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3.52 AVERAGE
3.52 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
funny
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I thought the beginning of this novel was fantastic. And Zadie Smith is a talented writer with some very moving, beautiful sentences. She has a good ear for speech and dialect and I really believed in the characters.
But the whole novel left me confused and exhausted, trying to put the threads together, trying to understand how all these lives interconnected. Also the long passage dedicated to Keisha/Natalie was written in these tiny, staccato paragraphs and although I loved the character, the style and form left me cold.
Sometimes, too, I felt the writing was a little cliched and lazy, just listing off famous product names (M&S e.t.c.) and tube stops as if no-one had heard of Pimlico before... As if we should all be automatically interested in London. Unfortunately, for a British reader, names of London subway lines are not innately fascinating.
Zadie Smith exploded onto the scene with White Teeth, but since then she just hasn't managed to follow up...
(Saying that - 'The Embassy of Cambodia' is a pretty good short story)
But the whole novel left me confused and exhausted, trying to put the threads together, trying to understand how all these lives interconnected. Also the long passage dedicated to Keisha/Natalie was written in these tiny, staccato paragraphs and although I loved the character, the style and form left me cold.
Sometimes, too, I felt the writing was a little cliched and lazy, just listing off famous product names (M&S e.t.c.) and tube stops as if no-one had heard of Pimlico before... As if we should all be automatically interested in London. Unfortunately, for a British reader, names of London subway lines are not innately fascinating.
Zadie Smith exploded onto the scene with White Teeth, but since then she just hasn't managed to follow up...
(Saying that - 'The Embassy of Cambodia' is a pretty good short story)
Doing this review in sections because... idk it is taking too long to read and I have to return it to my friend in 3 days so I may not finish it.
Visitation
So this book is very divisive. People's race, class and gender are all used to determine who a person is in not so subtle ways.
I know it's supposed to be ironic, but I'm not sure (yet) whether the author is saying a person's race is important, or whether it's only important because we make it so.
The first chapter of Visitation seems to be just an introduction to the prose. It is pretty, but it's also very pretentious. It cuts out a lot of those in-between words so the sentences feel only half-finished. It can make it hard to follow, especially if you're reading it in several sittings. It's hard to adapt to, and often there is no easy way to work out who is speaking or what is going on, which brings you out of the story. Zadie Smith obviously sacrifices coherency for art, and that would be okay...
... if it wasn't. so. pretentious. The apple tree poem, for example, belongs in a Year 8 student's diary. The prose is good for a poem, but I feel like the meaning underneath is just Zadie Smith saying 'I wonder if I could shape a poem like a tree', adding nothing else to the work. I liked the word-picture she did with Adina George's mouth in the later chapter, which proves this style of writing can work, but not if it takes up an entire page and is just so useless.
& The story itself is pretty bland; people in their mid-thirties realising they have not kept the ideals they thought they would in their twenties. They are not like the lower-middle class crackheads, but they are better than the upper class because they don't look down on people. I suppose I can see the reality of it, as I can see a few of my thirty-plus friends holding on fervently to the idea that they have ideals, even if really the only proof of that is they sit around talking to the like-minded about how they do have ideals and the rest of the world is stupid because they don't. They are not doing anything to be different, they just wail to each other 'I AM DIFFERENT', which I suppose is a good summary of Zadie Smith's prose - it tries to prove that it is different, but ultimately the story is the same as everything else ever written.
This second part is written better. You like Felix more, though I suppose this is a trick by Smith, because you know at the end of Visitation that Felix is going to die. He's getting all his ducks in a row and his eggs in order, and he dies because he was generally trying to be a 'good guy', so you know, by the by, it really really sucks when he died. That annoyed me, I suppose, because it wasn't all that interesting of a way to approach this death of his. It seemed like a cheap ploy that if a character is going to die, a character who thus far has no connection with any of the other characters except that he was on Leah's TV, we need it to be rubbed in our faces just how swell he was, and how he was planning for his swell future.
The only time when perhaps this feels like it might not be the case, is with Annie. He tries to end things with her, and even though he's sure he does in the end, he still falls into old patterns and sleeps with her, so perhaps, if he had remained alive, he would always be the charismatic Felix that never really amounted to anything and kept on finding ways to fuck up his life when it was going on the right track.
However, I did like the juxtaposition of the 'Fairy Tale' element in the working class. I think the analogy is supposed to be something like 'Nothing is really a fairy tale'. I would have liked to have seen it used in another, less douchey way. The pretty in with all the crap - like there is good stuff borne from these lower classes, not just tragedy.
Host
I liked this section a whole lot more than the other sections thus far. I finally understood the intertexts to Genesis 2-3 (albeit, not always so technical - which bothered me in Visitation). At the start of Felix's story, the point that Felix was naked and didn't think about people seeing him was a reference to the story* of Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden, who were naked, but not 'ashamed' because they had no concept of shame without the knowledge of good or evil. Felix is without the knowledge that he will die, and not attain this future he hoped for with Grace. Later he remains clothed during the sexual encounter with Annie; a 'shameful' act considering he is leaving her to try and become a better person. Remaining clothed signifies that he has the knowledge to identify this act as wrong.
