Relevant and thought provoking, 22 Sep 2008
Incredibly relevant in today's debates about liberal interventionism. It's amazing how little we have moved on since the 50s. Is it possible to intervene in another culture to solve their problems? Are we often the cause of their problems? Is doing nothing a form of intervention? I don't know the answers to these questions and I don't think Greene did either.

Another piece of modern history, 16 Mar 2008
Despite the death and destruction depicted in this book, like the character of the title, this was a "quiet book". It was good to read about Vietnam before the Americans went in and I'm sure many have no idea of the French involvement in that country's history. Another enjoyable group read.

Short but perfectly formed, 29 Dec 2007
'The Quiet American' is a fairly short, but perfectly formed, novel. Set in the Vietnam war, the narrator is Fowler, a cynical British journalist who forms an unlikely friendship with an idealistic young American called Pyle. Fowler is a good central character, very believable and multi-faceted, and I grew to like him. The supporting characters - from the Vietnamese girl the two men fight over to the boozy American journalist Granger - are also well drawn and realistic.

The writing style is clean and economical, with good use of descriptive touches which paint a much more vivid picture than long winded or flowery prose. Greene is equally good at describing emotions: fear, anguish and tragedy. He manages to address serious political issues without being dull or detracting from the plot, and without offering easy answers.

As someone who knows very little about the Vietnam war and the politics surrounding it, I was at something of a disadvantage and I would recommend a quick reading of the historical background (an encyclopaedia entry would have done) for anyone else with little knowledge of this historical period. At times the early story was a little hard to follow, and that is probably due to my lack of previous knowledge. I think Greene presumes that the reader will have at least some idea of the main issues and factions in the war, so it is worth gaining this in order to better appreciate the story.

The plot is well paced, interesting and plausible. The political debates and emotional turmoils of the characters are perfectly balanced by action and dialogue. The story moves back and forward in time, and this is well handled so that it does not become confusing or annoying.

On the whole, a good read and a book that I think would be enjoyed by most readers.

Perfect, just perfect, 24 Oct 2006
A quick note. This is one of the most perfectly written and complete stories I have ever read. It is full of thought provoking characters and behaviours finding both beauty, love and pain in a dark world they cannot control. The book crosses political idealism with cynicsm and selfishness, and although set in a historical backdrop these themes are as relevent today. Just perfect.



Faultless, 30 Sep 2006
Along with Waugh's "Decline & Fall" I read this book every year & never fail to get something new from it. Not one word is out of place, not one scene mis-judged. Greene's characters inhabit a world unfamiliar to all 21st century Western wage-slaves; a world of physical danger, intellectual doubts & moral crises. But yet their paranoias & motives render every one of them as believable as ourselves & make their world as real as our own. The hero of this book in particular fills us with the uncomfortable realisation that even despicable acts born of unashamed selfishness can sometimes not only strike a chord within ourselves, but make us favour the perpetrators of such behaviour over other more innocent players. If you find nothing in this book for you stop reading.

Epic in scale and intimate in approach, White Teeth is an ambitious novel. Genetics, eugenics, gender, race, class and history are the book's themes but Zadie Smith is gifted with the wit and inventiveness to make these weighty ideas seem effortlessly light.

The story travels through Jamaica, Turkey, Bangladesh and India but ends up in a scrubby North London borough, home of the book's two unlikely heroes: prevaricating Archie Jones and intemperate Samad Iqbal. They met in the Second World War, as part of a "Buggered Battalion" and have been best friends ever since. Archie marries beautiful, buck-toothed Clara, who's on the run from her Jehovah's Witness mother, and they have a daughter, Irie. Samad marries stroppy Alsana and they have twin sons: "Children with first and last names on a direct collision course. Names that secrete within them mass exodus, cramped boats and planes, cold arrivals, medical checks."

Big questions demand boldly drawn characters. Zadie Smith's aren't heroic, just real: warm, funny, misguided and entirely familiar; reading their conversations is like eavesdropping. A simple scene, Alsana and Clara chatting about their pregnancies in the park: "A woman has to have the private things--a husband needn't be involved in body business, in a lady's ... parts."

Samad's rant about his sons--"They have both lost their way. Strayed so far from what I had intended for them. No doubt they will both marry white women called Sheila and put me in an early grave--acutely displays "the immigrant fears--dissolution, disappearance" but it also gets to the very heart of Samad.

White Teeth is a joy to read. It teems with life and exuberence and has enough cleverness and irreverent seriousness to give it bite. --Eithne Farry

Relevant and thought provoking, 22 Sep 2008
Incredibly relevant in today's debates about liberal interventionism. It's amazing how little we have moved on since the 50s. Is it possible to intervene in another culture to solve their problems? Are we often the cause of their problems? Is doing nothing a form of intervention? I don't know the answers to these questions and I don't think Greene did either.

Another piece of modern history, 16 Mar 2008
Despite the death and destruction depicted in this book, like the character of the title, this was a "quiet book". It was good to read about Vietnam before the Americans went in and I'm sure many have no idea of the French involvement in that country's history. Another enjoyable group read.

Short but perfectly formed, 29 Dec 2007
'The Quiet American' is a fairly short, but perfectly formed, novel. Set in the Vietnam war, the narrator is Fowler, a cynical British journalist who forms an unlikely friendship with an idealistic young American called Pyle. Fowler is a good central character, very believable and multi-faceted, and I grew to like him. The supporting characters - from the Vietnamese girl the two men fight over to the boozy American journalist Granger - are also well drawn and realistic.

The writing style is clean and economical, with good use of descriptive touches which paint a much more vivid picture than long winded or flowery prose. Greene is equally good at describing emotions: fear, anguish and tragedy. He manages to address serious political issues without being dull or detracting from the plot, and without offering easy answers.

As someone who knows very little about the Vietnam war and the politics surrounding it, I was at something of a disadvantage and I would recommend a quick reading of the historical background (an encyclopaedia entry would have done) for anyone else with little knowledge of this historical period. At times the early story was a little hard to follow, and that is probably due to my lack of previous knowledge. I think Greene presumes that the reader will have at least some idea of the main issues and factions in the war, so it is worth gaining this in order to better appreciate the story.

The plot is well paced, interesting and plausible. The political debates and emotional turmoils of the characters are perfectly balanced by action and dialogue. The story moves back and forward in time, and this is well handled so that it does not become confusing or annoying.

On the whole, a good read and a book that I think would be enjoyed by most readers.

Perfect, just perfect, 24 Oct 2006
A quick note. This is one of the most perfectly written and complete stories I have ever read. It is full of thought provoking characters and behaviours finding both beauty, love and pain in a dark world they cannot control. The book crosses political idealism with cynicsm and selfishness, and although set in a historical backdrop these themes are as relevent today. Just perfect.



Faultless, 30 Sep 2006
Along with Waugh's "Decline & Fall" I read this book every year & never fail to get something new from it. Not one word is out of place, not one scene mis-judged. Greene's characters inhabit a world unfamiliar to all 21st century Western wage-slaves; a world of physical danger, intellectual doubts & moral crises. But yet their paranoias & motives render every one of them as believable as ourselves & make their world as real as our own. The hero of this book in particular fills us with the uncomfortable realisation that even despicable acts born of unashamed selfishness can sometimes not only strike a chord within ourselves, but make us favour the perpetrators of such behaviour over other more innocent players. If you find nothing in this book for you stop reading.

Of the zeitgeist and an instant classic, 04 Nov 2008
White Teeth is a novel which encompasses all the richness, diversity and absurdity of modern life. Smith's characters fill the streets, shops, cafes, and houses of North London and, as each grapples with his or her own existential crisis, theirs is a `higgledy piggledy journey' made all the more difficult by engineering works on the Underground. This epic book may be stuffed full of character and anecdote but this detail is perfectly balanced and the many narrative threads remain in view, nothing is lost along the way. Just like the seemingly unlikely friendship between cerebral Samad and practical Archie, action and intellect are expertly combined by this writer whose style is effortlessly hip but infinitely intelligent. The narrative voice is wise about the world; she is an accomplished philosopher, scientist and historian but she is also an insider. The reader is at once entertained and enlightened, let in on a secret, granted access to the underground and the out of sight. Smith creates a world in which we are all inextricably bound up but there exists a tragic violence that threatens to alienate Smith's characters. The butcher Mo Hussein-Ishmael is frequently attacked in his shop and Samad and Alsana settle arguments by wrestling in the back garden, but the most powerful image is that of the violence done to the colonised by the coloniser, a violence Samad demonstrates when he writes his name in blood on Trafalgar square. Yet it is the comic impulse that prevails in Smith's portrayal of common experience understood through the known human landscapes in which she operates. At the end of the novel many of the characters are assembled together on a bus and one feels that Smith could take any random collection of commuters and make them the cast of one of her novels.

Serious Comic Writing, 14 Oct 2008
"White Teeth" is a prime example of a genre which might be called Serious Comic Writing. This is writing which ostensibly aims to be comic but is epic in scope, incorporates Serious Themes (in this case, multiculturalism) and involves a complex and interweaving cast of characters.

Does White Teeth work as Serious Comic Writing? More or less, though this isn't the same thing as saying it works particularly well as a comic novel. Smith's comic gifts are middling at best. The jokes are sometimes cheap and obvious, the dialogue can be somewhat mannered, and some of the set-pieces are flimsy and meandering. Smith has said that Archie and Samad are her favourite characters, and I agree, which is why it's a shame that their role in the second half of the novel is only peripheral, as the focus moves on to the succeeding generation. A whole novel of Archie and Samad might well have been the triumph a lot of critics believed this novel to be.

