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maddycarlier 's review for:
White Teeth
by Zadie Smith
hmm. there was a lot i liked about this book. i liked the depiction of multiculturalism, the themes of fate and religion. i liked the character of clara, although she disappears halfway through the book. i liked irie’s section and character a lot, though her decision to have sex with both of the twins at the end felt really strange (not that it’s bad to be unrealistic, just the whole book is so grounded in reality and boringness that this stuck out to me as a weird addition).
i found that the book, just as i would start to get interested, would meander into a completely different storyline that i had no interest in. i didn’t care about the whole mouse thing and chalfen thing that materialised in the last third, with a very dramatic ending uncharacteristic to the rest of the novel. it felt like smith honestly didn’t know how to end the book and just went for something smart but not really narratively coherent.
the witty attitude of the book took some getting used to, and i wouldn’t say it was laugh out loud funny but it was amusing at times.
but most of all this book was loooongggggg and i found it difficult to care about archie or marcus or whoever. felt like it was trying to do a LOT, and honestly, i’m a similar age to zadie when she wrote this, and i understand the urge to define everything, wrap it up in a neat little bow, but as she has admitted herself, that’s naive. not that i can judge as i’m young and nowhere near writing a hugely successful 500 page novel.
hugely impressive, and vivid characters, but long. i would honestly never have chosen to read this myself if i wasn’t forced to read it for uni, and would probably have never finished it. not my type of book, really.
anyway rant over, i look forward to studying this at uni !
i found that the book, just as i would start to get interested, would meander into a completely different storyline that i had no interest in. i didn’t care about the whole mouse thing and chalfen thing that materialised in the last third, with a very dramatic ending uncharacteristic to the rest of the novel. it felt like smith honestly didn’t know how to end the book and just went for something smart but not really narratively coherent.
the witty attitude of the book took some getting used to, and i wouldn’t say it was laugh out loud funny but it was amusing at times.
but most of all this book was loooongggggg and i found it difficult to care about archie or marcus or whoever. felt like it was trying to do a LOT, and honestly, i’m a similar age to zadie when she wrote this, and i understand the urge to define everything, wrap it up in a neat little bow, but as she has admitted herself, that’s naive. not that i can judge as i’m young and nowhere near writing a hugely successful 500 page novel.
hugely impressive, and vivid characters, but long. i would honestly never have chosen to read this myself if i wasn’t forced to read it for uni, and would probably have never finished it. not my type of book, really.
anyway rant over, i look forward to studying this at uni !