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| White Teeth | 
 enlarge | Author: Zadie Smith
Publisher: Penguin
Category: Book
List Price: £7.99
Buy Used: £0.01
You Save: £7.98 (100%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  200 reviews
Sales Rank: 9192
Media: Paperback
Edition: New edition
Pages: 560
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 7.4 x 5.1 x 1.7
ISBN: 0140276335
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN: 9780140276336
ASIN: 0140276335
Publication Date: January 25, 2001
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 How history works May 30, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
This is the kind of book that gives multi-culturalism a good name. It isn't preachy or pius, it's just content to be profound and funny and readable. Above all it is Irie's story. Her older relatives share the big immigrant fear, disappearance, the nightmare where birthplace and belonging become meaningless accidents. But to young Irie, this feels like freedom. You can't escape your history, your shadow. But roots can be too too long, tortuous and deep, and in the end will have to be ignored and denied. Thus history progresses. All this comes as a bonus. The humour and humanity alone are worth the read.
 Deep issue, shallow execution May 13, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
One reviewer said that Smith comes across as the sort of person who always has 'something to say', and I certainly can't disagree.
This book is frustrating in its length, for a start, and I think that's my main issue with it. Typical family sagas do tend to be long and twisted, but this is more of a political commentary than a story, reminiscient of those people who came to school to perform a skit on 'a big issue' at the time, like drugs or peer pressure, simultaneously trying to be down with the kids.
Where this succeeds over those painfully remembered efforts is that it does portray multiculturalism and racism as being a many-layered thing, instead of simply begging us all to get along as if it were so neatly black and white (forgive the unintentional pun).
Where it fails is that it can seem a bit hopeless at times, and is occasionally uncomfortable in its use of strict stereotypes (which all the characters are, to be frank).
In all of the three families, there is not a single likeable character, and none that have an iota of depth. I feel that we're supposed to like Millat to a certain degree, but Smith tries too hard to make him sexy, and so he only succeeds at being obnoxious.
The one family that doesn't constantly think about race is the Chalfen family, and even they are completely egocentric and identikit (almost, as one rebels).
There are pages of events that go nowhere and mean nothing at the story's conclusion. What, for example, was the point of Poppy Burt-Jones and her 'affair' with Samad? Was there a reason for the pages detailing his sudden need to masturbate and the emotional conflict it induced (apart from the author trying to shock, of course)? The pages spent on Clara and Ryan Topps could have easily been obleted. The story of Clara's grandmother, Ambrosia, also had no meaningful attachment to the main story.
But I don't lay the main faults of the novel entirely at Smith's door. For a debut novel, it's quite a fine thing. Certainly not deserving of the prizes and outstanding reviews it recieved (cultural issues were in vogue right from the beginning of the 21st century, is the explanation), but it has a strong voice that stands out and at least attempts to do something ambitious, something not usually considered 'safe' for a first novel.
No, the main problem lies with the editor, who should have actually done their job by making ammendments and giving Smith well-needed advice and guidance. From what I've seen of her other books, she has gone on to make the same mistakes over and again.
If you're interested in multicultural London, in cultural politics or have seen the TV adaptation and want to read the real thing, then White Teeth is not a bad read. There are parts you will fly through, and others that can be innocently ignored, and you won't feel worse off for having read it. If an engaging story, characters and theme are your sort of thing, then ignore the hype and pick up something else.
 mixed feelings May 5, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
There are some books that i avoid simply because everybody else raves about them - this is one of those books. for many years i stayed away for the reason just given, but this year i had to read it as part of my degree and for the first 200 hundred pages i was wondering why i hadnt read it before. however, i felt that i was reading this book for months as it was just so long! i was just wishing that i could get to the end. i really liked Smith's style of writing and would definitely read more of her work, and the ideas that she uses are really compelling, but i felt that she could have achieved the same thing a hundred pages earlier. i'm glad that i have now read it and it is worth a look, but at times it did feel like a bit of a slog. thats just my opinion - im sure other people thoroughly enjoyed it.
 fab March 24, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Love the author's style - lots of humour to spice it up! The characterisations particularly and the different voices were for me so distinct. The level of detail about the character's backgrounds was also very convincing, and I loved the way the number of characters were limited, and the symmetry throughout. The only things I didn't like so much were that actually I didn't care massively about any of the characters, and also that the end then seemed a little abrupt and not that pleasing, but I think this is a shockingly clever, well rounded and beautifully written book - by someone so young!! It's so exciting to wonder what else will come from Zadie Smith for year to come. Well done her - wish I could write like that.
A Gem of Modern Writing March 7, 2008
This a well-crafted novel that skillfully draws the reader into the fictional world that the author creates. She weaves a patient plot in a way that is reminiscent of Dickens. Reading the novel is very often like listening to very interesting gossip. For an author who was still in her early twenties, there is a general impression of maturity in her writing which is quite remarkable. She shows great insight into the lves of a wide variety of humanity.
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