Reviews

The Fraud by Zadie Smith

oneeye's review

emotional funny reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

kellimartin22's review

challenging dark emotional informative reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Parts of this book I loved — details of the trial, Bogel’s story and how it connected to the book as a whole, and the interrogation of what it means to be free and what it means to be a fraud. I didn’t love the narrative style and found a lot of the writing a bit too tedious and flowery, and disliked every single character which gave me no one to root for or care about. Overall, I had mixed feelings about this book as I appreciated the message and the author’s intent but disliked the methods Smith utilized to get there. 
This could have been a five star read if the noise were edited down and the subplots/seemingly random timeline jumping were kept to a minimum. 

mniedoba's review

slow-paced

2.0

cidhinnia's review

slow-paced

3.0

I wanted this book to be good but I had a hard time following it in certain areas and it often moved slowly. Maybe if it had focused on only one character it might have been better. 

buttercupita's review

4.0

Heard a lot about this book on the NYT podcast of its top picks for 2023, and, on their recommendation, chose to do the audio version. This had pros and cons! On the plus side, Smith is a fantastic voice actress, and I enjoyed hearing her bring each character to life (and really playing into the humanity of some of them and humor of others -- I was often laughing out loud as I listened.) On the other hand, this is a very sprawling narrative, and I often missed the ability to easily go back a few pages or chapters to figure out what was going on or the background on some of the many characters. The novel is taken from the actual history of an imposter's trial, and the parallel with the political dynamics of our day is fascinating (specifically, the polarization between those who idolize/recognize "the Fraud".)

robyn1998's review against another edition

This is my second attempt at reading The Fraud. Maybe I'm just not intellectual enough for it. I just get the feeling that Zadie Smith does not care whether her books are entertaining or not. I'm definitely planning to reread White Teeth and NW as those books were so influential to me, but I'm going to leave the rest of her catalogue alone.

satiluna626's review

3.0

slower than I wldve liked, but there is a literary power to it nonetheless. and there are sentences that knock you right down. wld like to explore more of this author. keen observer, her.

amber_ray's review against another edition

challenging mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

alittleemu's review against another edition

medium-paced

4.25

erin_m_05's review

reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75