"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
Still, the book's home base is a scrubby North London borough, where we encounter Smith's unlikely heroes: prevaricating Archie Jones and intemperate Samad Iqbal, who served together in the so-called Buggered Battalion during World War II. In the ensuing decades, both have gone forth and multiplied: Archie marries beautiful, bucktoothed Clara--who's on the run from her Jehovah's Witness mother--and fathers a daughter. Samad marries stroppy Alsana, who gives birth to twin sons. Here is multiculturalism in its most elemental form: "Children with first and last names on a direct collision course. Names that secrete within them mass exodus, cramped boats and planes, cold arrivals, medical checks."
Big questions demand boldly drawn characters. Zadie Smith's aren't heroic, just real: warm, funny, misguided, and entirely familiar. Reading their conversations is like eavesdropping. Even a simple exchange between Alsana and Clara about their pregnancies has a comical ring of truth: "A woman has to have the private things--a husband needn't be involved in body business, in a lady's... parts." And the men, of course, have their own involvement in bodily functions:
The deal was this: on January 1, 1980, like a New Year dieter who gives up cheese on the condition that he can have chocolate, Samad gave up masturbation so that he might drink. It was a deal, a business proposition, that he had made with God: Samad being the party of the first part, God being the sleeping partner. And since that day Samad had enjoyed relative spiritual peace and many a frothy Guinness with Archibald Jones; he had even developed the habit of taking his last gulp looking up at the sky like a Christian, thinking: I'm basically a good man.Not all of White Teeth is so amusingly carnal. The mixed blessings of assimilation, for example, are an ongoing torture for Samad as he watches his sons grow up. "They have both lost their way," he grumbles. "Strayed so far from what I had intended for them. No doubt they will both marry white women called Sheila and put me in an early grave." These classic immigrant fears--of dilution and disappearance--are no laughing matter. But in the end, they're exactly what gives White Teeth its lasting power and undeniable bite. --Eithne Farry
--Salman Rushdie
"A rich, ambitious, and often hilarious delight."
--The Independent
"This is a strikingly clever and funny book with a passion for ideas, for language, and for the rich tragicomedy of life. . . . [Smith's] characters always ring true; it is her ebullient, simple prose and her generous understanding of human nature that make Zadie Smith's novel outstanding. It is not only great fun to read, but full of hope."
--Sunday Telegraph
"A writer of mighty potential."
--The Times Literary Supplement
"Poised and relentlessly funny. . . . A major new talent."
--The Guardian
"Outstanding... refreshingly upbeat and deserving of all the attention it is getting." --The Evening Standard
"Outstanding... not only great fun to read, but full of hope."
--The Sunday Telegraph
"The biggest literary talent for 2000... One of the most impressive first
novels of recent years." --The Observer Magazine
"Funny, clever... and a rollicking good read." --The Independent
"Brilliantly written and hugely inspiring." --RED
"A vibrant, multicultural extravaganza." --Marie Claire
"The first publishing sensation of the millennium." --The Observer
"Darting between decades, cultures and generations, this chronicle of immigrant London fizzes with life." --Good Housekeeping
"Gleefully inventive... Zadie Smith's debut announces the debut of a significant new talent." --The List
"Bounding, vibrant, richly imagined and thoroughly engaging." --The Telegraph
"If you buy one book this year, WHITE TEETH should be it." --Livewire Magazine
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Book Description Condition: New. Seller Inventory # 3187657-n
Book Description paperback. Condition: New. Language: ENG. Seller Inventory # 9780140297782
Book Description Paperback. Condition: Brand New. 560 pages. 7.09x4.41x1.65 inches. In Stock. Seller Inventory # __0140297782
Book Description Condition: New. 'White Teeth' is a comic epic of multicultural Britain which tells the story of immigrants in England over a period of 40 years. Num Pages: 560 pages. BIC Classification: FA. Category: (G) General (US: Trade). Dimension: 180 x 110. Weight in Grams: 315. . 2000. Paperback. . . . . Seller Inventory # V9780140297782
Book Description Paperback. Condition: New. New copy - Usually dispatched within 4 working days. Seller Inventory # B9780140297782
Book Description Condition: New. 'White Teeth' is a comic epic of multicultural Britain which tells the story of immigrants in England over a period of 40 years. Num Pages: 560 pages. BIC Classification: FA. Category: (G) General (US: Trade). Dimension: 180 x 110. Weight in Grams: 315. . 2000. Paperback. . . . . Books ship from the US and Ireland. Seller Inventory # V9780140297782
Book Description Condition: New. Seller Inventory # 3187657-n
