Zadie Smith’s ability to develop multi-dimensional characters is unmatched by many contemporary writers (and she did it at 24). Reading this book, I wasn’t just pulled into another world but another world and another world and another world (I imagine that Smith’s outline for White Teeth might’ve been more thorough than most author’s final drafts; either that, or her fingers are tiny wands casting book magic into whichever desktop is privileged enough to aid her wizardry). What also commands admiration is Smith’s cackle-causing humor — it’s the I’m going to tell it like I see it observations from the wittiest person you know. While engrossed in the novel, I found myself shaking my head both as a result of the sharp tongue and impressive brilliance. It’s a tic I fall into when I’m awed.
At times, toward the latter pages, the writing can become a climb in that the story is cumbersome and pulling it all together steepens the read. Yet, that is a crumb in the meal of a novel that spans multiple generations, races, religions, continents, ideologies, and all while crafting genuine, true to the moment dialogue — another glow in a book that shines. White Teeth is a read, like a first attempt at algebra, that benefits from breaks to synthesize it all. But like algebra, everyone should spend some time becoming familiar with Smith’s writing.
Favorite Quotes: “No matter what anyone says, suicide takes guts. It’s for heroes and martyrs, truly vainglorious men. Archie was none of these. He was a man whose significance in the Greater Scheme of Things could be figured along familiar ratios:
Pebble : Beach
Raindrop : Ocean
Needle : Haystack“
“Greeting cards routinely tell us everybody deserves love. No. Everybody deserves clean water. Not everybody deserves love all the time.“
“Generally, women can’t do this, but men retain the ancient ability to leave a family and a past. They just unhook themselves, like removing a fake beard, and skulk discreetly back into society, changed men. Unrecognizable“
“But it makes an immigrant laugh to hear the fears of the nationalist, scared of infection, penetration, miscegenation, when this is small fry, peanuts, compared to what the immigrant fears – dissolution, disappearance.“
About the Author: Zadie Smith is a professor of fiction at New York University and a Member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. After White Teeth, she published four other novels, The Autograph Man, On Beauty, NW, and Swing Time.
Daniel Dickey