Serious Comic Writing, though, need not be a triumph of comedy. The aim of Serious Comic Writing is not necessarily to have the reader rolling on the floor laughing, but to use comedy as a means of dealing with serious issues in the context of a grand and multi-layered narrative. Comic writing often feels less pretentious and thus undermines any charge of self-importance that might come with such elevated themes. But in Serious Comic Writing the comedy is decisively the vehicle, and not the destination.

In these terms, the book is a success, but with some qualifications. Firstly, the novel feels less epic than Smith would clearly like it to be. The continual leaps between generations, characters and families of create less a narrative panorama than the feeling of a certain showiness. Look, the author says, here's a little sub-story set in the dying days of the Second World War. Here's a few pages on the Satanic Verses. Here's some material on turn-of-the-century colonial Jamaica. These sections are all rendered convincingly enough, but to my mind the beating heart of this story lies in its more parochial moments; Archie and Samad in O'Connells, Clara and Alsana's pregnancy chats, Irie and Millat at the school playground. In these moments, Smith has no backdrop but her own characters and the little world she has created for them, and it is here where her talent reaches its fullest expression.

Is the overall message of the novel compelling? One gets the sense of the author dressing up what is a fairly anodyne sentiment - that people of different races can get along OK given the opportunity - in a grand narrative which often ill-befits it. By the end of the book, the reader is sad to leave the characters, but also frustrated that they could not have had a little more space to breathe, a little more room to let us discover their quirks and neuroses without the author's regular displays of narrative over-ambition.

This is a good book by an obviously talented author, but a little editorial discipline and reduction in scope could have made it a great one.

Hype ruined it for me, 16 Sep 2008
I was expecting great things from this book, sadly I was disappointed. Although it is well written I just did not understand why it has been so highly praised. I found myslef caring more for the minor characters and wanting to hear more about their viewpoint on the events occuring. The story was ok, but did not grip me in the way I felt it could have had these other characters opinions been explored. Overall I would say it was well written but lacking in some places and does not live up to the hype

Still laughing, 16 Jun 2008
I first read this book when it was released and have to say, it's one of my favourites. Smith works away from the typical attitude of authors when it comes to talking about multi-culturism... in other words she's not scared to 'offend'. The book is absolutely hilarious and my favourite from her, compared to her other books. Her characters are there to hate and love all at the same time, and her storylines full of bittersweet humour...

A definite must read... I am gutted till this day to have missed the TV adaptation of this ....

Not the best read, 30 May 2008
I have read all three of Zadie Smith's books, mainly because I wanted to know what all the hype was about. I have just finished reading White Teeth and I have suddenly got it: in White Teeth Zadie Smith tries very hard to be like Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children or Satanic Verses: the language, epic style, the flashbacks to legendary times, the numerous characters; only the magical aspect of Rushdie's first books is left out.

My own childhood was quite rich multiculturally speaking but I can't boast that it was as varied as Zadie Smith's North London. And yet I was very disappointed with how Smith actually describes the mix of cultures and heritages that Irie, Magid and Millat grow up in. She doesn't work on developing the issue and sticks to stereotypes. I don't know whether she wasn't brave enough or didn't give enough of herself.

The characters are all obviously archetypical but she left out a lot of interesting details, dwelling more on monotonous issues (more to the point: they were monotonous in the book) or people: Samad and Archie's experience in the war and Marcus' work on genetics are quite boring and long episodes. The Chalfens on the other hand, representing the ignorant, prejudiced and condescending white Europeans are a ridiculous, unrealistic and uninteresting addenda. Clara and Irie - who are the really interesting people - are nearly not developed at all.

My advice to anyone thinking of buying this book: read Midnight's Children instead. It's much more poignant and genuine. If you want books on family sagas with loads of characters, head for García Márquez. You will save yourself time and gain entertainment and enrichment.

Relevant and thought provoking, 22 Sep 2008
Incredibly relevant in today's debates about liberal interventionism. It's amazing how little we have moved on since the 50s. Is it possible to intervene in another culture to solve their problems? Are we often the cause of their problems? Is doing nothing a form of intervention? I don't know the answers to these questions and I don't think Greene did either.

Another piece of modern history, 16 Mar 2008
Despite the death and destruction depicted in this book, like the character of the title, this was a "quiet book". It was good to read about Vietnam before the Americans went in and I'm sure many have no idea of the French involvement in that country's history. Another enjoyable group read.

Short but perfectly formed, 29 Dec 2007
'The Quiet American' is a fairly short, but perfectly formed, novel. Set in the Vietnam war, the narrator is Fowler, a cynical British journalist who forms an unlikely friendship with an idealistic young American called Pyle. Fowler is a good central character, very believable and multi-faceted, and I grew to like him. The supporting characters - from the Vietnamese girl the two men fight over to the boozy American journalist Granger - are also well drawn and realistic.

The writing style is clean and economical, with good use of descriptive touches which paint a much more vivid picture than long winded or flowery prose. Greene is equally good at describing emotions: fear, anguish and tragedy. He manages to address serious political issues without being dull or detracting from the plot, and without offering easy answers.

As someone who knows very little about the Vietnam war and the politics surrounding it, I was at something of a disadvantage and I would recommend a quick reading of the historical background (an encyclopaedia entry would have done) for anyone else with little knowledge of this historical period. At times the early story was a little hard to follow, and that is probably due to my lack of previous knowledge. I think Greene presumes that the reader will have at least some idea of the main issues and factions in the war, so it is worth gaining this in order to better appreciate the story.

The plot is well paced, interesting and plausible. The political debates and emotional turmoils of the characters are perfectly balanced by action and dialogue. The story moves back and forward in time, and this is well handled so that it does not become confusing or annoying.

On the whole, a good read and a book that I think would be enjoyed by most readers.

Perfect, just perfect, 24 Oct 2006
A quick note. This is one of the most perfectly written and complete stories I have ever read. It is full of thought provoking characters and behaviours finding both beauty, love and pain in a dark world they cannot control. The book crosses political idealism with cynicsm and selfishness, and although set in a historical backdrop these themes are as relevent today. Just perfect.



Faultless, 30 Sep 2006
Along with Waugh's "Decline & Fall" I read this book every year & never fail to get something new from it. Not one word is out of place, not one scene mis-judged. Greene's characters inhabit a world unfamiliar to all 21st century Western wage-slaves; a world of physical danger, intellectual doubts & moral crises. But yet their paranoias & motives render every one of them as believable as ourselves & make their world as real as our own. The hero of this book in particular fills us with the uncomfortable realisation that even despicable acts born of unashamed selfishness can sometimes not only strike a chord within ourselves, but make us favour the perpetrators of such behaviour over other more innocent players. If you find nothing in this book for you stop reading.

Of the zeitgeist and an instant classic, 04 Nov 2008
White Teeth is a novel which encompasses all the richness, diversity and absurdity of modern life. Smith's characters fill the streets, shops, cafes, and houses of North London and, as each grapples with his or her own existential crisis, theirs is a `higgledy piggledy journey' made all the more difficult by engineering works on the Underground. This epic book may be stuffed full of character and anecdote but this detail is perfectly balanced and the many narrative threads remain in view, nothing is lost along the way. Just like the seemingly unlikely friendship between cerebral Samad and practical Archie, action and intellect are expertly combined by this writer whose style is effortlessly hip but infinitely intelligent. The narrative voice is wise about the world; she is an accomplished philosopher, scientist and historian but she is also an insider. The reader is at once entertained and enlightened, let in on a secret, granted access to the underground and the out of sight. Smith creates a world in which we are all inextricably bound up but there exists a tragic violence that threatens to alienate Smith's characters. The butcher Mo Hussein-Ishmael is frequently attacked in his shop and Samad and Alsana settle arguments by wrestling in the back garden, but the most powerful image is that of the violence done to the colonised by the coloniser, a violence Samad demonstrates when he writes his name in blood on Trafalgar square. Yet it is the comic impulse that prevails in Smith's portrayal of common experience understood through the known human landscapes in which she operates. At the end of the novel many of the characters are assembled together on a bus and one feels that Smith could take any random collection of commuters and make them the cast of one of her novels.

Serious Comic Writing, 14 Oct 2008
"White Teeth" is a prime example of a genre which might be called Serious Comic Writing. This is writing which ostensibly aims to be comic but is epic in scope, incorporates Serious Themes (in this case, multiculturalism) and involves a complex and interweaving cast of characters.

Does White Teeth work as Serious Comic Writing? More or less, though this isn't the same thing as saying it works particularly well as a comic novel. Smith's comic gifts are middling at best. The jokes are sometimes cheap and obvious, the dialogue can be somewhat mannered, and some of the set-pieces are flimsy and meandering. Smith has said that Archie and Samad are her favourite characters, and I agree, which is why it's a shame that their role in the second half of the novel is only peripheral, as the focus moves on to the succeeding generation. A whole novel of Archie and Samad might well have been the triumph a lot of critics believed this novel to be.

Serious Comic Writing, though, need not be a triumph of comedy. The aim of Serious Comic Writing is not necessarily to have the reader rolling on the floor laughing, but to use comedy as a means of dealing with serious issues in the context of a grand and multi-layered narrative. Comic writing often feels less pretentious and thus undermines any charge of self-importance that might come with such elevated themes. But in Serious Comic Writing the comedy is decisively the vehicle, and not the destination.

In these terms, the book is a success, but with some qualifications. Firstly, the novel feels less epic than Smith would clearly like it to be. The continual leaps between generations, characters and families of create less a narrative panorama than the feeling of a certain showiness. Look, the author says, here's a little sub-story set in the dying days of the Second World War. Here's a few pages on the Satanic Verses. Here's some material on turn-of-the-century colonial Jamaica. These sections are all rendered convincingly enough, but to my mind the beating heart of this story lies in its more parochial moments; Archie and Samad in O'Connells, Clara and Alsana's pregnancy chats, Irie and Millat at the school playground. In these moments, Smith has no backdrop but her own characters and the little world she has created for them, and it is here where her talent reaches its fullest expression.

Is the overall message of the novel compelling? One gets the sense of the author dressing up what is a fairly anodyne sentiment - that people of different races can get along OK given the opportunity - in a grand narrative which often ill-befits it. By the end of the book, the reader is sad to leave the characters, but also frustrated that they could not have had a little more space to breathe, a little more room to let us discover their quirks and neuroses without the author's regular displays of narrative over-ambition.

This is a good book by an obviously talented author, but a little editorial discipline and reduction in scope could have made it a great one.

Hype ruined it for me, 16 Sep 2008
I was expecting great things from this book, sadly I was disappointed. Although it is well written I just did not understand why it has been so highly praised. I found myslef caring more for the minor characters and wanting to hear more about their viewpoint on the events occuring. The story was ok, but did not grip me in the way I felt it could have had these other characters opinions been explored. Overall I would say it was well written but lacking in some places and does not live up to the hype

Still laughing, 16 Jun 2008
I first read this book when it was released and have to say, it's one of my favourites. Smith works away from the typical attitude of authors when it comes to talking about multi-culturism... in other words she's not scared to 'offend'. The book is absolutely hilarious and my favourite from her, compared to her other books. Her characters are there to hate and love all at the same time, and her storylines full of bittersweet humour...

A definite must read... I am gutted till this day to have missed the TV adaptation of this ....

Not the best read, 30 May 2008
I have read all three of Zadie Smith's books, mainly because I wanted to know what all the hype was about. I have just finished reading White Teeth and I have suddenly got it: in White Teeth Zadie Smith tries very hard to be like Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children or Satanic Verses: the language, epic style, the flashbacks to legendary times, the numerous characters; only the magical aspect of Rushdie's first books is left out.

My own childhood was quite rich multiculturally speaking but I can't boast that it was as varied as Zadie Smith's North London. And yet I was very disappointed with how Smith actually describes the mix of cultures and heritages that Irie, Magid and Millat grow up in. She doesn't work on developing the issue and sticks to stereotypes. I don't know whether she wasn't brave enough or didn't give enough of herself.

The characters are all obviously archetypical but she left out a lot of interesting details, dwelling more on monotonous issues (more to the point: they were monotonous in the book) or people: Samad and Archie's experience in the war and Marcus' work on genetics are quite boring and long episodes. The Chalfens on the other hand, representing the ignorant, prejudiced and condescending white Europeans are a ridiculous, unrealistic and uninteresting addenda. Clara and Irie - who are the really interesting people - are nearly not developed at all.

My advice to anyone thinking of buying this book: read Midnight's Children instead. It's much more poignant and genuine. If you want books on family sagas with loads of characters, head for García Márquez. You will save yourself time and gain entertainment and enrichment.


Soap opera material, 11 Sep 2008
I was disappointed with this book because it fell well short of my expectations, which were originally raised because of the reputation of the author. The plot revolves around two families, where the fathers are academics at loggerheads with each other, and it describes how the lives of all the family members become increasingly entwined. One problem was that in pursuing the plot the events became incredibly contrived, with almost desperate attempts made to interweave the stories of the two families. Ultimately it was simply unbelievable. I also found the characters in general to be surprisingly shallow and undeveloped; for Zora I just kept seeing Lisa from the Simpsons. However, the one bright spot was the relationship between Howard and Kiki, where some definite semblance of reality and passion emerged from the writing. Overall though I felt the book would be well suited to adaptation to a soap series, with half-hour scenes parodying real-life rather than reflecting it. I read the book on a beach holiday and it is good company if you want some easy reading, but for more depth look elsewhere.

Overhyped beyond belief!, 02 Sep 2008
although zadie smith is a very fine technical and intellectual writer, this really was a poor end result. unsympathetic characters, a jumbled plot, and hiding behind EM Forster, really add up to an un-enjoyable book.

I loved it, 28 Jul 2008
I thought this was a great book. I read it a year or two ago, and it remains one of my favourites. Amongst other things, I loved the devastating demolition of postmodernist aesthetic Theory. I guess that is an easy target, but even so, it was beautifully done. An even easier target, should she want one for her next book, would be customer reviews on Amazon.

BORING, 11 Jul 2008
I struggled with this book and only managed one and a half chapters. It bored me and I couldnt connect with the characters. I think this book was undeservedly hyped up!

[ Haiti ] this wretched, blood-stained little island a mere hour's boat trip from Florida..., 07 Jun 2008
Henri Bergson wrote that laughter (unconsciously and sometimes immorally) pursues a utilitarian aim of general improvement. That is, laughter performs a social function, and for the greater good. I was thinking of this when I noticed some adverse comment around the following sentence,

"For Monty, though, Carlene wanted to get something `really nice', and so they decided to brave three blocks of snow-walking in order to reach a fancier, smaller, specialist boutique that might have the cane with the carved handle which that Carlene had in mind." (p.266, hardback)

I can do two things here. First, to correct the grammar. Second, to speculate why the original text as printed is, in fact, intentional on Zadie Smith's part

GRAMMAR
There is much debate over the correct usage of the pronouns `that' and `which' in relative clauses. Nevertheless, as a general rule for formal English, where a clause is restrictive (ie, the semantics of the sentence are affected by removing the clause), `that' should be used. And, where a clause is non-restrictive (ie, the semantics of the sentence are not affected by removing the clause), `which' should be used and the clause introduced by a comma

In the text quoted above, there are two significant relative clauses - i) "[ in order to reach a ] specialist boutique that might have the cane with the carved handle", and ii) "the carved handle which that Carlene had in mind". In case i), `that' is the appropriate pronoun where the speciality of the boutique is indeed canes with carved handles. However, later in the text, it is revealed that the boutique sells canes, and monogrammed handkerchiefs, and dreadful cravats. Therefore, the speciality of the boutique is not canes with carved handles but a range of high value goods to which (presumably) the boutique adds its particular cachet - like Liberty on Regent Street, for example. Following this rule, the semantics of the sentence are not changed by removing the relative clause - Carlene and Kiki brave three blocks of snow-walking in order to reach a fancier, smaller, specialist boutique. Therefore, the relative clause is non-restrictive and the appropriate pronoun is `which' preceded by a comma. By the by, this resolves also a problem I have with usage of `that' with modal auxiliaries that express doubt (might, may, could, should, etc), although I may be out on a limb here

In case ii), Zadie Smith has deployed both relative pronouns serially leaving the reader (or her editor) to choose. In this case, it is only by qualifying "the cane with the carved handle" with the fact that the cane with the carved handle is what Carlene has in mind that the statement makes sense. The cane with the carved handle has not been mentioned earlier in the text and needs specification at this point. Therefore, this is a restrictive clause and the appropriate pronoun is `that'

To satisfy the norms of formal English, the text should read as follows,

"... and so they decided to brave three blocks of snow-walking in order to reach a fancier, smaller, specialist boutique, which might have the cane with the carved handle that Carlene had in mind."

But, it doesn't. And there's a reason for that

INTENTIONALITY
Here, I speculate Zadie Smith's intention in delivering the quoted sentence as it is, and resisting any attempt by her editors to change it. There are two clues. First, earlier in the novel, the earnest lexophile Jack French's particular attachment to Henry Watson Fowler has been described. It is Fowler, in his Dictionary of Modern English Usage (1926), who first legitimises the interchangeability of `that' and `which' (without comma) in restrictive relative clauses. Thus, creating the confusion that persists down to Zadie Smith's own generation - a confusion that Zadie Smith artfully satirises by getting the grammar as wrong as it could possibly be. The second clue is delivered with the delicate insertion of the word "cravat" (rather than tie) when describing Carlene's purchases - "... and then the most dreadful cravat" (p.268, hardback). The word cravat is of French derivation (as in Jack French, a repeated joke throughout the novel) but, much more interestingly, services a multi-layered paronomasia which (I think) reveals the depth and complexity of Zadie Smith's genius as a writer and thinker

It works like this. The mingling of terms from multiple languages (eg, cravat for tie, French and Jack French) and, indeed, the mangling of formal language (eg, "the cane with the carved handle which that Carlene had in mind") to produce comic effect is termed traditionally macaronic (from macaroni, probably from same root as maceration). And, Macaronis was the term used to identify the generation of mid-eighteenth century young dandies who returned from the Grand Tour with a macaronic grab-bag of Continental affectations. One of which, indeed, was the small cravat - the forerunner of the modern tie

Thus it is that, with extraordinary deftness, Zadie Smith fashions a web of satiric filaments that ensnare the unwary reader just as they coruscate, startle and amaze. And it is through this interweaving of semantic and syntactic games that she achieves the rupture of what Henri Bergson termed mechanical inelasticity - that is, the thing that makes us less human, and against which laughter offers a social sanction

Relevant and thought provoking, 22 Sep 2008
Incredibly relevant in today's debates about liberal interventionism. It's amazing how little we have moved on since the 50s. Is it possible to intervene in another culture to solve their problems? Are we often the cause of their problems? Is doing nothing a form of intervention? I don't know the answers to these questions and I don't think Greene did either.

Another piece of modern history, 16 Mar 2008
Despite the death and destruction depicted in this book, like the character of the title, this was a "quiet book". It was good to read about Vietnam before the Americans went in and I'm sure many have no idea of the French involvement in that country's history. Another enjoyable group read.

Short but perfectly formed, 29 Dec 2007
'The Quiet American' is a fairly short, but perfectly formed, novel. Set in the Vietnam war, the narrator is Fowler, a cynical British journalist who forms an unlikely friendship with an idealistic young American called Pyle. Fowler is a good central character, very believable and multi-faceted, and I grew to like him. The supporting characters - from the Vietnamese girl the two men fight over to the boozy American journalist Granger - are also well drawn and realistic.