Book Description Taschenbuch. Condition: Neu. Neuware -Published in the first month of the first year of the new century, Zadie Smith's debut novel White Teeth - winner of the Guardian First Book Award and the Whitbread First Novel Award - was an immediate bestseller and stunningly acclaimed.One of the most talked about fictional débuts of ever, White Teeth is a funny, generous, big-hearted novel, adored by critics and readers alike. Dealing - among many other things - with friendship, love, war, three cultures and three families over three generations, one brown mouse, and the tricky way the past has of coming back and biting you on the ankle, it is a life-affirming, riotous must-read of a book.'Funny, clever . and a rollicking good read' Independent 'An astonishingly assured début, funny and serious . I was delighted' Salman Rushdie'The almost preposterous talent was clear from the first pages' Julian Barnes, Guardian'Quirky, sassy and wise . a big, splashy, populous production reminiscent of books by Dickens and Salman Rushdie . demonstrates both an instinctive storytelling talent and a fully fashioned voice that's street-smart and learned, sassy and philosophical all at the same time' New York Times'Smith writes like an old hand, and, sometimes, like a dream' New Yorker'Outstanding . A strikingly clever and funny book with a passion for ideas, for language and for the rich tragic-comedy of life' Sunday Telegraph'Do believe the hype' The Times'Relentlessly funny . idiosyncratic, and deeply felt' GuardianZadie Smith was born in north-west London in 1975. Her debut novel, White Teeth, won the Whitbread First Novel Award, the Guardian First Book Award, the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Fiction, and the Commonwealth Writers' First Book Prize, and was included in TIME 100 Best English-language Novels from 1923 to 2005. Her second novel, On Beauty, was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize and won the Orange Prize for Fiction. She has written two further novels, The Autograph Man and NW, a collection of essays Changing My Mind, and also edited short story anthology The Book of Other People. Zadie Smith was chosen by Granta as one of its twenty best young British novelists in 2003, and as well as to Granta has contributed writing to the New Yorker and the Guardian.Zadie Smith's new novel, NW, is available from September 2012. 541 pp. Englisch. Seller Inventory # 9780140297782
Book Description Taschenbuch. Condition: Neu. Neuware -Zadie Smith's fizzing first novel is . an astonishingly assured debut, funny and serious, and the voice has real writerly idiosyncrasy. I was delighted by White Teeth, and often impressed.Salman RushdieOne of the most talked about fictional débuts of recent years, White Teeth is a funny, generous, big-hearted novel, adored by critics and readers alike. Dealing - among many other things - with friendship, love, war, three cultures and three families over three generations, one brown mouse, and the tricky way the past has of coming back and biting you on the ankle, it is a life-affirming, riotous must-read of a book.White Teeth has won awards for Best Book and Best Female Newcomer at the BT Emma Awards (Ethnic and Multicultural Media Awards), the Guardian First Book Award, the Whitbread Prize for a first novel in 2000, the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction 2000, the WH Smith Book Award for New Talent, the Frankfurt Elektronisches Buch Award for Best Fiction Work and both the Commonwealth Writers First Book Award and Overall Commonwealth Writers Prize. Seller Inventory # 9780140297782
Book Description Taschenbuch. Condition: Neu. Neuware - Published in the first month of the first year of the new century, Zadie Smith's debut novel White Teeth - winner of the Guardian First Book Award and the Whitbread First Novel Award - was an immediate bestseller and stunningly acclaimed.One of the most talked about fictional débuts of ever, White Teeth is a funny, generous, big-hearted novel, adored by critics and readers alike. Dealing - among many other things - with friendship, love, war, three cultures and three families over three generations, one brown mouse, and the tricky way the past has of coming back and biting you on the ankle, it is a life-affirming, riotous must-read of a book.'Funny, clever . and a rollicking good read' Independent 'An astonishingly assured début, funny and serious . I was delighted' Salman Rushdie'The almost preposterous talent was clear from the first pages' Julian Barnes, Guardian'Quirky, sassy and wise . a big, splashy, populous production reminiscent of books by Dickens and Salman Rushdie . demonstrates both an instinctive storytelling talent and a fully fashioned voice that's street-smart and learned, sassy and philosophical all at the same time' New York Times'Smith writes like an old hand, and, sometimes, like a dream' New Yorker'Outstanding . A strikingly clever and funny book with a passion for ideas, for language and for the rich tragic-comedy of life' Sunday Telegraph'Do believe the hype' The Times'Relentlessly funny . idiosyncratic, and deeply felt' GuardianZadie Smith was born in north-west London in 1975. Her debut novel, White Teeth, won the Whitbread First Novel Award, the Guardian First Book Award, the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Fiction, and the Commonwealth Writers' First Book Prize, and was included in TIME 100 Best English-language Novels from 1923 to 2005. Her second novel, On Beauty, was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize and won the Orange Prize for Fiction. She has written two further novels, The Autograph Man and NW, a collection of essays Changing My Mind, and also edited short story anthology The Book of Other People. Zadie Smith was chosen by Granta as one of its twenty best young British novelists in 2003, and as well as to Granta has contributed writing to the New Yorker and the Guardian.Zadie Smith's new novel, NW, is available from September 2012. 541 pp. Englisch. Seller Inventory # 9780140297782