But back to Keisha/Natalie...
She's a lot more endearing as a character than Leah, which feels important to me. From Leah's perspective of her friendship with Natalie you see Natalie as a false person, while throughout Host Natalie is able to explore her feelings about their friendship, and actually has a personality. The biblical intertextuality, I think, is really important in this chapter (I think that's why Smith makes it more obvious). Natalie's story, and her friendship with Leah, starts as more of a origin story. She knows it happened - she just can't remember it. As she moves through life, there is the possibility of gaining knowledge, which Natalie actively seeks, but after attaining knowledge, whether it's seeking out a law career or sex with strangers, comes at a price. To know something entirely is to see it as something that is both good and bad. For Natalie, it's harder for her to see the past than it is to experience the present, for when she goes to see her old home, or old friends or acquaintances, she has a deeper understanding of what these things represent to her.
Anyway I liked the bite-size chapters also. I kind of think Natalie's story could stand alone, whereas I'm not sure about Leah or Felix's story, and I'm still not even sure why Felix's story is important, and I'm wondering if it even is. I'm starting to really like parts of this novel, but just as many I dislike.
*I'm not a Creationist or a Christian, but I do really like examining the purposes of Biblical stories.
Crossing & Visitation
Wow, what an extremely unsatisfying ending.
Summation
Parts of this novel are written really well, but the plot of the story muddled. I feel like the book would have been so much more cohesive if Felix's storyline was cut out, and Nathan did not have the significant role he had. I think the most frustrating thing about the book is that you can see Zadie Smith is an exceptional writer, good at capturing mood, emotion, linguistics, etc. but that there are just too many plot points, some of which, I feel, are irrelevant to the point; simply that if you don't like where you are & what you are born into, you need to be the one to change.
Giving it two stars because although I really thoroughly dislike this book, there is something good in there, amongst all the shit. But I wouldn't recommend anyone ever read this.
Visitation
So this book is very divisive. People's race, class and gender are all used to determine who a person is in not so subtle ways.
- He was murdered! Why does it matter where he grew up?
I put music on now, says an Italian, and switches off the television.
I know it's supposed to be ironic, but I'm not sure (yet) whether the author is saying a person's race is important, or whether it's only important because we make it so.
The first chapter of Visitation seems to be just an introduction to the prose. It is pretty, but it's also very pretentious. It cuts out a lot of those in-between words so the sentences feel only half-finished. It can make it hard to follow, especially if you're reading it in several sittings. It's hard to adapt to, and often there is no easy way to work out who is speaking or what is going on, which brings you out of the story. Zadie Smith obviously sacrifices coherency for art, and that would be okay...
... if it wasn't. so. pretentious. The apple tree poem, for example, belongs in a Year 8 student's diary. The prose is good for a poem, but I feel like the meaning underneath is just Zadie Smith saying 'I wonder if I could shape a poem like a tree', adding nothing else to the work. I liked the word-picture she did with Adina George's mouth in the later chapter, which proves this style of writing can work, but not if it takes up an entire page and is just so useless.
& The story itself is pretty bland; people in their mid-thirties realising they have not kept the ideals they thought they would in their twenties. They are not like the lower-middle class crackheads, but they are better than the upper class because they don't look down on people. I suppose I can see the reality of it, as I can see a few of my thirty-plus friends holding on fervently to the idea that they have ideals, even if really the only proof of that is they sit around talking to the like-minded about how they do have ideals and the rest of the world is stupid because they don't. They are not doing anything to be different, they just wail to each other 'I AM DIFFERENT', which I suppose is a good summary of Zadie Smith's prose - it tries to prove that it is different, but ultimately the story is the same as everything else ever written.
Spoiler
GuestThis second part is written better. You like Felix more, though I suppose this is a trick by Smith, because you know at the end of Visitation that Felix is going to die. He's getting all his ducks in a row and his eggs in order, and he dies because he was generally trying to be a 'good guy', so you know, by the by, it really really sucks when he died. That annoyed me, I suppose, because it wasn't all that interesting of a way to approach this death of his. It seemed like a cheap ploy that if a character is going to die, a character who thus far has no connection with any of the other characters except that he was on Leah's TV, we need it to be rubbed in our faces just how swell he was, and how he was planning for his swell future.
The only time when perhaps this feels like it might not be the case, is with Annie. He tries to end things with her, and even though he's sure he does in the end, he still falls into old patterns and sleeps with her, so perhaps, if he had remained alive, he would always be the charismatic Felix that never really amounted to anything and kept on finding ways to fuck up his life when it was going on the right track.
However, I did like the juxtaposition of the 'Fairy Tale' element in the working class. I think the analogy is supposed to be something like 'Nothing is really a fairy tale'. I would have liked to have seen it used in another, less douchey way. The pretty in with all the crap - like there is good stuff borne from these lower classes, not just tragedy.