The writing style is clean and economical, with good use of descriptive touches which paint a much more vivid picture than long winded or flowery prose. Greene is equally good at describing emotions: fear, anguish and tragedy. He manages to address serious political issues without being dull or detracting from the plot, and without offering easy answers.

As someone who knows very little about the Vietnam war and the politics surrounding it, I was at something of a disadvantage and I would recommend a quick reading of the historical background (an encyclopaedia entry would have done) for anyone else with little knowledge of this historical period. At times the early story was a little hard to follow, and that is probably due to my lack of previous knowledge. I think Greene presumes that the reader will have at least some idea of the main issues and factions in the war, so it is worth gaining this in order to better appreciate the story.

The plot is well paced, interesting and plausible. The political debates and emotional turmoils of the characters are perfectly balanced by action and dialogue. The story moves back and forward in time, and this is well handled so that it does not become confusing or annoying.

On the whole, a good read and a book that I think would be enjoyed by most readers.

Perfect, just perfect, 24 Oct 2006
A quick note. This is one of the most perfectly written and complete stories I have ever read. It is full of thought provoking characters and behaviours finding both beauty, love and pain in a dark world they cannot control. The book crosses political idealism with cynicsm and selfishness, and although set in a historical backdrop these themes are as relevent today. Just perfect.



Faultless, 30 Sep 2006
Along with Waugh's "Decline & Fall" I read this book every year & never fail to get something new from it. Not one word is out of place, not one scene mis-judged. Greene's characters inhabit a world unfamiliar to all 21st century Western wage-slaves; a world of physical danger, intellectual doubts & moral crises. But yet their paranoias & motives render every one of them as believable as ourselves & make their world as real as our own. The hero of this book in particular fills us with the uncomfortable realisation that even despicable acts born of unashamed selfishness can sometimes not only strike a chord within ourselves, but make us favour the perpetrators of such behaviour over other more innocent players. If you find nothing in this book for you stop reading.

Of the zeitgeist and an instant classic, 04 Nov 2008
White Teeth is a novel which encompasses all the richness, diversity and absurdity of modern life. Smith's characters fill the streets, shops, cafes, and houses of North London and, as each grapples with his or her own existential crisis, theirs is a `higgledy piggledy journey' made all the more difficult by engineering works on the Underground. This epic book may be stuffed full of character and anecdote but this detail is perfectly balanced and the many narrative threads remain in view, nothing is lost along the way. Just like the seemingly unlikely friendship between cerebral Samad and practical Archie, action and intellect are expertly combined by this writer whose style is effortlessly hip but infinitely intelligent. The narrative voice is wise about the world; she is an accomplished philosopher, scientist and historian but she is also an insider. The reader is at once entertained and enlightened, let in on a secret, granted access to the underground and the out of sight. Smith creates a world in which we are all inextricably bound up but there exists a tragic violence that threatens to alienate Smith's characters. The butcher Mo Hussein-Ishmael is frequently attacked in his shop and Samad and Alsana settle arguments by wrestling in the back garden, but the most powerful image is that of the violence done to the colonised by the coloniser, a violence Samad demonstrates when he writes his name in blood on Trafalgar square. Yet it is the comic impulse that prevails in Smith's portrayal of common experience understood through the known human landscapes in which she operates. At the end of the novel many of the characters are assembled together on a bus and one feels that Smith could take any random collection of commuters and make them the cast of one of her novels.

Serious Comic Writing, 14 Oct 2008
"White Teeth" is a prime example of a genre which might be called Serious Comic Writing. This is writing which ostensibly aims to be comic but is epic in scope, incorporates Serious Themes (in this case, multiculturalism) and involves a complex and interweaving cast of characters.

Does White Teeth work as Serious Comic Writing? More or less, though this isn't the same thing as saying it works particularly well as a comic novel. Smith's comic gifts are middling at best. The jokes are sometimes cheap and obvious, the dialogue can be somewhat mannered, and some of the set-pieces are flimsy and meandering. Smith has said that Archie and Samad are her favourite characters, and I agree, which is why it's a shame that their role in the second half of the novel is only peripheral, as the focus moves on to the succeeding generation. A whole novel of Archie and Samad might well have been the triumph a lot of critics believed this novel to be.

Serious Comic Writing, though, need not be a triumph of comedy. The aim of Serious Comic Writing is not necessarily to have the reader rolling on the floor laughing, but to use comedy as a means of dealing with serious issues in the context of a grand and multi-layered narrative. Comic writing often feels less pretentious and thus undermines any charge of self-importance that might come with such elevated themes. But in Serious Comic Writing the comedy is decisively the vehicle, and not the destination.

In these terms, the book is a success, but with some qualifications. Firstly, the novel feels less epic than Smith would clearly like it to be. The continual leaps between generations, characters and families of create less a narrative panorama than the feeling of a certain showiness. Look, the author says, here's a little sub-story set in the dying days of the Second World War. Here's a few pages on the Satanic Verses. Here's some material on turn-of-the-century colonial Jamaica. These sections are all rendered convincingly enough, but to my mind the beating heart of this story lies in its more parochial moments; Archie and Samad in O'Connells, Clara and Alsana's pregnancy chats, Irie and Millat at the school playground. In these moments, Smith has no backdrop but her own characters and the little world she has created for them, and it is here where her talent reaches its fullest expression.

Is the overall message of the novel compelling? One gets the sense of the author dressing up what is a fairly anodyne sentiment - that people of different races can get along OK given the opportunity - in a grand narrative which often ill-befits it. By the end of the book, the reader is sad to leave the characters, but also frustrated that they could not have had a little more space to breathe, a little more room to let us discover their quirks and neuroses without the author's regular displays of narrative over-ambition.

This is a good book by an obviously talented author, but a little editorial discipline and reduction in scope could have made it a great one.

Hype ruined it for me, 16 Sep 2008
I was expecting great things from this book, sadly I was disappointed. Although it is well written I just did not understand why it has been so highly praised. I found myslef caring more for the minor characters and wanting to hear more about their viewpoint on the events occuring. The story was ok, but did not grip me in the way I felt it could have had these other characters opinions been explored. Overall I would say it was well written but lacking in some places and does not live up to the hype

Still laughing, 16 Jun 2008
I first read this book when it was released and have to say, it's one of my favourites. Smith works away from the typical attitude of authors when it comes to talking about multi-culturism... in other words she's not scared to 'offend'. The book is absolutely hilarious and my favourite from her, compared to her other books. Her characters are there to hate and love all at the same time, and her storylines full of bittersweet humour...

A definite must read... I am gutted till this day to have missed the TV adaptation of this ....

Not the best read, 30 May 2008
I have read all three of Zadie Smith's books, mainly because I wanted to know what all the hype was about. I have just finished reading White Teeth and I have suddenly got it: in White Teeth Zadie Smith tries very hard to be like Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children or Satanic Verses: the language, epic style, the flashbacks to legendary times, the numerous characters; only the magical aspect of Rushdie's first books is left out.

My own childhood was quite rich multiculturally speaking but I can't boast that it was as varied as Zadie Smith's North London. And yet I was very disappointed with how Smith actually describes the mix of cultures and heritages that Irie, Magid and Millat grow up in. She doesn't work on developing the issue and sticks to stereotypes. I don't know whether she wasn't brave enough or didn't give enough of herself.

The characters are all obviously archetypical but she left out a lot of interesting details, dwelling more on monotonous issues (more to the point: they were monotonous in the book) or people: Samad and Archie's experience in the war and Marcus' work on genetics are quite boring and long episodes. The Chalfens on the other hand, representing the ignorant, prejudiced and condescending white Europeans are a ridiculous, unrealistic and uninteresting addenda. Clara and Irie - who are the really interesting people - are nearly not developed at all.

My advice to anyone thinking of buying this book: read Midnight's Children instead. It's much more poignant and genuine. If you want books on family sagas with loads of characters, head for García Márquez. You will save yourself time and gain entertainment and enrichment.


Soap opera material, 11 Sep 2008
I was disappointed with this book because it fell well short of my expectations, which were originally raised because of the reputation of the author. The plot revolves around two families, where the fathers are academics at loggerheads with each other, and it describes how the lives of all the family members become increasingly entwined. One problem was that in pursuing the plot the events became incredibly contrived, with almost desperate attempts made to interweave the stories of the two families. Ultimately it was simply unbelievable. I also found the characters in general to be surprisingly shallow and undeveloped; for Zora I just kept seeing Lisa from the Simpsons. However, the one bright spot was the relationship between Howard and Kiki, where some definite semblance of reality and passion emerged from the writing. Overall though I felt the book would be well suited to adaptation to a soap series, with half-hour scenes parodying real-life rather than reflecting it. I read the book on a beach holiday and it is good company if you want some easy reading, but for more depth look elsewhere.

Overhyped beyond belief!, 02 Sep 2008
although zadie smith is a very fine technical and intellectual writer, this really was a poor end result. unsympathetic characters, a jumbled plot, and hiding behind EM Forster, really add up to an un-enjoyable book.

I loved it, 28 Jul 2008
I thought this was a great book. I read it a year or two ago, and it remains one of my favourites. Amongst other things, I loved the devastating demolition of postmodernist aesthetic Theory. I guess that is an easy target, but even so, it was beautifully done. An even easier target, should she want one for her next book, would be customer reviews on Amazon.

BORING, 11 Jul 2008
I struggled with this book and only managed one and a half chapters. It bored me and I couldnt connect with the characters. I think this book was undeservedly hyped up!

