White teeth follows the fortunes of two families living in an ethnicly diverse borough of London. I don't know what else to add, the book defies the usual 50 word summery, it throws its net too wide, there is simply too much going on. It is about them, their history and the ever changing community they live in. It is about chance and coincidence, about little adventures, and big ones, its about the way life goes on, a hostage to chance and outside of our control. Its also very funny.
It was published to wild acclaim, here was a book by a first time author that lived up to its extravagant pre- publicity. It seemed as though multi-ethnic moderm Britain had found its voice in the person of Zadie Smith.
Smith was 23, a student, and wrote this massive book in her spare time . I mention this because it helps to explain what I love about it. Smith leaps gleefully into pitfalls and goes galloping up side tracks that more experienced novalists have learned to avoid. The result is glorious. She gets away with it, firstly because she can write, and secondly because the theme of the book is of the randomness and unpredictability of life, the style matches. So when Irie goes to get her hair straightened, we are treated to page after page of the dangers, history, methodology and cultural importance of hair straightening among the female Afro- Caribbean community. Sounds dull? Well it ain't. Its informative, acutely observed and laugh out loud funny, it turns out to be my favourite passage.
It is only when she trys to conform to literary convention and provide a proper ending, the book disappoints. She draws the characters together, completes the circle etc, in an unconvincing finale.
To conclude, White Teeth is great, but it has not turned out to be the defining book it was billed as. The post 911 world has become altogether nastier.
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