Host
I liked this section a whole lot more than the other sections thus far. I finally understood the intertexts to Genesis 2-3 (albeit, not always so technical - which bothered me in Visitation). At the start of Felix's story, the point that Felix was naked and didn't think about people seeing him was a reference to the story* of Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden, who were naked, but not 'ashamed' because they had no concept of shame without the knowledge of good or evil. Felix is without the knowledge that he will die, and not attain this future he hoped for with Grace. Later he remains clothed during the sexual encounter with Annie; a 'shameful' act considering he is leaving her to try and become a better person. Remaining clothed signifies that he has the knowledge to identify this act as wrong.
But back to Keisha/Natalie...
She's a lot more endearing as a character than Leah, which feels important to me. From Leah's perspective of her friendship with Natalie you see Natalie as a false person, while throughout Host Natalie is able to explore her feelings about their friendship, and actually has a personality. The biblical intertextuality, I think, is really important in this chapter (I think that's why Smith makes it more obvious). Natalie's story, and her friendship with Leah, starts as more of a origin story. She knows it happened - she just can't remember it. As she moves through life, there is the possibility of gaining knowledge, which Natalie actively seeks, but after attaining knowledge, whether it's seeking out a law career or sex with strangers, comes at a price. To know something entirely is to see it as something that is both good and bad. For Natalie, it's harder for her to see the past than it is to experience the present, for when she goes to see her old home, or old friends or acquaintances, she has a deeper understanding of what these things represent to her.
Anyway I liked the bite-size chapters also. I kind of think Natalie's story could stand alone, whereas I'm not sure about Leah or Felix's story, and I'm still not even sure why Felix's story is important, and I'm wondering if it even is. I'm starting to really like parts of this novel, but just as many I dislike.
*I'm not a Creationist or a Christian, but I do really like examining the purposes of Biblical stories.
Crossing & Visitation
Wow, what an extremely unsatisfying ending.
Summation
Parts of this novel are written really well, but the plot of the story muddled. I feel like the book would have been so much more cohesive if Felix's storyline was cut out, and Nathan did not have the significant role he had. I think the most frustrating thing about the book is that you can see Zadie Smith is an exceptional writer, good at capturing mood, emotion, linguistics, etc. but that there are just too many plot points, some of which, I feel, are irrelevant to the point; simply that if you don't like where you are & what you are born into, you need to be the one to change.
Giving it two stars because although I really thoroughly dislike this book, there is something good in there, amongst all the shit. But I wouldn't recommend anyone ever read this.
I get why a few people don't like this book, and I too struggled to understand certain passages or (seeming) connections. However, that aside, I'm quite fond of descriptions of "common" people who live "common" lives (as opposed to too-good-or-too-corny-to-be-true stories), and I do think Zadie Smith is talented at writing.
In "NW" we follow the lives of Leah, Felix and Natalie, all immigrants who grew up in council estates in Northwest London. (Contrary to how the book is advertised, I don't agree that we follow Nathan's life, he is a side character that comes up every now and then, but we actually don't get a full chapter from his point of view.) Leah and Natalie have been friends since childhood, and while there are still many similarities between them, they have chosen slightly different ways of life. While they have made it out of the council estate and are both with husbands, they are, actually, rather unhappy and lost. Felix isn't really known to either of them; he is trying to stay clean and enter the so-called next level of his life.
I loved the dialogues, they felt vivid and authentic, and I liked the writing style, even Natalie's part (which comes in very short chunks). I thoroughly enjoyed whenever I detected some irony or humor, but this is not a funny or uplifting book. It explores class, race, friendship, marriage, sexuality and the course of life. While we never get a full grasp of any character's inner feelings and motives -- they all stay a little distant, a little mysterious -- they did feel real to me and I loved the glimpses into their lives.
In "NW" we follow the lives of Leah, Felix and Natalie, all immigrants who grew up in council estates in Northwest London. (Contrary to how the book is advertised, I don't agree that we follow Nathan's life, he is a side character that comes up every now and then, but we actually don't get a full chapter from his point of view.) Leah and Natalie have been friends since childhood, and while there are still many similarities between them, they have chosen slightly different ways of life. While they have made it out of the council estate and are both with husbands, they are, actually, rather unhappy and lost. Felix isn't really known to either of them; he is trying to stay clean and enter the so-called next level of his life.
I loved the dialogues, they felt vivid and authentic, and I liked the writing style, even Natalie's part (which comes in very short chunks). I thoroughly enjoyed whenever I detected some irony or humor, but this is not a funny or uplifting book. It explores class, race, friendship, marriage, sexuality and the course of life. While we never get a full grasp of any character's inner feelings and motives -- they all stay a little distant, a little mysterious -- they did feel real to me and I loved the glimpses into their lives.
adventurous
funny
informative
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Exceptional. Real. Zadie Smith is this who you are? I’m thoroughly impressed.
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
With some authors, their books feel like they just couldn't have been written in any other way - the way each word follows the previous is something tangible and solid and creates an object that EXISTS in the world. Zadie Smith is not one of those authors. Something about her writing is so ephemeral and loose and of-the-moment. That makes it exciting to read. She experiments with different ways of writing throughout the book, and I think some experiments are more successful than others, but when it's good, it's SO GOOD. I'll always read her work.
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes