one of those books friends recommended or I picked up at the library then put back and moved on to a different title. My reticence to read the novel revolved around the plethora of book-clubby texts that could best be classified as somewhat patronizing novels about other cultures featuring triumph in the face of great poverty and hardship. I hate these books. But White Teeth turns out be an example of where those novels fail and a sun-surface
Zadie Smith's prose style here is notably different from her later books. It's like she read all Martin Amis' early novels and to a large extent replicated his distinctive rhythms into her prose. So too is the emphasis on comedy much heavier here than in later books. She's making more effort to charm - which, I suppose, is only natural for a young unpublished author. White Teeth is full of fabulous insight into the immigrant's experience of England. Zadie Smith has her finger on cultural pulses
Wow, what a lot to take in! I won't even attempt to summarise this sprawling, densely-plotted novel - suffice to say that it traces the history of two multicultural London families at the tail end of the 20th century. Along the way themes such as race relations, religious extremism, immigration, and even the ethics of genetic engineering are explored, all with an intoxicating energy and a sparkling sense of humour.The aspect of the book I admired most was its focus on family. Both the Iqbal and
A perfect book to re-read! This is a very funny book chronicling the lives of immigrants in the United Kingdom and focuses on issues such as children of immigrants forming new, collective identities due to identity crisis, the whole question about who is really English and problems in a multicultural community, such as which religious holidays schools should celebrate and so on. It's a very entertaining read.
One star? Of course this is not a one-star wretched ignominous failure, this is a mighty Dickensian epic about modern Britain. But not for me. It's a question of tone. I have now tried to read this one twice and each time I find I'm groaning quietly and grinding my teeth. Zadie Smith's omniscient narrator, alas for me, has an air of horrible smirkiness, like a friend who just can't help pointing out all the less than pleasant attributes of everyone else, all in the name of life-affirming humour,
Oh Zadie Smith be still my beating heart! I devoured this fabulous novel. Smith is truly a master of plot and her ability to capture the voices of each individual character is inspirational. Never before have I read a novel which such a rich and diverse dramatis personae. I fear that this review is going to become a list of superlatives so I'll quell it here by saying, I loved this and I need to read more Smith now.
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