[ Haiti ] this wretched, blood-stained little island a mere hour's boat trip from Florida..., 07 Jun 2008
Henri Bergson wrote that laughter (unconsciously and sometimes immorally) pursues a utilitarian aim of general improvement. That is, laughter performs a social function, and for the greater good. I was thinking of this when I noticed some adverse comment around the following sentence,

"For Monty, though, Carlene wanted to get something `really nice', and so they decided to brave three blocks of snow-walking in order to reach a fancier, smaller, specialist boutique that might have the cane with the carved handle which that Carlene had in mind." (p.266, hardback)

I can do two things here. First, to correct the grammar. Second, to speculate why the original text as printed is, in fact, intentional on Zadie Smith's part

GRAMMAR
There is much debate over the correct usage of the pronouns `that' and `which' in relative clauses. Nevertheless, as a general rule for formal English, where a clause is restrictive (ie, the semantics of the sentence are affected by removing the clause), `that' should be used. And, where a clause is non-restrictive (ie, the semantics of the sentence are not affected by removing the clause), `which' should be used and the clause introduced by a comma

In the text quoted above, there are two significant relative clauses - i) "[ in order to reach a ] specialist boutique that might have the cane with the carved handle", and ii) "the carved handle which that Carlene had in mind". In case i), `that' is the appropriate pronoun where the speciality of the boutique is indeed canes with carved handles. However, later in the text, it is revealed that the boutique sells canes, and monogrammed handkerchiefs, and dreadful cravats. Therefore, the speciality of the boutique is not canes with carved handles but a range of high value goods to which (presumably) the boutique adds its particular cachet - like Liberty on Regent Street, for example. Following this rule, the semantics of the sentence are not changed by removing the relative clause - Carlene and Kiki brave three blocks of snow-walking in order to reach a fancier, smaller, specialist boutique. Therefore, the relative clause is non-restrictive and the appropriate pronoun is `which' preceded by a comma. By the by, this resolves also a problem I have with usage of `that' with modal auxiliaries that express doubt (might, may, could, should, etc), although I may be out on a limb here

In case ii), Zadie Smith has deployed both relative pronouns serially leaving the reader (or her editor) to choose. In this case, it is only by qualifying "the cane with the carved handle" with the fact that the cane with the carved handle is what Carlene has in mind that the statement makes sense. The cane with the carved handle has not been mentioned earlier in the text and needs specification at this point. Therefore, this is a restrictive clause and the appropriate pronoun is `that'

To satisfy the norms of formal English, the text should read as follows,

"... and so they decided to brave three blocks of snow-walking in order to reach a fancier, smaller, specialist boutique, which might have the cane with the carved handle that Carlene had in mind."

But, it doesn't. And there's a reason for that

INTENTIONALITY
Here, I speculate Zadie Smith's intention in delivering the quoted sentence as it is, and resisting any attempt by her editors to change it. There are two clues. First, earlier in the novel, the earnest lexophile Jack French's particular attachment to Henry Watson Fowler has been described. It is Fowler, in his Dictionary of Modern English Usage (1926), who first legitimises the interchangeability of `that' and `which' (without comma) in restrictive relative clauses. Thus, creating the confusion that persists down to Zadie Smith's own generation - a confusion that Zadie Smith artfully satirises by getting the grammar as wrong as it could possibly be. The second clue is delivered with the delicate insertion of the word "cravat" (rather than tie) when describing Carlene's purchases - "... and then the most dreadful cravat" (p.268, hardback). The word cravat is of French derivation (as in Jack French, a repeated joke throughout the novel) but, much more interestingly, services a multi-layered paronomasia which (I think) reveals the depth and complexity of Zadie Smith's genius as a writer and thinker

It works like this. The mingling of terms from multiple languages (eg, cravat for tie, French and Jack French) and, indeed, the mangling of formal language (eg, "the cane with the carved handle which that Carlene had in mind") to produce comic effect is termed traditionally macaronic (from macaroni, probably from same root as maceration). And, Macaronis was the term used to identify the generation of mid-eighteenth century young dandies who returned from the Grand Tour with a macaronic grab-bag of Continental affectations. One of which, indeed, was the small cravat - the forerunner of the modern tie

Thus it is that, with extraordinary deftness, Zadie Smith fashions a web of satiric filaments that ensnare the unwary reader just as they coruscate, startle and amaze. And it is through this interweaving of semantic and syntactic games that she achieves the rupture of what Henri Bergson termed mechanical inelasticity - that is, the thing that makes us less human, and against which laughter offers a social sanction





Failiure to launch, 27 Dec 2007
I was excited by this book.

The cover art, the authors I've previously enjoyed (Toby Litt, Adam Thirlwell, A.M Holmes, Nick Hornby) and illustrations by Daniel Clowes and Posy Simmonds.

According to the blurb: "The Book of Other People" is just that: a book of other people. With an introduction by Zadie Smith and brand-new stories from over twenty of the best writers of their generation from both sides of the Atlantic, "The Book of Other People" is as dazzling and inventive as its authors, and as vivid and wide-ranging as its characters."

Although the characters and situations are wide-ranging this doesn't mean they're engaging.

Short stories are often seen as the less glamorous siblings of the novel but they're often a lot harder to master, and this is evident here.

The trouble is, it left me feeling bit flat. Whist there are some ace stories in here, I get the feeling that some of these writers are so sued to having a full novel to flesh a character and their story out, that having a short story to make their mark was perhaps too much of a challenge.

David Mitchell's Judith Castle, Heidi Julavits Judge Gladys Park Schultz and Rhoda, By Jonathan Safran Foer really stood out, but the rest, whilst the actual writing is proficient, a fair few of the scenarios refused to lift off the page, with characters who weren't that interesting or believable, which was disappointing.

Relevant and thought provoking, 22 Sep 2008
Incredibly relevant in today's debates about liberal interventionism. It's amazing how little we have moved on since the 50s. Is it possible to intervene in another culture to solve their problems? Are we often the cause of their problems? Is doing nothing a form of intervention? I don't know the answers to these questions and I don't think Greene did either.

Another piece of modern history, 16 Mar 2008
Despite the death and destruction depicted in this book, like the character of the title, this was a "quiet book". It was good to read about Vietnam before the Americans went in and I'm sure many have no idea of the French involvement in that country's history. Another enjoyable group read.

Short but perfectly formed, 29 Dec 2007
'The Quiet American' is a fairly short, but perfectly formed, novel. Set in the Vietnam war, the narrator is Fowler, a cynical British journalist who forms an unlikely friendship with an idealistic young American called Pyle. Fowler is a good central character, very believable and multi-faceted, and I grew to like him. The supporting characters - from the Vietnamese girl the two men fight over to the boozy American journalist Granger - are also well drawn and realistic.

The writing style is clean and economical, with good use of descriptive touches which paint a much more vivid picture than long winded or flowery prose. Greene is equally good at describing emotions: fear, anguish and tragedy. He manages to address serious political issues without being dull or detracting from the plot, and without offering easy answers.

As someone who knows very little about the Vietnam war and the politics surrounding it, I was at something of a disadvantage and I would recommend a quick reading of the historical background (an encyclopaedia entry would have done) for anyone else with little knowledge of this historical period. At times the early story was a little hard to follow, and that is probably due to my lack of previous knowledge. I think Greene presumes that the reader will have at least some idea of the main issues and factions in the war, so it is worth gaining this in order to better appreciate the story.

The plot is well paced, interesting and plausible. The political debates and emotional turmoils of the characters are perfectly balanced by action and dialogue. The story moves back and forward in time, and this is well handled so that it does not become confusing or annoying.

On the whole, a good read and a book that I think would be enjoyed by most readers.

Perfect, just perfect, 24 Oct 2006
A quick note. This is one of the most perfectly written and complete stories I have ever read. It is full of thought provoking characters and behaviours finding both beauty, love and pain in a dark world they cannot control. The book crosses political idealism with cynicsm and selfishness, and although set in a historical backdrop these themes are as relevent today. Just perfect.



Faultless, 30 Sep 2006
Along with Waugh's "Decline & Fall" I read this book every year & never fail to get something new from it. Not one word is out of place, not one scene mis-judged. Greene's characters inhabit a world unfamiliar to all 21st century Western wage-slaves; a world of physical danger, intellectual doubts & moral crises. But yet their paranoias & motives render every one of them as believable as ourselves & make their world as real as our own. The hero of this book in particular fills us with the uncomfortable realisation that even despicable acts born of unashamed selfishness can sometimes not only strike a chord within ourselves, but make us favour the perpetrators of such behaviour over other more innocent players. If you find nothing in this book for you stop reading.

Of the zeitgeist and an instant classic, 04 Nov 2008
White Teeth is a novel which encompasses all the richness, diversity and absurdity of modern life. Smith's characters fill the streets, shops, cafes, and houses of North London and, as each grapples with his or her own existential crisis, theirs is a `higgledy piggledy journey' made all the more difficult by engineering works on the Underground. This epic book may be stuffed full of character and anecdote but this detail is perfectly balanced and the many narrative threads remain in view, nothing is lost along the way. Just like the seemingly unlikely friendship between cerebral Samad and practical Archie, action and intellect are expertly combined by this writer whose style is effortlessly hip but infinitely intelligent. The narrative voice is wise about the world; she is an accomplished philosopher, scientist and historian but she is also an insider. The reader is at once entertained and enlightened, let in on a secret, granted access to the underground and the out of sight. Smith creates a world in which we are all inextricably bound up but there exists a tragic violence that threatens to alienate Smith's characters. The butcher Mo Hussein-Ishmael is frequently attacked in his shop and Samad and Alsana settle arguments by wrestling in the back garden, but the most powerful image is that of the violence done to the colonised by the coloniser, a violence Samad demonstrates when he writes his name in blood on Trafalgar square. Yet it is the comic impulse that prevails in Smith's portrayal of common experience understood through the known human landscapes in which she operates. At the end of the novel many of the characters are assembled together on a bus and one feels that Smith could take any random collection of commuters and make them the cast of one of her novels.

