Reviews tagging 'Racism'

Swing Time by Zadie Smith

11 reviews

amgarrido's review against another edition

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emotional 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

3.25

I hate to be that person but this book had so much potential… I loved how it was started out and I was enraptured by the narrator and Tracey’s childhood antics in North West London. I also really enjoyed the exploration of complex family dynamics, the ambiguous  space of being mixed race and the analysis of social class and upbringing in the UK. Despite her flaws, I empathised with the narrator’s mother, although I felt that making her so cold and unmotherly almost reinforced a stereotype.

However, when this book started to focus so much on the narrator’s work for Aimee and centred largely around the glamorous and uninteresting life of this self-absorbed, narcissistic Australian I lost interest and had to force myself to finish it. I see what Smith was trying to do in terms of exploring the intersections between race and class through this employee/employer relationship, where the power dynamics were confused and the boundaries blurry at best. It was interesting how this relationship almost seemed like a (toxic) friendship at times, but could quickly turn back to cold and professional when it suited Aimee.

I will say I enjoyed most of the time the narrator spent in the unnamed West African country, but again, found Aimee’s white saviourism incredibly jarring (now that I express it, this was probably Smith’s intention).

This was my first Zadie Smith novel and despite not having been what I expected, I will definitely be picking up another, as her writing is delectable.
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laurynsbookshelf's review against another edition

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

4.0

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kers_tin's review

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challenging emotional reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

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norah_'s review against another edition

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

3.25

⭐️=3.25 | 😘=5 | 🤬=4 | ⚔️=3 | 18+
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brianareads's review against another edition

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reflective slow-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? No

2.5

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elysephone_escapes's review against another edition

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challenging reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? N/A
  • Loveable characters? N/A
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

This is the book that made me actually see the value in the recent trend of creatively annotating books. Normally I save it only for the Kindle, my excuse being I'm too busy reading the book to annotate, but this one had some great lines and thought pieces in it that made be decide to go back and underline them. Undoubtedly Zadie Smith is a fantastic writer - and while not my entire personal cup of tea and I may not be picking up another or hers in the near future, I am glad to have found this one and read it. Lots to think about, can't wait to listen to the interviews saved to my YouTube playlist  from Smith around this book to get more insight.
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jojo_'s review

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

1.5

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nofacelif's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Another brilliant novel by Zadie Smith. The way she integrates culture, roots, race, and history within her stories never ceases to amaze me. Her writing flows, making a relatively long book easy to read. The attention she puts into detail and the connections made between the past and present throughout the novel add to her writing. Her choice of telling the past and present plot at the same time stands out and makes the story more interesting, and the reader intrigued. The mother-daughter relationship and friendship between Tracy and the narrator are the highlights of the novel.
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abbyreadsbigbooks123's review against another edition

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slow-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

4.0

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nytephoenyx's review

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emotional reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

This is the first time I’ve read a Zadie Smith book, and her writing immediately transported me.  Swing Time tells the story of two girls who were friends when they were young, loved to dance, and took very different paths as they grew up and grew apart.  The story jumps between time periods and continents, but the voice remains the same.

I found Swing Time to be a pendulum between states.  Famous, unsuccessful.  Comfortable, poor.  Intellectual, cosmopolitan.  Natural talent, hard work.  Throughout the entire book, our unnamed narrator finds herself confused and learning.  The world itself never seems to fit in the box she has built in her mind to fit it and as such the alternating chapters between Aimee and Tracey are in many ways repetitive, just from a slightly different perspective.

One thing I will criticize is that Swing Time feels… excessively wordy.  Despite what a wonderful job narrator Pippa Bennett-Warner did with this book, I still had to play it back on 2x because otherwise I found my mind wandering.  Each section is beautifully written, but with hours of material just like this, it’s easy to get fatigued by the philosophical ponderings, socio-economic lectures, and bemused conversation.

Like most literary fiction, this book explores the world.  Smith’s writing is stunning and immersive despite its repetitive nature and wordiness. I enjoyed the slow transformation of not just our narrator, but Aimee and Tracey as well.  Swing Time is a good book to pick up if you’re looking for something slow but interesting that is well-written and raw, though not abrasively so.  I enjoyed it enough that I will pick up more of Smith’s work. 

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