A review by winterafternoons
Swing Time by Zadie Smith

2.0

My attention wandered and wavered, meandering, while I read this book - sharp in the beginning, half-asleep during the long, dull middle, and fitfully waking back up towards the end. There were aspects of this book that I liked: the mother, the dancing, the exploration of charity and political service... but there were a lot of aspects I could have done without, and ultimately it felt like she was trying to cover too much ground, which made the whole thing feel unfocused, sloppy. Which is a shame, because if she had honed her focus - maybe entirely cut out Aimee (an empty, annoying character; a boring plot) - maybe if she had focused on just Tracey, just the mother... maybe she could have dug deeper and it would have been more worthwhile. Because I did walk away feeling... something. Something amorphous and possibly not lasting, but there was something small and powerful hidden in this book and I wish an editor had helped her draw it out and refine it. The beginning was so delightful, I was so enchanted, but she wasn't able to maintain that magic.

(Also the subplot about the dad was complete nonsense and I almost got so annoyed that I stopped reading.)