Serious Comic Writing, 14 Oct 2008
"White Teeth" is a prime example of a genre which might be called Serious Comic Writing. This is writing which ostensibly aims to be comic but is epic in scope, incorporates Serious Themes (in this case, multiculturalism) and involves a complex and interweaving cast of characters.

Does White Teeth work as Serious Comic Writing? More or less, though this isn't the same thing as saying it works particularly well as a comic novel. Smith's comic gifts are middling at best. The jokes are sometimes cheap and obvious, the dialogue can be somewhat mannered, and some of the set-pieces are flimsy and meandering. Smith has said that Archie and Samad are her favourite characters, and I agree, which is why it's a shame that their role in the second half of the novel is only peripheral, as the focus moves on to the succeeding generation. A whole novel of Archie and Samad might well have been the triumph a lot of critics believed this novel to be.

Serious Comic Writing, though, need not be a triumph of comedy. The aim of Serious Comic Writing is not necessarily to have the reader rolling on the floor laughing, but to use comedy as a means of dealing with serious issues in the context of a grand and multi-layered narrative. Comic writing often feels less pretentious and thus undermines any charge of self-importance that might come with such elevated themes. But in Serious Comic Writing the comedy is decisively the vehicle, and not the destination.

In these terms, the book is a success, but with some qualifications. Firstly, the novel feels less epic than Smith would clearly like it to be. The continual leaps between generations, characters and families of create less a narrative panorama than the feeling of a certain showiness. Look, the author says, here's a little sub-story set in the dying days of the Second World War. Here's a few pages on the Satanic Verses. Here's some material on turn-of-the-century colonial Jamaica. These sections are all rendered convincingly enough, but to my mind the beating heart of this story lies in its more parochial moments; Archie and Samad in O'Connells, Clara and Alsana's pregnancy chats, Irie and Millat at the school playground. In these moments, Smith has no backdrop but her own characters and the little world she has created for them, and it is here where her talent reaches its fullest expression.

Is the overall message of the novel compelling? One gets the sense of the author dressing up what is a fairly anodyne sentiment - that people of different races can get along OK given the opportunity - in a grand narrative which often ill-befits it. By the end of the book, the reader is sad to leave the characters, but also frustrated that they could not have had a little more space to breathe, a little more room to let us discover their quirks and neuroses without the author's regular displays of narrative over-ambition.

This is a good book by an obviously talented author, but a little editorial discipline and reduction in scope could have made it a great one.

Hype ruined it for me, 16 Sep 2008
I was expecting great things from this book, sadly I was disappointed. Although it is well written I just did not understand why it has been so highly praised. I found myslef caring more for the minor characters and wanting to hear more about their viewpoint on the events occuring. The story was ok, but did not grip me in the way I felt it could have had these other characters opinions been explored. Overall I would say it was well written but lacking in some places and does not live up to the hype

Still laughing, 16 Jun 2008
I first read this book when it was released and have to say, it's one of my favourites. Smith works away from the typical attitude of authors when it comes to talking about multi-culturism... in other words she's not scared to 'offend'. The book is absolutely hilarious and my favourite from her, compared to her other books. Her characters are there to hate and love all at the same time, and her storylines full of bittersweet humour...

A definite must read... I am gutted till this day to have missed the TV adaptation of this ....

Not the best read, 30 May 2008
I have read all three of Zadie Smith's books, mainly because I wanted to know what all the hype was about. I have just finished reading White Teeth and I have suddenly got it: in White Teeth Zadie Smith tries very hard to be like Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children or Satanic Verses: the language, epic style, the flashbacks to legendary times, the numerous characters; only the magical aspect of Rushdie's first books is left out.

My own childhood was quite rich multiculturally speaking but I can't boast that it was as varied as Zadie Smith's North London. And yet I was very disappointed with how Smith actually describes the mix of cultures and heritages that Irie, Magid and Millat grow up in. She doesn't work on developing the issue and sticks to stereotypes. I don't know whether she wasn't brave enough or didn't give enough of herself.

The characters are all obviously archetypical but she left out a lot of interesting details, dwelling more on monotonous issues (more to the point: they were monotonous in the book) or people: Samad and Archie's experience in the war and Marcus' work on genetics are quite boring and long episodes. The Chalfens on the other hand, representing the ignorant, prejudiced and condescending white Europeans are a ridiculous, unrealistic and uninteresting addenda. Clara and Irie - who are the really interesting people - are nearly not developed at all.

My advice to anyone thinking of buying this book: read Midnight's Children instead. It's much more poignant and genuine. If you want books on family sagas with loads of characters, head for García Márquez. You will save yourself time and gain entertainment and enrichment.


Soap opera material, 11 Sep 2008
I was disappointed with this book because it fell well short of my expectations, which were originally raised because of the reputation of the author. The plot revolves around two families, where the fathers are academics at loggerheads with each other, and it describes how the lives of all the family members become increasingly entwined. One problem was that in pursuing the plot the events became incredibly contrived, with almost desperate attempts made to interweave the stories of the two families. Ultimately it was simply unbelievable. I also found the characters in general to be surprisingly shallow and undeveloped; for Zora I just kept seeing Lisa from the Simpsons. However, the one bright spot was the relationship between Howard and Kiki, where some definite semblance of reality and passion emerged from the writing. Overall though I felt the book would be well suited to adaptation to a soap series, with half-hour scenes parodying real-life rather than reflecting it. I read the book on a beach holiday and it is good company if you want some easy reading, but for more depth look elsewhere.

Overhyped beyond belief!, 02 Sep 2008
although zadie smith is a very fine technical and intellectual writer, this really was a poor end result. unsympathetic characters, a jumbled plot, and hiding behind EM Forster, really add up to an un-enjoyable book.

I loved it, 28 Jul 2008
I thought this was a great book. I read it a year or two ago, and it remains one of my favourites. Amongst other things, I loved the devastating demolition of postmodernist aesthetic Theory. I guess that is an easy target, but even so, it was beautifully done. An even easier target, should she want one for her next book, would be customer reviews on Amazon.

BORING, 11 Jul 2008
I struggled with this book and only managed one and a half chapters. It bored me and I couldnt connect with the characters. I think this book was undeservedly hyped up!

[ Haiti ] this wretched, blood-stained little island a mere hour's boat trip from Florida..., 07 Jun 2008
Henri Bergson wrote that laughter (unconsciously and sometimes immorally) pursues a utilitarian aim of general improvement. That is, laughter performs a social function, and for the greater good. I was thinking of this when I noticed some adverse comment around the following sentence,

"For Monty, though, Carlene wanted to get something `really nice', and so they decided to brave three blocks of snow-walking in order to reach a fancier, smaller, specialist boutique that might have the cane with the carved handle which that Carlene had in mind." (p.266, hardback)

I can do two things here. First, to correct the grammar. Second, to speculate why the original text as printed is, in fact, intentional on Zadie Smith's part

GRAMMAR
There is much debate over the correct usage of the pronouns `that' and `which' in relative clauses. Nevertheless, as a general rule for formal English, where a clause is restrictive (ie, the semantics of the sentence are affected by removing the clause), `that' should be used. And, where a clause is non-restrictive (ie, the semantics of the sentence are not affected by removing the clause), `which' should be used and the clause introduced by a comma

In the text quoted above, there are two significant relative clauses - i) "[ in order to reach a ] specialist boutique that might have the cane with the carved handle", and ii) "the carved handle which that Carlene had in mind". In case i), `that' is the appropriate pronoun where the speciality of the boutique is indeed canes with carved handles. However, later in the text, it is revealed that the boutique sells canes, and monogrammed handkerchiefs, and dreadful cravats. Therefore, the speciality of the boutique is not canes with carved handles but a range of high value goods to which (presumably) the boutique adds its particular cachet - like Liberty on Regent Street, for example. Following this rule, the semantics of the sentence are not changed by removing the relative clause - Carlene and Kiki brave three blocks of snow-walking in order to reach a fancier, smaller, specialist boutique. Therefore, the relative clause is non-restrictive and the appropriate pronoun is `which' preceded by a comma. By the by, this resolves also a problem I have with usage of `that' with modal auxiliaries that express doubt (might, may, could, should, etc), although I may be out on a limb here

In case ii), Zadie Smith has deployed both relative pronouns serially leaving the reader (or her editor) to choose. In this case, it is only by qualifying "the cane with the carved handle" with the fact that the cane with the carved handle is what Carlene has in mind that the statement makes sense. The cane with the carved handle has not been mentioned earlier in the text and needs specification at this point. Therefore, this is a restrictive clause and the appropriate pronoun is `that'

To satisfy the norms of formal English, the text should read as follows,

"... and so they decided to brave three blocks of snow-walking in order to reach a fancier, smaller, specialist boutique, which might have the cane with the carved handle that Carlene had in mind."

But, it doesn't. And there's a reason for that

INTENTIONALITY
Here, I speculate Zadie Smith's intention in delivering the quoted sentence as it is, and resisting any attempt by her editors to change it. There are two clues. First, earlier in the novel, the earnest lexophile Jack French's particular attachment to Henry Watson Fowler has been described. It is Fowler, in his Dictionary of Modern English Usage (1926), who first legitimises the interchangeability of `that' and `which' (without comma) in restrictive relative clauses. Thus, creating the confusion that persists down to Zadie Smith's own generation - a confusion that Zadie Smith artfully satirises by getting the grammar as wrong as it could possibly be. The second clue is delivered with the delicate insertion of the word "cravat" (rather than tie) when describing Carlene's purchases - "... and then the most dreadful cravat" (p.268, hardback). The word cravat is of French derivation (as in Jack French, a repeated joke throughout the novel) but, much more interestingly, services a multi-layered paronomasia which (I think) reveals the depth and complexity of Zadie Smith's genius as a writer and thinker

It works like this. The mingling of terms from multiple languages (eg, cravat for tie, French and Jack French) and, indeed, the mangling of formal language (eg, "the cane with the carved handle which that Carlene had in mind") to produce comic effect is termed traditionally macaronic (from macaroni, probably from same root as maceration). And, Macaronis was the term used to identify the generation of mid-eighteenth century young dandies who returned from the Grand Tour with a macaronic grab-bag of Continental affectations. One of which, indeed, was the small cravat - the forerunner of the modern tie

Thus it is that, with extraordinary deftness, Zadie Smith fashions a web of satiric filaments that ensnare the unwary reader just as they coruscate, startle and amaze. And it is through this interweaving of semantic and syntactic games that she achieves the rupture of what Henri Bergson termed mechanical inelasticity - that is, the thing that makes us less human, and against which laughter offers a social sanction





Failiure to launch, 27 Dec 2007
I was excited by this book.

The cover art, the authors I've previously enjoyed (Toby Litt, Adam Thirlwell, A.M Holmes, Nick Hornby) and illustrations by Daniel Clowes and Posy Simmonds.

According to the blurb: "The Book of Other People" is just that: a book of other people. With an introduction by Zadie Smith and brand-new stories from over twenty of the best writers of their generation from both sides of the Atlantic, "The Book of Other People" is as dazzling and inventive as its authors, and as vivid and wide-ranging as its characters."

Although the characters and situations are wide-ranging this doesn't mean they're engaging.

Short stories are often seen as the less glamorous siblings of the novel but they're often a lot harder to master, and this is evident here.

The trouble is, it left me feeling bit flat. Whist there are some ace stories in here, I get the feeling that some of these writers are so sued to having a full novel to flesh a character and their story out, that having a short story to make their mark was perhaps too much of a challenge.

David Mitchell's Judith Castle, Heidi Julavits Judge Gladys Park Schultz and Rhoda, By Jonathan Safran Foer really stood out, but the rest, whilst the actual writing is proficient, a fair few of the scenarios refused to lift off the page, with characters who weren't that interesting or believable, which was disappointing.

My eyes have been opened., 15 May 2007
This book is one of the few that left me with a 'wow' feeling after I finished it. It is hard to describe just how amazing this book is, so I suggest that you read it to find out!

The racism is shocking at times, yet it invites us into the 'porch culture' that is so commonly associated with Black America. The protagonist is Jane, the product of rape by a white school teacher. Her mother runs away, leaving her in the care of her grandmother, who tries to shield her from the strong racism (Janie doesn't even realise she is black until she is 6!) and, wanting the best for her, arranges a marriage when Janie is just 16. Janie struggles but eventually takes her to a man worthy of her love. It is a beautiful tale, full of sadness, yet these downtrodden characters show admirable determination to survive and make the best of life. It is well worth reading, and easy to see how this book provided inspiration for authors such as Toni Morrison!

A definite classic and a must have..., 11 Apr 2006
I hadn't even heard of Zora Neal Hurston until a few weeks ago, till I was given the book as a gift, and then watched the movie (starring Halle Berry and produced by Oprah Winfrey). This is a book for every woman who has ever felt there has to be more. Much more. The story is about Janie, a free sprit if ever there was one, her spirit almost becomes a central character and carries her forth and helps her break free from the shackles of unworthy men. Essentially, a love story, but Janie's free spirit and love of life is the real story. Alice Walker describes this as "There is no book more important to me than this one" I agree, I feel it, I love it, I recommend it, read it, watch it, whatever, get it!

An outstanding story, 22 Feb 2006
Their Eyes Were Watching God was one of the best books that I've ever read. The book answered a lot of questions about life. We are faced with several conflicts in humanity with choices having to be made between Love, Good, Evil, Hope or reality, and Truth. It is a story about Janie, a young black woman, who tries to find herself through her grandmother's footsteps and eventually confronts herself to become the person she knows is of her own good. Taken along the memory lane in a small southern black town, "Their Eyes were Watching God" is a beautiful portrayal of the conflicts confronting Janie, not only about herself but also about how her society perceives her. Through an amazing creativity in characters, plot development, excellent narrative, lessons and dialogues and an easy ride through time, Zora successful made the reader to understand and appreciate black culture. This absolutely credible story is a highly recommended book to anyone with a taste for classic stories.Also recommended: USURPER AND OTHER STORIES,TRIPLE AGENT DOUBLE CROSS, THE GREAT GATSBY, UNCLE TOM'S CABIN

A GREAT CLASSIC,, 29 Mar 2005
"Where's dat blue satin dress she left here in? Where all dat money her husband took and died and left here? What dat ole forty year ole `oman doing wid her hair swingin' down her back lak some young gal?"

I know nothing of Zora Neale Hurston except that she wrote a great classic in Their Eyes Were Watching God sometime in the nineteen thirties.
The books makes its focal point around Janie Crawford, the envy of all other black sisters because of her light skin and her below the waist long hair. A strong and independent Afro-American woman, Janie knows what she wants out of life and leaves her town of Eatonville searching for it; finding herself at the altar on three occasions.
Forced more or less into the first marriage with Logan which did not last longer than a snowball in hell, Janie does her best to be a good wife, but at this stage she is still young and does not understand what is required of her in this unity which is on the verge of breaking down. As this happens, she quickly hooks up with the sweet talking Joe Starks, a man whom she looks up to and who will become the mayor of the small county where they live. Life with Joe Starks is different to the marriage with Logan as all the folks look up to Starks who is responsible, thoroughly arrogant, stubborn and forces his opinions and standards on Janie, like it or not.
But a reprieve comes in Janie Crawford's life after the death of the Mayor, which finds her grown into maturity and with a better comprehension of the world around her, and a better understanding of her desires and how she may acquire this love which has eluded her all these years. From her past experiences Janie reaches out for marriage the third time over with a man twelve years her junior, and this is when she will taste love at its sweetest for the first time, and be acquainted with pain, racial prejudice and great loss. For lovers of classical books, this book comes highly recommended!!!
SUGAR-CANE 28/03/05

Poetry In Motion, 10 Jun 2004
No this isn't a poetry book but it is lyrical in its execution. I believed I was Pheoby listening to Janey. I was transported to the porch. I loved the way Janie's husband's seemed to appear as if by magic. I loved the lying tales reminscent of stories my family told. this is not a novel it is an oral tale written down.

In her second novel, The Autograph Man, Zadie Smith has set herself the unenviable task of following up a certain segment of recent literary history. Her first novel, the bestselling, award-laden and much-hyped White Teeth wore its ambitions lightly: an exuberant comic foray into the lives of three disparate families living in suburban north London, it dealt simultaneously--and deftly--with wider multicultural and political motifs.

The Autograph Man has a similar ebullience and an equally dazzling panoply of characters. Its hero Alex Li-Tandem is "one of this generation who watch themselves", a Chinese-Jewish north Londoner who is first introduced as a child accompanying his father to a wrestling match between those two larger-than-life scions of 1970s Saturday afternoon television--Big Daddy and Giant Haystacks. When Alex's father dies in the pandemonium surrounding the pursuit of Big Daddy's autograph, the twin themes of the novel are launched--one is the bereaved Alex's search for a replacement to fill the gulf, the other his obsession with tracking down, buying and selling autographs. Alex seeks one autograph in particular and seemingly in vain--that of Kitty Alexander, a fading film star. The route he follows in his search has much to say about the nature of celebrity and the privacy of souls, of fantasy and reality--all narrated in Smith's breathless prose.

The Autograph Man plays on many strands and clever observations--in particular Jewishness, goyishness and Zen Buddhism. Smith is a superbly assured writer whose images stick in the mind; for example, Alex's girlfriend Esther has "hair plaited like a puzzle". The dialogue is vivid and there is much humour but at times the convoluted plot threatens to spill over into anarchy and the humour can be self-conscious. Though this does not diminish the entertainment value of The Autograph Man, it does--frustratingly--make it appear insincere. --Catherine Taylor

Relevant and thought provoking, 22 Sep 2008
Incredibly relevant in today's debates about liberal interventionism. It's amazing how little we have moved on since the 50s. Is it possible to intervene in another culture to solve their problems? Are we often the cause of their problems? Is doing nothing a form of intervention? I don't know the answers to these questions and I don't think Greene did either.

Another piece of modern history, 16 Mar 2008
Despite the death and destruction depicted in this book, like the character of the title, this was a "quiet book". It was good to read about Vietnam before the Americans went in and I'm sure many have no idea of the French involvement in that country's history. Another enjoyable group read.

Short but perfectly formed, 29 Dec 2007
'The Quiet American' is a fairly short, but perfectly formed, novel. Set in the Vietnam war, the narrator is Fowler, a cynical British journalist who forms an unlikely friendship with an idealistic young American called Pyle. Fowler is a good central character, very believable and multi-faceted, and I grew to like him. The supporting characters - from the Vietnamese girl the two men fight over to the boozy American journalist Granger - are also well drawn and realistic.

The writing style is clean and economical, with good use of descriptive touches which paint a much more vivid picture than long winded or flowery prose. Greene is equally good at describing emotions: fear, anguish and tragedy. He manages to address serious political issues without being dull or detracting from the plot, and without offering easy answers.

As someone who knows very little about the Vietnam war and the politics surrounding it, I was at something of a disadvantage and I would recommend a quick reading of the historical background (an encyclopaedia entry would have done) for anyone else with little knowledge of this historical period. At times the early story was a little hard to follow, and that is probably due to my lack of previous knowledge. I think Greene presumes that the reader will have at least some idea of the main issues and factions in the war, so it is worth gaining this in order to better appreciate the story.

The plot is well paced, interesting and plausible. The political debates and emotional turmoils of the characters are perfectly balanced by action and dialogue. The story moves back and forward in time, and this is well handled so that it does not become confusing or annoying.

On the whole, a good read and a book that I think would be enjoyed by most readers.

Perfect, just perfect, 24 Oct 2006
A quick note. This is one of the most perfectly written and complete stories I have ever read. It is full of thought provoking characters and behaviours finding both beauty, love and pain in a dark world they cannot control. The book crosses political idealism with cynicsm and selfishness, and although set in a historical backdrop these themes are as relevent today. Just perfect.



Faultless, 30 Sep 2006
Along with Waugh's "Decline & Fall" I read this book every year & never fail to get something new from it. Not one word is out of place, not one scene mis-judged. Greene's characters inhabit a world unfamiliar to all 21st century Western wage-slaves; a world of physical danger, intellectual doubts & moral crises. But yet their paranoias & motives render every one of them as believable as ourselves & make their world as real as our own. The hero of this book in particular fills us with the uncomfortable realisation that even despicable acts born of unashamed selfishness can sometimes not only strike a chord within ourselves, but make us favour the perpetrators of such behaviour over other more innocent players. If you find nothing in this book for you stop reading.

Of the zeitgeist and an instant classic, 04 Nov 2008
White Teeth is a novel which encompasses all the richness, diversity and absurdity of modern life. Smith's characters fill the streets, shops, cafes, and houses of North London and, as each grapples with his or her own existential crisis, theirs is a `higgledy piggledy journey' made all the more difficult by engineering works on the Underground. This epic book may be stuffed full of character and anecdote but this detail is perfectly balanced and the many narrative threads remain in view, nothing is lost along the way. Just like the seemingly unlikely friendship between cerebral Samad and practical Archie, action and intellect are expertly combined by this writer whose style is effortlessly hip but infinitely intelligent. The narrative voice is wise about the world; she is an accomplished philosopher, scientist and historian but she is also an insider. The reader is at once entertained and enlightened, let in on a secret, granted access to the underground and the out of sight. Smith creates a world in which we are all inextricably bound up but there exists a tragic violence that threatens to alienate Smith's characters. The butcher Mo Hussein-Ishmael is frequently attacked in his shop and Samad and Alsana settle arguments by wrestling in the back garden, but the most powerful image is that of the violence done to the colonised by the coloniser, a violence Samad demonstrates when he writes his name in blood on Trafalgar square. Yet it is the comic impulse that prevails in Smith's portrayal of common experience understood through the known human landscapes in which she operates. At the end of the novel many of the characters are assembled together on a bus and one feels that Smith could take any random collection of commuters and make them the cast of one of her novels.

Serious Comic Writing, 14 Oct 2008
"White Teeth" is a prime example of a genre which might be called Serious Comic Writing. This is writing which ostensibly aims to be comic but is epic in scope, incorporates Serious Themes (in this case, multiculturalism) and involves a complex and interweaving cast of characters.

Does White Teeth work as Serious Comic Writing? More or less, though this isn't the same thing as saying it works particularly well as a comic novel. Smith's comic gifts are middling at best. The jokes are sometimes cheap and obvious, the dialogue can be somewhat mannered, and some of the set-pieces are flimsy and meandering. Smith has said that Archie and Samad are her favourite characters, and I agree, which is why it's a shame that their role in the second half of the novel is only peripheral, as the focus moves on to the succeeding generation. A whole novel of Archie and Samad might well have been the triumph a lot of critics believed this novel to be.

Serious Comic Writing, though, need not be a triumph of comedy. The aim of Serious Comic Writing is not necessarily to have the reader rolling on the floor laughing, but to use comedy as a means of dealing with serious issues in the context of a grand and multi-layered narrative. Comic writing often feels less pretentious and thus undermines any charge of self-importance that might come with such elevated themes. But in Serious Comic Writing the comedy is decisively the vehicle, and not the destination.

In these terms, the book is a success, but with some qualifications. Firstly, the novel feels less epic than Smith would clearly like it to be. The continual leaps between generations, characters and families of create less a narrative panorama than the feeling of a certain showiness. Look, the author says, here's a little sub-story set in the dying days of the Second World War. Here's a few pages on the Satanic Verses. Here's some material on turn-of-the-century colonial Jamaica. These sections are all rendered convincingly enough, but to my mind the beating heart of this story lies in its more parochial moments; Archie and Samad in O'Connells, Clara and Alsana's pregnancy chats, Irie and Millat at the school playground. In these moments, Smith has no backdrop but her own characters and the little world she has created for them, and it is here where her talent reaches its fullest expression.

Is the overall message of the novel compelling? One gets the sense of the author dressing up what is a fairly anodyne sentiment - that people of different races can get along OK given the opportunity - in a grand narrative which often ill-befits it. By the end of the book, the reader is sad to leave the characters, but also frustrated that they could not have had a little more space to breathe, a little more room to let us discover their quirks and neuroses without the author's regular displays of narrative over-ambition.

This is a good book by an obviously talented author, but a little editorial discipline and reduction in scope could have made it a great one.

Hype ruined it for me, 16 Sep 2008
I was expecting great things from this book, sadly I was disappointed. Although it is well written I just did not understand why it has been so highly praised. I found myslef caring more for the minor characters and wanting to hear more about their viewpoint on the events occuring. The story was ok, but did not grip me in the way I felt it could have had these other characters opinions been explored. Overall I would say it was well written but lacking in some places and does not live up to the hype

Still laughing, 16 Jun 2008
I first read this book when it was released and have to say, it's one of my favourites. Smith works away from the typical attitude of authors when it comes to talking about multi-culturism... in other words she's not scared to 'offend'. The book is absolutely hilarious and my favourite from her, compared to her other books. Her characters are there to hate and love all at the same time, and her storylines full of bittersweet humour...

A definite must read... I am gutted till this day to have missed the TV adaptation of this ....

Not the best read, 30 May 2008
I have read all three of Zadie Smith's books, mainly because I wanted to know what all the hype was about. I have just finished reading White Teeth and I have suddenly got it: in White Teeth Zadie Smith tries very hard to be like Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children or Satanic Verses: the language, epic style, the flashbacks to legendary times, the numerous characters; only the magical aspect of Rushdie's first books is left out.

My own childhood was quite rich multiculturally speaking but I can't boast that it was as varied as Zadie Smith's North London. And yet I was very disappointed with how Smith actually describes the mix of cultures and heritages that Irie, Magid and Millat grow up in. She doesn't work on developing the issue and sticks to stereotypes. I don't know whether she wasn't brave enough or didn't give enough of herself.

The characters are all obviously archetypical but she left out a lot of interesting details, dwelling more on monotonous issues (more to the point: they were monotonous in the book) or people: Samad and Archie's experience in the war and Marcus' work on genetics are quite boring and long episodes. The Chalfens on the other hand, representing the ignorant, prejudiced and condescending white Europeans are a ridiculous, unrealistic and uninteresting addenda. Clara and Irie - who are the really interesting people - are nearly not developed at all.

My advice to anyone thinking of buying this book: read Midnight's Children instead. It's much more poignant and genuine. If you want books on family sagas with loads of characters, head for García Márquez. You will save yourself time and gain entertainment and enrichment.


Soap opera material, 11 Sep 2008
I was disappointed with this book because it fell well short of my expectations, which were originally raised because of the reputation of the author. The plot revolves around two families, where the fathers are academics at loggerheads with each other, and it describes how the lives of all the family members become increasingly entwined. One problem was that in pursuing the plot the events became incredibly contrived, with almost desperate attempts made to interweave the stories of the two families. Ultimately it was simply unbelievable. I also found the characters in general to be surprisingly shallow and undeveloped; for Zora I just kept seeing Lisa from the Simpsons. However, the one bright spot was the relationship between Howard and Kiki, where some definite semblance of reality and passion emerged from the writing. Overall though I felt the book would be well suited to adaptation to a soap series, with half-hour scenes parodying real-life rather than reflecting it. I read the book on a beach holiday and it is good company if you want some easy reading, but for more depth look elsewhere.

Overhyped beyond belief!, 02 Sep 2008
although zadie smith is a very fine technical and intellectual writer, this really was a poor end result. unsympathetic characters, a jumbled plot, and hiding behind EM Forster, really add up to an un-enjoyable book.

I loved it, 28 Jul 2008
I thought this was a great book. I read it a year or two ago, and it remains one of my favourites. Amongst other things, I loved the devastating demolition of postmodernist aesthetic Theory. I guess that is an easy target, but even so, it was beautifully done. An even easier target, should she want one for her next book, would be customer reviews on Amazon.

BORING, 11 Jul 2008
I struggled with this book and only managed one and a half chapters. It bored me and I couldnt connect with the characters. I think this book was undeservedly hyped up!

[ Haiti ] this wretched, blood-stained little island a mere hour's boat trip from Florida..., 07 Jun 2008
Henri Bergson wrote that laughter (unconsciously and sometimes immorally) pursues a utilitarian aim of general improvement. That is, laughter performs a social function, and for the greater good. I was thinking of this when I noticed some adverse comment around the following sentence,

"For Monty, though, Carlene wanted to get something `really nice', and so they decided to brave three blocks of snow-walking in order to reach a fancier, smaller, specialist boutique that might have the cane with the carved handle which that Carlene had in mind." (p.266, hardback)

I can do two things here. First, to correct the grammar. Second, to speculate why the original text as printed is, in fact, intentional on Zadie Smith's part

GRAMMAR
There is much debate over the corr