White Teeth: A Novel

I would enthuse wildly, but there's nothing to enthuse about. I would bash, but there's not much to bash. I'm pretty much 'meh' about this book. I expected more.

The first time I saw White Teeth it was in a huge ad on the side of my favorite bookstore. I looked at it, read whatever was written underneath and decided it was probably a serious book about racial issues, so I wasn't really interested. Incidentally, I was wrong about the first part. The book's a comedy through and through. But it's still about racial issues.

So eventually, when it was one of the options on my reading list for a Master's class and one of my colleagues recommended it with approximately the same enthusiasm I save for my own very dearest books, I decided I'd give it a try. The many favorable blurbs and awards were also in its favor.

The way the book starts is light, humorous. Perhaps a bit too much. I like my books to have realism, to delve into the psychology of characters, to sparkle. I want to feel that things are real even when they're entirely unrealistic - which is what the first pages of the book entirely failed to do. Still, a deliberate lack of realism is a style in itself, so I tried to get over my disappointment.

Mostly, the first part of the book feels like a rushed comedy. Imitated accents, characters sketched rather than portrayed, all sorts of unrealistic happenings, weird tics, but a humor that saves the day, I suppose. I can understand the appeal the book had to the critics: post-modernism, today's cultural movement, is intensely political. It just loves its minorities, colonials, race differences, culture clash and whatnot, sometimes to the point where the art trails behind the ideology. And if it's something this book has, it's minorities (religious, cultural, racial). There's Jamaicans and Jews, English and Bangladeshi, black, white, Islam, Jehova's Witnesses, scientists and just people off the street... It seems to have everything. For the first hundred pages, my question was just "Why?" The plot was contrived, the characters flat, everything essentially seemed to be there just to make the cultural clash humor go on.

Later, however, Smith starts to get into it. Her characters gain some weight, some greater motivation, some personality. Not a lot, mind you. Just enough so they can function as people and you can understand their motivation and their decisions. You can feel life seeping into these people, mostly when the second generation - Archie's daughter and his best friend's twin sons - come into play. The characters start bouncing off on each other in all sorts of ways, there's a generation clash, much sexuality that is hard to handle (not that we ever get to actually feel it, but just observe its effects on the characters) and a ton of problems that spring everywhere, which are handled not in the best of ways.

Overall, however, the book doesn't do it for me. The characters are mostly observed from the outside, like in family photos, not really seen from the inside. The plot seems to exist on and off, to have no real point in existing. Even though in the last pages somebody gets shot, there's no real climax, no ending.

...meh. I'm too disappointed and neutral about it to come up with anything more interesting to say...

I occasionally found the novel a bit creepy... this was written and put out slightly before 9-11, and it became a book, that, under the light of recent events, becomes an exploration of international relations and the roots of terrorism ( at least, the cultural war between certain eastern factions and certain western factions, some of which dated back to at least world war two, when two of the main male protagonists meet). Epic is scope, covering most of the twentieth century in one form or another, the only downside of this book is similiar to other epics: As it broadens its scope it loses some of its sharp focus. Smith would have done well to focus less on some of the generational skirmishes and more of the cultural issues surrounding London in the late twentieth century. And the last chapter is a bit confusing.

I enjoyed this book, but I will be the first the admit that it is not for the "light reader." Being an American, it took me a minute to get used to the English writer's style and use of language. Once I got into her flow, it was smooth sailing. This book is appropriately funny and poignant while remaining totally human. I found myself laughing out loud at times. Each character is developed beautifully and is deliciously flawed. I cared about what happened to each of them in spite of themselves. I love the way the author allowed them to evolve, progress, regress, or just simply be- according to their current circumstance. The main thing I gleaned from this book is that the basic elements of the human condition are the same across cultures, races and classes.

White Teeth can hardly be called anything but epic - not only in length, but in the sheer volume of events that occur as the story unfolds. This a double-edged sword - while there are long sections of brilliant characterization and interesting plot-lines, there are extended sections of excruciatingly boring text which feel unnecessary as you're reading them. However, the greatest thing this novel accomplishes is to tie together all its strands, which continually wind tighter as the story leads to its conclusion. Most of the characters are at least entertaining, and two or three are outstanding. There are also a few annoying, boring characters which seem to add nothing to the novel at all - Clara's father comes to mind here.

This novel is certainly worth reading, even if some of the longer, less interesting sections of the narrative need to be skimmed through or skipped altogether. Truth be told, the reader would only be cheating himself to pass these sections by, as they do seem to pay off in the end. However, it reads like something of an endurance test at times, and a feeling arises that the author was being overindulgent in writing such a massive book. Despite its flaws, White Teeth showcases some excellent storytelling, and I would recommend seeing it out to the end, though I promise you, at times, it will be difficult.

8/10

If this book would have been a play I would have stood up and clapped at the end of it. The underlying mythological themes (twins; travel to the axis munde; evil vs. good; earth mothers) keep this novel alive and swiftly moving. The beginning of this novel places us in a most destitute state in which we are about to witness a suicide. The character is slowing suffocating (and intoxicating...much like our favorite god Bacchus) himself with the carbon monoxide of his car. As he is about to pass out, a butcher knocks on the window and tells him how there "sha'nt be any dying on HIS property." With this simple message, our character has decided that the gods have given him a sign (and another chance) that he should live. What a careful introduction to a man who often chooses which direction to turn in life with the flip of a coin. The book follows Archie (our former suicide-attempter), his friend Samad (an Indian man who's only claim to fame is that his great grandfather was the first man to rise against the tyranny of the British Empire...and the first to be shot), their wives, and their children. Poignant and lyrically enthralling, I would recommend this book to any reader who is looking for a little more substance. A++++++++

Zadie Smith's remarkable first novel, White Teeth, deserves all the praise and attention it's gotten since its publication earlier this year. This big, rich multicultural cacophony of a novel is a modern comic masterpiece that brilliantly captures the mixture and conflict of races, ethnicities, cultures, and beliefs in London at the millenium. Moreover, unlike other British writers who sometimes seem condescending and unabashedly full of themselves (Martin Amis and Salman Rushdie immediately come to mind), Zadie Smith's writing is full of good humor and prescient insight into the value of even the most disparate life experiences. Smith anchors her story around the unlikely friendship of an easy-going, seemingly unflappable working-class Englishman, Archibald Jones, and a deep-thinking, serious Bengali Muslim waiter, Samad Iqbal. The two first meet inside a tank in the waning days of World War II. They then reunite thirty years later in North London, two unsuccessful middle aged men living out their lives in O'Connell's Poolroom, "an Irish poolroom run by Arabs with no pool tables." But while the stories of Archie and Samad anchor the narrative, their relationship is only a small part of this hilarious and deeply insightful novel. Zadie Smith, in reviewing her own novel in the British publication Butterfly, described White Teeth as "the literary equivalent of a hyperactive, ginger-haired tap-dancing ten-year-old." The amazing thing is that her description is accurate, for we get not merely the story of the unlikely pair of Archie and Samad, but also many other amusing and intersecting stories, all of them driven by the clash of culture, belief, race, traditon, lineage, and science which forms the turmoil which marks London, and all of the Western world's major cities, at the millenium. We get the story of Archie's young Jamaican wife, Clara, and of Clara's mother, Hortense, a devout and rapturous Jehovah's Witness. We get the story of Samad's turbulent relationship with his wife, Alsana, as well as Samad's struggle to raise his two twin sons, Millat and Magid, in the face of a materialist culture that pervades and undermines traditionalism of all kinds. We get the story of Marcus and Joyce Chalfen, one a geneticist and the other a pop horticulturist, and their son, Josh. The Chalfens are unstintingly secular, scientific and self-centered celebrants of their own ideology of "Chalfenism". Finally, we get the story of Irie, the awkward daughter of Archie and Clara, who winds through the novel, its characters and situations, searching for an identity in the tangled history of her Jamaican past and the crowded cultural stew of her North London present. In Smith's words, capturing the essence of her novel in a couple of sentences: "It is only this late in the day that you can walk into a playground and find Isaac Leung by the fish pond, Danny Rahman in the football cage, Quang O'Rourke bouncing a basketball and Irie Jones humming a tune. Children with first and last names on a direct collision course." Believe everything you've read and heard about this novel because it's true: this is the best first novel to be published in a long time!

Zadie Smith's White Teeth was a pleasure to read, yet the novel left something to be desired - especially the inadequate resolution. Smith's impeccable wit is apparent from the first page of the novel, transforming what would normally be a grim attempted suicide into a comical, ill-fated endeavor. It is in such a manner that Smith brings up numerous thought provoking issues ranging from race, to war, to religion, her clever style making such topics seem so extraneous to real life while at the same time subtly disclosing the fact that understanding them and coping with them is essential.
Smith's character development is superb, intertwining the tales of two very different families - the Jones and the Iqbals - and delving into the diverse histories of each character: Archie's failed marriage and attempted suicide, Samad's inability to find satisfaction in his wife, and the two fathers' wartime partnership, due to convenience rather than chemistry. Then there's Clara's rejection of her mother's religion and way of life, and her short-lived fling with an otherwise unwanted schoolboy; Alsana's hatred of India; Magid, Millat, and Irie's linked fates; countless histories which all coincide brilliantly under Smith's writing. While there is certainly a wealth of well-rounded characters for Smith to play with, she spends too much time with flatter characters who clutter the story.
Smith waits until the middle of the novel to introduce the Chalfens, a family of characters who bear a great deal of importance to the text. However, their link to anything preceding their entrance is weak, and the change in focus is too abrupt, bringing the pace of the novel to a sudden halt. It takes Smith some time to rebuild confidence in the novel, at which point it picks back up. Unfortunately, the end of the book arrives very quickly at such an instance, and after Smith had put a lot of work into building suspense, the climax was painfully unsatisfying and left me unhappy.
Essentially, Smith's problem is her inconsistent writing quality. There is so much excellent writing to be found in this book, but Smith fails to maintain her exceptional prose evenly throughout. As a result, it was difficult to enjoy White Teeth as I would have liked. Smith pulls this off while moving the novel along at an extremely brisk pace - but this unfortunately works against her at some points. Taking the focus away from flatter characters coupled with a more satisfying resolution would have earned this book a higher score, but Smith's wit combined with the way in which she introduces and explores important issues makes White Teeth well worth reading.

Given the amount of hype when this novel came out, it was never going to live up to all of it... however, it comes close!

It's a bold novel with a highly creative storyline which darts back & forth over a period of 50 years. The characters are all exaggerations or parodies, which is absolutely essential to the daring style of the book. Reading previous reviews, I seem to be in the minority of preferring the 2nd half of the book, which I finished far more quickly than the 1st. I think this is due to the characters being more fully developed, allowing me to more enjoy the zany style of writing.

Smith is clearly extremely intelligent & talented, however this is the source of my main criticism. The writing does feel extremely self-conscious, as if she's trying to produce a virtuoso showpiece rather than letting the work speak for itself. The desire to continually go off on tangents to demonstrate her knowledge of the English language, history, and science is ultimately at the expense of the prose (maybe she's read too many Salman Rushdie novels!). I also don't think the whole "teeth" thing really works and seems to have been woven in just for the title!

Those criticisms aside, it is an excellent read and I look forward to reading more of her works.

The negative reactions to this book made me think about why I love it. It may seem scattered, and random, with the ending being completely dependent on coincidence. But how different is that from real life? This book looks at its characters from the outside inwards, whereas we see our lives from a very narrow viewpoint, one that we define, and from the inside outwards -- that's the advantage of an omniscient narrator. There are many coincidences in life that we simply don't acknowledge -- think about all the stories of people of people who went to the same high school without knowing each other, then end up marrying ten years later. Even in a globalized era, our paths may appear random at the level of the individual, but the macrocosm manages to relate us all. I think the tendency for us is to assume that there is no master plan, when in fact there might be one. At that point, like Marcus Chalfen, we try to impose our own order on the world. And, like Marcus, we find that doesn't work.
Another complaint I have problems with is the idea that the early characters fade towards the end of the novel. Again, how different is that from reality? Mangal Pande's shadow looms over Samad, but, effectively, the legacy is one of the major reasons Samad is never happy -- he's always in a competition with a dead guy! Samad himself has to fade for his sons to emerge. But that fading is never complete, as we see with Mr. JP Hamilton. He has a history almost completely irrelevant to Irie, Magid, and Millat, but that doesn't make his irrelevance any less tragic. We all have to overcome legacies left to us by our forebears, but annihilation of memory is never complete (or necessary.)
One problem I think people hasn't been mentioned is the prevalence of "in" jokes. I'm sure that many of the things that I find funny made no sense to a lot of people, but that says something about the relationship between sub-cultures and the wider identity of a nation. Like other readers, I was impressed with how many topics Smith was able to tackle at an intelligent level (and she's only three years older than me!)
Finally, my favorite parts of the novel is the characters. Every character is absurd, but no more absurd than real people. Archie's life revolves around a coin, Clara is a lapsed Jehovah's Witness whose ex-boyfriend is trying to lure her back to the religion she showed him, Samad struggles to confom to a religion he hates, Magid and Millat are a twin study for the ages, and Alsana should give pause to anyone who still believes that Muslim women are inherently oppressed. But, hey, aren't we all just a little whacked? We all have contradictions of character that make us just a little more imperfect or a little more human. This book captures that, but it manages not to get weighed down by the material it tackles.

I started out enjoying this novel very much. The writing is vivid, the dialogue apt, and the North London community fascinating. But at about the half way mark I began thinking of the Stephen Leacock character who jumped on his horse and rode off in all directions: I began to lost track of the many characters and the book seemed to lose focus for me. There were too many characters for me to keep in mind, and worse, many were introduced, developed, and then dropped. Likewise sub-plots were initiated and abandoned. Others have commented on the weak ending, and noted that many plot threads peter out, and are left unresolved. It seems to me there are at least two novels in this material, and probably more, alternatively a couple dozen short stories; as presently constituted the book is less than the sum of its parts. Ms. Smith has enormous gifts, but she should seek out a vigorous editor to help her manage those gifts.

Zadie Smith is very, very funny and extremely imaginative. This book has many moments of genius. Most seasoned writers do not have a quarter of her talent.

The terrific characters are laced with sorrow, irony and pettiness. She creates worlds within worlds and shattered dreams within dreams. Almost perfect, and then the last 50 pages or so go off track. I suspect the author was just plain exhausted and couldn't fathom how to tie everything together. Why couldn't an editor tell her to go back and fix it? Such joy and then such sorrow.

I actually found the book very entertaining in the first half (of the 400+ pages) when it talked about Archie and Samad and their families. However, by the second half when the focus is on the Chalfens, SuperMouse and the weirdness of animal rights activists, Erie's sudden sexual involvement with the twins, and the meandering Jevohah's Witness' speeches, the book loses steam. The ending is kind of interesting but rather sudden after the rambling of the last 200 pages. I also felt that the way some words are joined together to make a more descriptive word, the manner in which some comments are itemized, and a certain elliptical way of approaching a subject all borrow from Arundhati Roy's The God of Small Things.
As an Indian I thought the Indian/Bangladeshi references somewhat confusing/inconsistent. Some examples: <1> How did Mangal Pande - a caste Hindu (and the mutineer who "started" the First War for Indian independance) end up with a great-grand son Samad Miah who is a pure Muslim? - This made no sense to me at all and I kept hoping that there would be some explanation during the course of the narrative. <2> How did Samad meet Alsana (his future wife) in Delhi (which happens to be in India) in 1973/1974 when Alsana's family is from Bangaladesh? Bangladesh was formed in 1971 (after a war with West Pakistan, East Pakistan broke off to form Bangladesh). Did Alsana come all the way to Delhi in India to meet Samad? <3> Members of KEVIN (a terrorist Islamic organization in London), have members with distinct Hindu names - like Brother Rakesh. <4> During the 2nd World War, how could Samad Miah have been in the Royal Air Force, then become injured in one hand and then be shunted to the Army all by the age of 17? I know its just fiction but I can't imagine such 17 year old war veterans exist even in stories. Especially because Samad is from India with a college degree in Biology (or something - this means had to be at least 20 years old) and joined the Air Force as an officer.
Ultimately, I think it is a GREAT read. But keep an OPEN mind!!!

This was one of the best contemporary novels that I have read in the past two or three years. I was amazed at how well versed Miss Smith was on topics ranging from genetic engineering to religous studies to military strategy. The characters were so full of life and she used humor in all of the right places. I'm one of those readers who likes an author who ties up loose ends. This was a complete novel in every sense of the word complete. You can choose one of two words to describe this book: TIMELY or FUN. You decide.

The first dazzling 90 pages or so of White Teeth will lure you in, make you call your friends to tell them about this amazing thing you just discovered (if you can actually tear yourself from the book) and rekindle your hope for the future of contemporary fiction. And then the next 300 or so pages will sober you up. By the end you'll only be able to wish you could have adored the book as much as you had originally wanted to, like a lover you move in with after a month, only to find yourself quickly, abjectly disappointed by their ordinary human failings.
Smith's book benefits from comparison to the mediocrity passing for serious fiction that's received such currency the past five years or so. Its blend of high and lowbrow humor and erudition allows it popular consumption while stimulating the intellects of serious readers. Its famously bedazzling passages will, indeed, blow you away at times. And the scope of the author's imagination is, indeed, astounding. The book's strengths are strengths that other recent fiction has conspicuously lacked. It is not a trendy book, and it earns the frequent comparisons to Rushdie.
Nevertheless, Smith showcases some major weaknesses. Most seriously, her characters, who at first introduction seem so promisingly complex, degenerate into caricatures who too often Speak For Their People. How could Smith have glossed over Samad Iqbal's initial complexities and let him become an utterly predictable Resentful Bengali Immigrant? How could she have resorted to letting Archie Jones rest on his predictable laurels as merely a Simple, Good-Natured English Bloke? The answer is clear: those are the easiest ways to think about and write characters. Everyone is familiar with stereotyped, predigested notions of Otherness. Yet no one in real life is that cut and dry. And no one in the beginning of her book is that predictable, either. Hence the disappointment. I found myself wanting to scream out at times "No, my Alsana would never have said that! Or if she had, it would only have been ironically!"
Another problem is the heavy-handed pop existentialism that informs the book and passes for its Big Idea. The book, beyond its multiculti particularities, is essentially a treatment of the ageless problem of free will versus predestination. What at first are subtly suggested recurring themes become louder and louder, cruder and cruder bombasts, articulated more and more overtly again and again (so that every minor character and incident is retroactively subsumed into the book's unfortunate "argument"), culminating in an arch finale that redefines cheap and easy.
Yes, you can see I am bitter. I expected more from White Teeth. Not just from its hype, but from its glorious first hundred pages and the revivifying moments of greatness that followed. I think we should start a campaign to demand that Smith go back and properly rewrite the thing, giving her limitlessly promising book the time it so deserved (you can still be this year's literary ingenue, Zadie, don't worry). I think we all deserve that much from her.

This is a superb first novel by Ms. Smith, although it is slightly disappointing. The story, characterization, and dialogue are outstanding, however, I believe that in her attempt to cover such a long span of time, and so many characters, Ms. Smith forgot to include more detail. The characters are introduced, and then glossed over and nearly forgotten, this is its only flaw, which would normally be a very dangerous one. However, since Ms. Smith writes with so much more skill than myself, it does not inflict a mortal wound. This novel focuses mainly on the lives of the Iqbal clan, most especially Samad and his sons. I wanted to read more about Clara, Archie and Irie, and less about the Chaflen's. Without a doubt, this is an outstanding first try and it has earned a spot on my crowded bookshelves, I highly recommend this novel.

I was encouraged by this book. The writer is close to my age and it is refreshing to see a writer in her early 20's write produce this kind of quality. A welcome change from other books being produced by people my age, which all seem to have a sameness of perspective and tone, which I would describe very loosely as being sarcastic, introspective, too self-conscious, etc. This aesthetic is difficult to describe, but whatever it is I am glad I am not detecting it in Smith's writing.
By contrast, her prose is hopeful, cosmopolitan, compassionate, truly witty, funny as hell. Perhaps what I most enjoyed was that it is mature, well-researched and intelligent. And not a hint of of angst or of conforming to a certain generational aesthetic. There really is no comparison that I can think of because she is writing a genuine, mature book the very first time around. It really did make me hopeful that we will start to see a kind of maturation and indeed a renaissance among literary and other creative people in their 20's. I want to see more of this kind of work from people my age. It made me want to start my own novel and see where it goes. This may all sound a but over-the-top but the book is that good. Impressive.
I had to give it four stars only because of certain moments, especially toward the end, where the dialogue started to break down a little, as if the characters were becoming flat and two-dimensional, while before they were living and breathing. I think this is simply because the ending is too long, overwrought, and baroque. It just seemed to go on and on like she just couldn't bear to give up whatever ending she had in her head. A little editorial detachment and cutting would have helped. Had she wrapped it up more neatly there wouldn't have been any problems.
Looking forward to her next one, which from what I've heard should be more of the same funny but affectionate satire.

Extremely insightful, witty, relevant, and pleasurable to read with the one major caveat that all the white women in the novel are one dimensional walking stereotypes who basically show up to seduce Muslim men and then crawl away with no real exploration of their motives or thought processes by the author, unlike the ones afforded to all the novel's other characters. Keeping this criticism in mind, read the book and enjoy it. Just try and find a white female character in the novel whose behavior doesn't follow this trajectory.

This book, assigned to me in a 20th century history class, single-handedly opened my eye to fiction for the first time since middle school. The only work of fiction between Steinbeck's 'Pearl' which I read in 8th grade and Smith's 'White Teeth' I read as a college senior that really stuck with me was Camus' 'Stranger'. (Wide ranging taste, I'm aware.) Strongly rooted in its time(s), it also imaginative and Smith weaves together her characters and plot threads masterfully. It's a bit like a really good Seinfeld episode, only all the light themes are dark themes taken lightly. I mean that in a good way, of course. I know Smith's sense of humor can be lost on some, but it can be laugh-out-loud funny. Smith not only has a terrific handle on her characters, she has a great sympathy for them, which is a trait (I have found) most great novelists have.

Well, when I read about this book in the NY Times Book Review, which decided it was one of the best books of the year, I immediately short-listed it for an Xmas present. Well, I must say, I have received better Christmas presents. No, not the Fine Young Cannibals CD, it wasn't that bad, but this novel was definitely overrated. I have read quite a lot of the reviews here and they echo my feelings. I was let-down. Newsweek loved it, NY Times loved it. Usually that's a good indicator. Well, I didn't love it. I think that Zadie Smith is a fabulously talented woman, younger than me and blessed beyond belief but at times it just feels like she's thumbing her nose at those with average command of the English language. She is showing off. I think she's long-winded and, although, like I said, very talented, I think she overreaches. Someone else said that she didn't fill out her characters. I'd agree with that. I was really enjoying about the first 300 pages. I thought the start was great. But somewhere in there she got confused. I couldn't tell what the focus of the book was. Was it Samad and Archie? At first it was. Or was it Irie, who seemed to be the pivot for later events. I found it hard to believe that such a prominent scientist as Chalfen (that whole Chalfenism thing had me chafing) would be so fulfilled and helped by a 17 year old???!!!! Magid didn't exactly have the best genes. And would a scientist of his stature need Irie to do his filing? No, he would probably have a pro, a real trained secretary. Now like others said, there's a lot to admire here. She has a phenomenal command of English, a great ear for language and really, her prose is fantastic. But I think she overreached in trying to wrap everything up quite so neatly. I think that was her biggest mistake. Her scope was too wide. Someone before me said there was an "embarassment of riches." I'd agree. If she had focused just on Samad and Archie's lives after the war and their lives (which was what I anticipated when we got through with the intro) it would have been excellent. She is so talented that I will buy her next book too quite likely. She is very talented. But this one doesn't live up to the hype.

I'm not sure where to start with this novel. However, here goes. I cannot believe that this is a first novel. The twists and turns in the plot are actually ever shortening circles that all converge in the end. The characters are funny, sad, ridiculous and believable all at once. The story takes place in London, but the characters are not necessarily English, but rather third world immigrants living in England, but not really making any effort to become British. Their stories are at once unbelievable and terribly funny and sad. This is an incredibly well written, complex, and character driven story that sweeps you along its improbable path in a strangely acceptable way. A great read!

White Teeth, by Zadie Smith, is undoubtedly a triumphant debut for this extraordinary talented writer who takes on big themes like race, gender, and culture. Although contemporary life has brought at least a sociological blending of races and ethnicity, blending of genes for humans remains as sadly colonial as ever. "If you can divide reality inexhaustibly into parts," Smith writes after the twins try to make peace between their ideologies, "the result is insupportable paradox. You are always still, you move nowhere, and there is no progress. But multiplicity is no illusion. Nor Is the speed with which those in the simmering melting pot are dashing towards it...the brothers will race towards the future only to find they more and more eloquently express their past, that place where they have just bee. Because this is the other thing about immigrants (`fugees, émigrés, travelers): they cannot escape their history any more than you yourself can lose your shadow." White Teeth celebrates the chaff of humanity, the Joneses and Iqbals of any land. Smith has a lot to say about threats to ethnicity, but her real weapon is on the way the she says these things. Her true power lies really on the way that she says anything. From time to time it seems as if she will not progress on the way that she is telling an anecdote, but in the end the characters seem to advance towards infinite destinies. Not everything works well throughout the novel though. Some things are unappealing to the story. Yet even these things manage not to compromise the achievement of such a wonderful novel.

Only another rave review of a remarkable debut. I find it fascinating that in your review section this book received both high praise and strong complaints from readers. There is no doubt that Smith is one of the most talented authors published in many many a year. However, for me, it was at times a little difficult to wade through all the digressions to get back to the plot, and the plot was more a slice-of-life type than one with a resolution. Well, that's life! I found author a mite removed emotionally from characters although understanding them well. Her humor makes you laugh when you might rather be crying. I think your first reviewer is correct. Buy an extra copy to save because this will be a valuable book some day!!! We readers can hardly wait for your next book, Miss Smith!!

First time author, Zadie Smith's "White Teeth: A Novel" is such a wonderful and refreshing tale. I found her to be very funny and extremely intelligent. Her characters are well rounded and amazingly thought-out. I really enjoyed her intimate scene development. For a first time writer, this is a full and powerful book. I think she's got a real talent and, we should expect wonderful things in the future. "White Teeth" is worth your time and money. Make sure you check it out!

I was greatly disappointed by this book. While the initial premise is promising and the first third of the book is excellent [hence the two stars], Smith throws it all away through consistently poor dialogue, increasingly unconvincing characters and a blatantly `manufactured' storyline. I ended up skim reading the last two thirds of 'White Teeth' and don't think that I got my money's worth.

Aside from the poor storyline and dismal dialogue, one of the aspects of this book that really stuck in my throat was the poor quality of much of Smith's background research. As an example, throughout the book one of the characters is obsessed with the role his ancestor played in sparking the Indian Mutiny. However, despite the sequence of events being repeatedly referred to, Smith gets some basic facts wrong, including miss-naming the British officers involved. An even more basic mistake is that at one point it is stated that Jamaica is so small that you can walk around it in a day(!). Seeing as Smith was a student at Oxford University at the time she wrote 'White Teeth' such basic mistakes are inexcusable and are an indication that she embarked on her first novel well before she should have.

I actually finished the whole book but I would have trimmed at
least 200 pages of flab out of it. It is an ambitious project and
I think Zadie Smith would do greatly writing for TV but the novel
lacks enough tension, it is repetitive and a tad pedantic when it
"explores" its characters little quirks.
While insighful in certain small details, it lacks psychological depth even when it really delves into the
characters motivations.It mixes badly what could be plausible
portrayals of real people with the caricatures of their friends
and neighbours. I won't read another book by her but I would
definitely enjoy a TV series based on her scripts.
I particularly enjoyed Samad, the father trying to convey true
islamism to his sons. Millat (the son) is an attractive character
whose source of anger is never explained coherently. His brother
Magit is a caricature and shows that Zadie Smith has no idea what
the work of a lawyer is all about. Clue:It has nothing to do with
accuracy and precision as understood by science. Irie is clearly
a portrait of the author and therefore sounds more real than the
rest. Her father vanishes halfway through the book after a
dramatic first act.Alsana and her lesbian niece drift from
realism to sheer histrionics with annoying recurrence.
The book looses steam very soon as if the author doesn't quite
know where it is going, more is better she seems to think. Not so.

I loved this book. How to describe it?
Imaginative. That's a good start. This book is imaginative. How on earth did she come up with this storyline? And this is her first novel?!?
The characters in this story compose an ensemble cast. The background Smith gives to illustrate each of them made me care about each and every one of them, though some were far more likeable than others. We begin focusing on one man and his struggles, then the tale expands to encompass his family, his best friend, his best friend's family. As members of younger generations pick up the thread of the story, the reader's gaze is drawn to them....
There is so much going on in this story that the climax that attempts to tie it all together is almost a stretch--or maybe I wasn't fond of the way the book ended because I just didn't want it to end.

Some have noted that Smith's novel introduces a vibrant character only to disappoint the reader by switching suddenly to another character for a chapter or so. They would apparently desire a novel focusing solely on the Chalfens, Archie, or the Iqbals. What is lost in character focus, however, is more than made up for by the novel's fascinating chain of events. Ironically, this achieves its purpose --- to demonstrate what happens when the worlds of these vibrant and Antipodean characters collide.

I was about 1/2 way through "White Teeth" when I read some of the reviews posted here, and I thought, "Did they read the same book I am enjoying so much?" I approached the ending with trepedation, wondering if I would be disappointed, as I was with the ending of "Corelli's Mandolin," so good for the first 3/4, and then with such an abrupt ending. But no! The ending was perfect, all strands tied up, and all in character. I highly recommend this marvelous tour de force to any readers with a sense of humor and of history. To Zadie Smith, "You go, girl!" Can't wait to see what you come up with next.

Rollicking, poignant, filthy, screamingly funny, insightful. So many terms could be piled up to describe this marvelous first novel by Zadie (what a lady) Smith. I didn't know what to expect upon buying the book and certainly did not plan to become so quickly captivated by the complex, fully rendered characters of Archie and Iqbal. I have travelled frequently to London over the past few years and found this to be the best true traveller's guide to that metropolis. Contemporary London has moved beyond the strawberries and cream of Princess Diana days to encompass the revenge of the entire fabulous Empire: from the Caribbean to Bengal, from end-of-the-world predicters to World War II remnants. And the prose! Zadie hears with the precision and wit of a 1,000 year old crone and writes like a toddler newly in love with our English language. A massive book for the ages, brava!

This successful work of narrative contemplates and analyzes the topic of social and cultural immigration within Muslim and Jamaican families migrated to the northern part of London between the 70s and the 90s. White Teeth presents the social problem of ethnicity as the shared problem of diverse citizenship with a common `home'. Several are the problems that immigrants have to face when migrate to a new and often different country. The biggest issue could be often found answering to the eternal question of: integration or assimilation? Or better, should immigrants adapt themselves in the new culture and therefore accept to loose partially their values and beliefs or should they maintain live their native cultural and social traits that will distinguish them from the rest of the crowd? Is social identity more important than it is to adapt and acquire new and different values that will eventually lead to the result of becoming part of a big melting pot society?

These questions create the vital theme of the book. White Teeth does not avoid the issue of ethnic tension and it presents the social problem of ethnicity and immigration that often in time leads to a host culture that is insensitive toward cultural diversity. A book definetly worth it on the basis of cultural and moral values.

This book comes with a lot of hype. The blurbs are filled with the words "funny" and "witty". And it needs some humour to carry it along, since there isn't much in the way of dramatic structure. Unfortunately, for me at least, the laughs (or giggles or even smirks) were not thick on the ground. To be fair, I haven't finished the book. I kept asking myself "Why am I reading this?", without coming up with a good answer. The biggest problem is Archie, one of the protagonists. Given that the novel starts off in 1975, "drip" seems the appropriate word to describe him. A greater understanding of this character is not something the average reader would crave. Zadie Smith does do some things well in this novel. Her ear for dialogue is good, and she does the various ethnic dialects convincingly (although an American audience can't really know how authentic they are). And she writes about interracial relations in an insightful way. But it still didn't make me want to slog through this.

This book had a huge amount critical acclaim attached to it. Smith, herself, became a literary darling overnight it seemed. I actually didnt read this book until much later after that hype died down. I really only have one resounding feeling about the book - it is extremely hard to follow Smith's direction if you haven't live in a multi-cultural melting pot. I read reviews of people in middle America saying they didn't see what all the bother is about - and they wouldn't. Having said that, even if you don't see the bigger picture she is trying to convey, the general storyline falls short.

This story is told in four parts about immigration, religion, race, sex, war, politics, and history. It's huge in scope, but I'm not sure the author pulls it off entirely. Parts of this book I found to be very interesting; the way Smith describes her characters, for instance, was impressive. Her characters are distinctive, but her story line - while massive - left me flat most of the time.

In the novel White Teeth, Zadie Smith tackled a very difficult task of incorporating comedy into a very serious cultural clash. The booked is centered upon its two pillars, the egotistical, patronizing, pretentious, and condescending Samad Miah Iqbal and the soft spoken, non-confrontational, modest yet suicidal Archibald Jones. The two men come from completely different cultures, Samad being a Bengali Muslim, and Archie being a British Christian. As Samad and Archie go from the British Royal Military to north London their friendship stays strong. They each have their own complicated families which serve as the main characters in the book. Samad marries the over-bearing, opinionated, and out-spoken Alsana. They have identical twins Magid and Millat, who are both the same person yet so very opposite its increadible. Archie marries the beautiful, rebellious, and toothless Clara Bowden, a Jamaican immigrant and daughter of a die-hard and somewhat hysterical Jehovah's Witness, Hortense Bowden. Together, Archie and Clara have a daughter, Irie, a voluptuous, opinionated, and averagely intelligent girl.
The beginning of the story works on bringing the characters together. It is careening with oddities and some of the most awkward matches and situations possible. Once both of the families are clearly established, the true genius of the book comes to light. Each character is developed into a complex jumble of emotion, conflict, love, and rebellion. Samad ships his eldest by two minutes and better son, Magid back to Bangladesh to become a religious profit gifted with the light of Allah. In doing so he created an enemy of Alsana until he returned. There second son, Millat, develops into a rebel of sorts. All of the girls are obsessed with him, he smokes pot incessantly, and he leads a gang of rough riders feared and respected throughout the youth of North London. As the development of his two sons strays further and further from what he intended, Samad believes himself to be a cursed Muslim and decides to devote himself to Allah forever. Archie continues in his non confrontational style for the whole book, while Irie and Clara constantly clash about nearly every issue that comes up. The families, alone and by themselves have enough issues to make a shrinks career. They then run into each other and even another family, the Chalfens, to create even more friendship, love, conflict, turmoil, and cultural clashing.
The book unfortunately falls off a bit in my mind after of the conflict, drama, and commotion is clearly established. Smith rushes her characters into new developments completely inconsistent with their previously described and wonderfully thought out characters. Samad goes from powerful and handsome, to feeble and insignificant. Alsana then goes from a subservient wife to a spouse abusing wench worthy of any husband's fears. Millat goes from a popular leader to be followed, to a follower in Kevin, something that was so incongruous to his character that is really detracted from a reader's connection with him. These inconsistencies did not ruin the story, but they attacked Smiths credibility, this being a story based in the realm of reality. The only character that stayed consistent was Archie, though even he was a hard to gauge. We saw in the first seen of the book, his attempted suicide, and from that point on he is a submissive vegetable who offers a gentle opinion here and there. While the story holds up, its characters have difficulty doing so.
Smith's trend of factional evolution of the characters was the strongest metaphor throughout the story. It began with Hortense Bowden and Ryan Topps committing their lives to Jehovah's Witness church. Then Millat went to KEVIN to act as a fundamentalist follower of some ridiculous approach on Islam. Then Joshua joined FATE mainly out of rebellion to his father. The message in all of this seemed to say that people have a need to associate with that seems to them as an important endeavor, their time has to be worth something. In assuring this for themselves, they often make decisions that would normally never even be considered. While the messages are consistent, once again, it is not consistent with the story that Smith conjured in the opening hundred and fifty pages of the book.
In all, this was a very interesting book with many twists and turns, some expected and some completely curve balled. I became easy at some points to connect and at others to be completely detached. When reading it, keep an open mind and don't search to hard for explanations and reasoning that you think you missed, chances are it isn't there. If you just move with the motion of the book it's an enjoyable read that will interestingly leave you wanting more (possibly because the ending was dismal and you need a better sense of closure).

White Teeth fully qualifies as a refreshing novel. The characters are lively, identifiable and rich. I also found the dialogue to be rich, one of the reasons that kept the book interesting throughout the read. I was entranced as to what is coming next and kept on reading and reading until the last page.I also recommend Disciples of Fortune, The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, The Line of Beauty,The Usurper and others for their depth among other things.

That would be the best thing I can relay about the novel. I regret not giving in sooner to my desire to be rid of the book. I hoped and searched for redeeming content, but did not find it. Perhaps, I just did not care for the plot.

I find it hard to believe Zadie Smith is only 24 years old. She has written an amazing work! She has taken the threads of everyday life, livened them up almost beyond recognition, and woven them into this funny, poignant, and sometimes just plain strange, tapestry. Hers are the kind of characters that you're sure you have met somewhere before. However, it wasn't perfect. While Ms. Smith's descriptions of her settings are dazzling, sometimes she goes too much into detail. Also, her South Asian characters seem to be based on rather crude stereotypes. Other than that, what a book this is!

White Teeth is the kind of novel you wish you would rather have read in a condensed Reader's Digest version. It is a grossly overwritten rambling piece of work. Towards the end you begin to suspect that it is not only you the reader who is growing increasingly weary but maybe the writer herself, having worn herself out and wishing to put this "great" endeavor behind her, suddenly, anti-climatically brings the story to a feeble dead end marked by a cheesy bollywood style re-entrant coincidence. For the poor reader who has patiently endured and is looking for at least some pitiful resolution this can only seem like a major cop out by the writer.

The ending is only a minor point of annoyance. Zadie Smith is actually a talented writer. Unfortunately she appears to be far too much is awe of her own sense of endless wit. This gets in the way of her writing. It also squeezes all her characters into comic book style stick figures. The novel is not so much a story as a long drawn out situation where each character having started promisingly gets stuck in endless repetitions.

A reader of Indian origin may find the novel jarring. There is a weird and incongruent evocation of a little remembered nineteenth century historical figure Mangal Pandey who becomes a long running tiresome joke in the novel. Zadie Smith mixes up her geography of the Indian subcontinent quite a bit so that Dacca and Delhi become interchangeable cities. She is ambitious to attempt to inhabit the mind of a middle aged male South Asian immigrant in London. This leads to moments of exaggerated convolutions: the superhuman energetic masturbatory spree of Samad Iqbal, a man supposedly in his fifties would make many a male reader cringe not so much in awe as in disbelief. The cliched and stale bar room conversations of Samad and Archie bring forth a bemused embarrassment. Clearly Zadie Smith has spent little time in the pubs of London.

One can do better than this hackneyed version of the immigrant experience. For those of you who may have inexplicably enjoyed this book, may I direct you to superior sources of enjoyment for this kind of story: the brilliant small budget British films from the 80's and 90's:

My Beautiful Laundrette

My son the Fanatic

East is East

And for those who have the taste for Salman Rushdie's style of writing, he remains the grandmaster of this sort of fiction. Zadie Smith is an inadequate pupil of Rushdie.

This book is amazing. The huge cast of characters are confused, emotional and "involved" in a web of relationships that they can't seem to figure out how to handle. It gorgeously describes the clash of cultures, even within families. And though I love the story and the characters, the writing is what sets it apart. Each carefully crafted paragraph reads like Zadie Smith has been writing this in her head for years. Each line fits into place like an insane literary jigsaw puzzle.

What a great book! I borrowed this one from my sister, who said she could not get into it. I got sucked into it right away, and am shocked that more people didn't love it as much as I did. There are some really funny parts. If your parents are immigrants from Asia, like mine are, you will probably appreciate the parts about the accents even more. Check this one out - if you don't love it, pass it on to the next person you meet - I bet they will!

I find it hard to believe Zadie Smith is only 24 years old. She has written an amazing work! She has taken the threads of everyday life, livened them up almost beyond recognition, and woven them into this funny, poignant, and sometimes just plain strange, tapestry. Hers are the kind of characters that you're sure you have met somewhere before. However, it wasn't perfect. While Ms. Smith's descriptions of her settings are dazzling, sometimes she goes too much into detail. Also, her South Asian characters seem to be based on rather crude stereotypes. Other than that, what a book this is!

White Teeth is the kind of novel you wish you would rather have read in a condensed Reader's Digest version. It is a grossly overwritten rambling piece of work. Towards the end you begin to suspect that it is not only you the reader who is growing increasingly weary but maybe the writer herself, having worn herself out and wishing to put this "great" endeavor behind her, suddenly, anti-climatically brings the story to a feeble dead end marked by a cheesy bollywood style re-entrant coincidence. For the poor reader who has patiently endured and is looking for at least some pitiful resolution this can only seem like a major cop out by the writer.

The ending is only a minor point of annoyance. Zadie Smith is actually a talented writer. Unfortunately she appears to be far too much is awe of her own sense of endless wit. This gets in the way of her writing. It also squeezes all her characters into comic book style stick figures. The novel is not so much a story as a long drawn out situation where each character having started promisingly gets stuck in endless repetitions.

A reader of Indian origin may find the novel jarring. There is a weird and incongruent evocation of a little remembered nineteenth century historical figure Mangal Pandey who becomes a long running tiresome joke in the novel. Zadie Smith mixes up her geography of the Indian subcontinent quite a bit so that Dacca and Delhi become interchangeable cities. She is ambitious to attempt to inhabit the mind of a middle aged male South Asian immigrant in London. This leads to moments of exaggerated convolutions: the superhuman energetic masturbatory spree of Samad Iqbal, a man supposedly in his fifties would make many a male reader cringe not so much in awe as in disbelief. The cliched and stale bar room conversations of Samad and Archie bring forth a bemused embarrassment. Clearly Zadie Smith has spent little time in the pubs of London.

One can do better than this hackneyed version of the immigrant experience. For those of you who may have inexplicably enjoyed this book, may I direct you to superior sources of enjoyment for this kind of story: the brilliant small budget British films from the 80's and 90's:

My Beautiful Laundrette

My son the Fanatic

East is East

And for those who have the taste for Salman Rushdie's style of writing, he remains the grandmaster of this sort of fiction. Zadie Smith is an inadequate pupil of Rushdie.

This book is amazing. The huge cast of characters are confused, emotional and "involved" in a web of relationships that they can't seem to figure out how to handle. It gorgeously describes the clash of cultures, even within families. And though I love the story and the characters, the writing is what sets it apart. Each carefully crafted paragraph reads like Zadie Smith has been writing this in her head for years. Each line fits into place like an insane literary jigsaw puzzle.

What a great book! I borrowed this one from my sister, who said she could not get into it. I got sucked into it right away, and am shocked that more people didn't love it as much as I did. There are some really funny parts. If your parents are immigrants from Asia, like mine are, you will probably appreciate the parts about the accents even more. Check this one out - if you don't love it, pass it on to the next person you meet - I bet they will!

Yup! You read it here first. Mark my words... Zadie Smith has hit one out of the park with her very first novel. It's quite extraordinary. If she were a tech stock, her IPO would make eyes pop and records fall. Too bad, it's only a book. But, what a book! At least we can all share in it, celebrate her talent, and claim we followed her from the beginning. And, what an auspicious beginning it is.

Oh? The plot? Two unlikely wartime mates crisscross one another's lives over the years and traverse the human experience from their perspectives, as well as those of their kids, their wives, their friends, and sundry other characters along the way. Marvelously giddy ride all over the diverse English multicultural countryside. Like a maze that comes together toward the end, more or less. Great read - never a dull paragraph!

Enough said. Now, buy the book!!

Although White Teeth has been somewhat forgotten behind a haze of media glitter and hype, this book demands attention simply as a quirky and quite brilliant first novel. Archie Jones and Samad Iqbal forge an enduring friendship over an extended period of cowardice during World War Two, and when they both begin families late in life, their respective children Irie, and Magid and Millat become intertwined in the melting pot that is North London. Add in the Chalfens, an English family with a righteous, alomost (benevolently) colonial temperament, and this fiery mix of personalities provides the crux for Smith's imaginative exploration of prejudice, personal and cross cultural relationships, scientific experimentation and religious fundamentalism. The subplots in the novel are similarly engrossing, with enough eccentric characters to fuel several novels. To mention just a few without spoiling the story: Millat wavers between a fundamentalist Islamic sect whose initials spell KEVIN and his natural tendency toward the role of neighbourhood Godfather; Alsana, Samad's wife, earns money by making fetish outfits; and Irie finishes off her schooling with her grandmother, a vehement Jehovah's witness. The only criticism I would make of this book is that in seeking to explore so many "big issues", Smith inevitably overreaches the constraint provided by her 462 pages. However, Smith readily concedes that her work does contain flaws, impressing that, "If I thought it was the best book I could write, that would be incredibly depressing." Another book, even better than White Teeth? I'll look forward to reading that.

Since I think everyone agrees on the strengths of this book: an honest, funny portrayal of multi-ethnic London and the often hilarious prose, I want to note a minor flaw to any readers who - like me - discovered the book because of the considerable hype surrounding it.
Through the first three quarters of the book, Zadie Smith manages to convey both the rootlessness of the immigrant experience as well as the seeming inevitability of following in our ancestors' footsteps; she does this simply through excellent storytelling. Unfortunately, the plot is sometimes predictable; I found myself predicting key plot points chapters in advance. Also the subtle "show-not-tell" approach is all but abandoned in the final quarter, when she seems explains her thematic intentions, and by page 450, I couldn't help but think that this shouldn't be necessary. Fortunately, the beautifully rendered final scenes are less didactic and tie together all of the book's themes of the into what one reviewer correctly defined a "life-affirming" book.

Having just finished the book, I can't see what all the fuss was about. If the store allowed it, I'd give the book 31/2 stars. However, the huge advance, the Booker Prize, and the avalanche of critical praise were hyperbole. Other reviewers have detailed the plot, so no need to sum up here. The strengths of the book are vivid, colorful characters, an involving plot, a real sense of place, and original writing and language. Though there are no real weaknesses of the book, there's no heft to it either. To me, it read like a grade A comic soap opera and nothing more.

I became interested in reading this book after reading many wonderful reviews. After having read it, I must say I was disappointed. The beginning of the book had me hooked, but I had to force myself to finish it. The writing is superb, the characters are very colorful and interesting, but the story just didn't interest me. The book is about three main families: the Joneses( English father, Jamaican mother, one daughter), the Iqbals ( Bengalis, mother and father, twin sons) and the Chalfens (English, mother and father and four sons). It deals with immigrants trying to assimilate, cultural differences, family conflicts, racial issues, religious issues. Too much going on! I also was let down by the ending.

The unlikely friendship of Archie and Samad, beginning in the cramped quarters of a WWII tank, makes for a fun and fascinating story. Smith's writing is ironic without being heavy-handed, and is full of observations about the small stuff that makes up our lives. The characters are ones you would invite in for a cup of tea, just to see how things are getting on.
Take White Teeth on vacation, and bask in a great read.

Kudos to Zadie Smith, who wrote this book by the meager age of 24!! How accomplished she is! How worldly! Even a slacker like me can admire her level of ambition. What had I done by age 24? Besides corrupt the morals of a dozen boys, a fireman, a poet and two university professors? I had my wisdom teeth removed, and that has to count for something (right?).
I tried to read this book. Really. I did. I read the last chapter, and I enjoyed it tremendously. Then, I read the first three chapters. Alas, I could go no further! The book was too busy; it jostled me most disagreeably. It was all over the place. It made me nervous. I developed a facial twitch.
I did like what I read, but yet, the book drained me. It expected too much. "I know I'm the book and you are the reader," it said, "but I think you should entertain me," it demanded. "I'll try," I replied. But it turns out I was just too dull, with my herbal tea and my horoscope and my bath oil beads. I work for lobbyists. It is my only defense. The book snubs me now, if I try to pick it up.
From now on, I think I will stick to reading supermarket circulars. "Come as you are," they beckon. "Bring your credit cards. It's two-for-one day. You like two-for-one," they declare.

In the past, I have shunned "popular books" because quite often they are just fluff, they lack substance. White Teeth, however, is a popular book with substance. It was published in June of 2001, three months before 9/11 and four years before the London subway bombings on 7/7/5. It is quite possible that the main substance of the novel, the struggles of Muslim immigrants in London and their complex multi-generational assimilation into European society, is more pertinent today than even Zadie Smith could have ever imagined. Or perhaps, this novel proves that at least one person, the author herself, could see the writing on the wall. Immigrant assimilation, however, is not the sole focus of the book; it is simply the central one. Friendship, ageing, struggle, and love also get their due, but it is in her exploration of the complex reality of immigrants and their children that Zadie Smith proves herself as writer. It is in that plot line that she demonstrates that she is capable of developing a plot, creating compelling characters, and being funny. And it is in that plot line that she proves that when she puts pen to paper she aims higher than simple entertainment. However, the one weakness in this novel is that she tries to do too much. Because of that, the novel sometimes looses trick of itself, it loses focus. That is not to say that those parts of the book are not enjoyable to read, they are, they just cloud what I believe to be this novels primary message. That criticism aside, White Teeth is a novel I recommend. It is a popular novel with substance, substance worth the time it takes to read.

On a side note: I finished this book on July 4th of all days and upon putting it down I wondered about two things. Would my review of this book have been different if I had read it in its first month of release? Would Zadie Smith have written it differently if she wrote it today?

The "suicide" in the first few pages was wonderfully written but as the story moved on I found myself thinking "relax, stop trying so hard". For a first novel it was entertaining but not five stars. Smith has some work to do to find her voice. Much of the book rambled on without adding substance. I found it hard to buy into an Irie who went from complete mortification over her hair and body to the confident single mother at the end. How did she get there?

With all the great reviews and promise of an exciting new voice, I purchased the book to read on vacation. It took an enormous amount of effort to finish it. Yes, her mastery of several types of ethnic dialog is to be applauded but the story was painfully long and hard to read for something that didn't seem to say anything. She jumps from past to present from one paragraph to the next which confused me... it took me the next 3 paragraphs to figure out that she had jumped into a story from the past. And the end of the story was not indicative of the rest of the book. She spends 448 pages in excruciating detail about mindless stuff only to abruptly end the story in the last 2 paragraphs of the book - almost like she actually got tired of the story too.
I've read some of her other writings and was impressed - which made this book a real let-down.

I was first introduced to this book in my 20th-Century British Fiction class and it was the final book of the semester because it tied together many of the themes of changing post-colonial and racial identity of British culture. That's the "important" reason for its inclusion in the syllabus. Truth be told, it's just a fascinatingly well-written story. Zadie's prose style has a street-smart bounce to it and she seems to understand the male mind better than most men I know, including myself. It's a very clever and fun read, although it is punctuated with some very touching moments. I highly recommend this book.

Zadie Smith's love for language is palpable throughout this stunning first novel. It is a remarkable achievement with a host of fascinating characters whose graces and vices ebb and flow in their arduous pursuit of living life to the fullest. Highly recommended.

This book gives voice to all of the "Others" not usually given center place in Literature. Zadie Smith loves her protagonists in all their faults, complexities and strengths. This novel bursts with life and love of it but never simplifies. It respects the complexity of life and at the same time insists on the overarching forces that drive us. This is the best novel i read this year. The fact that this novel present a real depth in the treatment of her main themes is amazing because it is also HILARIOUS!

White Teeth is of a style I like to think of as the Anglo response to Magical Realism in Spanish lit, popularized by Marquez and Allende (arguably originated by Rulfo). The anglo version adds a bit more concrete, more familiar vernacular, a little less fairytale, a little more sass.

Most Smith fans will also enjoy Salman Rushdie. Tom Robbins people might find trying this out worthwhile. There is also a pacing, and a drawing together of plot-lines that should give lovers of ironic mysteries smoother entree into this, more emotive, more pensive style.

Why 2 stars? It ain't my thing. The characters eventually felt like tools she was moving around to generate whatever weirdly cool dramatic moments she could imagine. The power of those moments was lost because the personality of the characters became so transparent. You might say, "of course she has to react that way to him so she can end up with the other guy and the first guy can be with the new girl who is the other guy's cousin...Boom! Irony."

Create a chart of each character's movements around one another in the course of the book and you'll have a very pretty, and self contained design. One that in book form reads like a long pun.

Why not one star? Because she was able, while a little aggressive on the this-is-a-book-about-mixing-cultures tip, she was able to nail some very specific and genuine cultural perspectives and artifacts that kept the book in my hand all the way to its deflating last chapter, which I just finished, and am still perplexed by the choices.

The mid-line to one star reviewers have it right. This book is a chore to read. You do find yourself beginning to relate to a character and understand them and the author switches to another character. You will find that the author loves to hear her own voice. Or so it seems. I made it 7/8's of the way through the book and decided it was just not worth the effort. Leans toward pomposity and bombast.

Has its flaws (minor) as one would expect from a first novel by a very young writer, but overall a compelling well-written and hard to put down read. American readers will not be unduly confused by the parochial references to parts of London and the social aspects of English life. Strong characters, very well written. Implausable plot, but so what? Most of all, it is FUN to read!

A big, rich novel, touching on friendships, marriage, teenage angst, Jehovah's Witnesses, Muslims and love. Very well written with much humor. The unlikely friendship between Archie Jones, a red-headed Englishman, and Samad Iqbal, a Bengali Muslim, is followed, along with the lives of their families. Shows how family problems are universal. Characters are well-shaped. Zadie Smith is an expert at the characterization of teenagers - she nails them. This is a wonderful, wonderful book.

I agree with many of the reviewers. This is a very well written debut novel. However, after one stops being wowed by Smith's ability to write the book ceases to impress. She tells some good tales and describes people well, but where is the plot, what is the point. "Abrupt" does not sufficiently describe the end. There is no real attempt to tie anything together. I wonder if those who elaborately praised this book, finished it.

I applaud Smith's writing syle, as it is original, raw, witty, and fresh. However,simpler words could have been used in place of bigger ones to fit in with its respective context. The first half of the book was quite boring, whereas the second half picked up, then went down again. The characters in their teenage and early adult lives were interesting and funny.If Smith had kept to this detail more than going back into Archie and Samad's old days, the book would have probably been better. I also did not find the end of the story very strong. Some parts were just going on and on forever, hence becoming too predictable the next time around. For example, Samad's character was very real, but one knows he is never going to change his fixed mind, how he cannot fathom the concept of his children growing up in North London, being uber religious to the point that he turns to hypocracy by cheating on his wife, drinking, etc. Furthermore, Alsana's character, again very real, does not change. On balance though, this is what Smith most likely observed in her youth and decided to write about it in a journal (this is the impression I get)but there is a distinction between writing journals and novels. I think this needed a bit more work in the editing department. As someone mentioned in these reviews ("Did Smith have an eraser"?- are my sentiments exactly). Given the fact that she was only 23 when she wrote this novel, as stated above, I do applaud her, since this is her first novel. She wrote very well, but some of the basic stuff like whatever+ whichever= answer( I cannot remember the example) was unnecessary, it did not fit the context in order to make the paragraph/chapter fresh. Ironically, when Smith wrote in simple prose, it was fresh in its execution. She has wit and humour and I hope her new books are more consistent. I just found myself getting bored and putting the book down from time to time.

Zadie Smith is one of the most talented new authors out there. I enjoyed her debut novel so much that I read the second half of it very slowly, so as to savor the uncanny occurrences and outrageously funny scenarios for as long as I could. White Teeth gave me a better history lesson on places like Jamaica, Pakistan, and England than any world history class I'd ever taken. But the seed of this novel is just the plain insanity of human nature. You won't be able to control the laughter that will explode from you, and when you least expect it.

Get your own copy and don't lend it to anyone. . .you may never get it back.

I've just finished this novel and I must say, I just don't get it. It won two prestigious literary awards, plus has had any number of luminaries gushing over it. Huh???? I honestly don't even get what the novel was supposed to be about. It meandered all over the place, with characters dropping in and out of the narrative willy nilly. For example, Clara, who figured largely in the early part of the novel, drops out completely one third of the way through, and only makes a minor reappearance later: the author spends a long time describing the animal liberation group FATE, only to have them suddenly disappear into the ether. The characters were, without exception, objectionable, nasty pieces of work and not one of them engaged me emotionally. The novel is too long and I really found it a hard slog to wade through for very little return. I do not recommend this novel - please,spend your money on something else, don't waste your time with this.

I cannot remember when I last read a book at lightning speed, such is the effect of "White Teeth." When I am sending e-mails to friends, raving about particular insights and passages from a novel, it's nothing short of true love. Zadie Smith's intellect, range (as far as her ability to appeal to the high-brow and low-brow with her diction and prose and her ability to weave the poignant tales that represent so many different races and cultures. . .) is mind-boggling as in "I -can't-believe-she's-(Smith)-only-24-years-old." Somehow, I think this excitement is only matched by the time when I first introduced to the work of E. Danticat. Like Danticat, Smith has only given us a slight taste of what she can do. She is a novelist that we're bound to hear so much more about throughout her lifetime as her first novel accomplishes what more experienced writers have failed to do: offer a compelling, "good read" that will make you laugh out loud, cry and say, "Wow. What a brilliant insight. . ." Read it and spread the word. I know I have (& I just got the book in the mail yesterday! I only speed-read books that I simply can't wait to finish!).

I was on page 186 when I finally realized what this book was about and once I did, though it intrigued me a bit, I was ultimately disappointed. I give this book a three because the author's voice was mature and the characters were deep and complex. The story's road map was confusing at times and often wondered who and what the story was really about. The ending actually seemed rushed, especially with Irie having sex with the twin brothers and nothing ever developing further, except a pregnancy. Another positive was the rich dialogue of all the cultures involved: Jamaican, British, Indian.

Very interesting book with a unique style of writing. Main characters are vividly drawn and mostly convincing. It's hard to think of anything quite like it. I found the ending somewhat unconvincing but still recommend the book.

Zadie Smith's remarkable debut novel shows depth, wit, and most of all, a genuine talent for storytelling. She tackles an important but somewhat timeworn theme--the immigrant experience and all the culture clashes it produces--and turns it into something original and memorable. Smith's ability to weave her characters' personal histories back and forth in time with such ease and aplomb proves that she is clearly a young writer to watch. Archie and Samaad, the two anti-heroes of the story, are flawed and at times, foolish men, but Smith portrays these characters with so much affection and gentle mockery that one cannot help but love them. This book crosses oceans, continents, and several generations, yet it never feels overblown or remote. Smith has an uncanny writer's gift of inviting the reader into the narrative with such intimacy that the obscure becomes the familiar. White Teeth has verve, wit, and panache. Smith's talent is formidable.

Zadie Smith comments on the immigrant experience in London, on the trappings of tradition, on adapting one's cultural identity, on self-deception, on extremism, on the psychology behind religious and political movements, amongst other things. She builds a thick context around every character's actions. The character arcs are unexpected and her descriptions are colorful. And, it's just fun to read.

This is one of my favorite books. It is a story about culture, the insecurity racked years of adolescence, lives of immigrant families and their kids in London. Zadie is a great story teller who brings all her characters to life with her descriptive writing and a wicked sense of humor. I don't like to give away much during my reviews so you'll just have to read it to find out. Worth all the accolades it has received!

(I haven't posted a book review since the beggining of the year)EXCELLENT! This book was absolutely rich in cultures, childhood and childish (i.e., from the adults) behaviors. Zadie covered every topic imaginable. Zadie's prose artfully and vividly evoked many memories for me. The most memorable were (1) the authentic Jamaican patios; (2) teenage hair perming with clumps of hair falling out; (3) the Muslims' deep dislike of pork eaters; (4) the fanatical Jehovah Witnesses and their many preparations for DOOMSDAY; and (5) the weed, ganja, spliff, blunt, rut, etc consumers.
This book embraces so many topics, there is something in it for every reader.
For a first time novelist, how can anyone top this? I eagerly look forward to the next.

I don't understand why this novel is getting such rave reviews. The first two-thirds of the book was enjoyable but not stunning - it was gritty and full of real-life dilemmas. I didn't find it particularly humorous - or at least not "laugh out loud" funny. As I began the final 100-200 pages, Smith was still introducing new characters to the detriment of the others that were not fully developed. The last 100 pages were intriguing as Smith wove the decisions and fates of the characters together, all pointing towards one room on New Years Eve. However, the end just plain falls apart and doesn't do the rest of the book justice. It's as if Smith herself decided the ending on the flip of a 50p coin and took about as much time to dash out the amateurish text.

This book is okay, but definitely not worth all the hype it has received. Yes it is an entertaining read, but at the end of it, all I can say is "So what?" This book did not touch my soul in any way. I also found her style to be HUGELY derivative of Salman Rushdie. A good pick if you are going to imitate someone's style, but not particularly original. And if you like that style of writing (which I do), why not read the master himself? Overall I'd give this book a big: don't bother.

One great way to "read" this fantastic novel is to listen to it on CD. The performance is stunning. But, either way, this is modern Dickens and carries a giant, sweeping plot hurtling along with tremendous force. The characters are vivid and wonderful and the variety of ways she attacks race issues and explores racial relations is just beyond belief. She set the bar high and vaulted over.

This was a great novel! I read it while I was traveling and could not put it down. Zadie does a great job bringing out race relations and the difficulties often faced by immigrant parents trying to bring their children up in a culture that is not their own. Her writing was contemporary yet classic. I was very impressed with her accuracy and her ability to really give you a sense of her very human characters. I could see how some people might not appriciate it because the book focuses on subjects that aren't experienced by everyone, just people who grew up in interracial homes or homes with immigrant parents. There is no fairy tale, she recognizes that the world looks different from that angle and describes it with all it's beauty and ugliness very elegantly. I would highly recommend this book to anyone!

Zadie Smith's deput is an astonishment, a privilege to read in this era of the endlessly declining quality of fiction and writing in general. The anatomy of Smith's writing is as follows: one foot in the East, one in the West, tongue in cheek, one eyebrow raised, eyes crossed, and a hand stretched out to the future. White Teeth is one of the funniest books you will read this or any year, and a well-paced story that enthralls from the first pages. It compares favorably with its Americanized counterpart, Love Songs of the Tone-Deaf; both are debuts by novelists I am certain will entertain us for years to come, and both are not just droll or amusing, but downright hilarious reading, while never straying from their stories. Terrific stuff.

This book has an enourmous amount of potential and the end is a little abrupt, but overall it does a great job entertaining and showing little tid-bits of cultural positioning in England. The characters are fun, maybe a little more could be done with the females and their social make ups. Looking forward to her next,

I bought this book solely on a review in Time magazine and expected to be blown away by the talent emanating from Ms. Smith. However, after forcing myself to read at least half of it, I find myself dragging my feet to finish the other half. It is simply not compelling. Perhaps it is a bigger hit in London but I don't understand why everyone is falling all over themselves about this book!

This book is okay, but definitely not worth all the hype it has received. Yes it is an entertaining read, but at the end of it, all I can say is "So what?" This book did not touch my soul in any way. I also found her style to be HUGELY derivative of Salman Rushdie. A good pick if you are going to imitate someone's style, but not particularly original. And if you like that style of writing (which I do), why not read the master himself? Overall I'd give this book a big: don't bother.

White Teeth by Zadie Smith was a book filled with the fictional stories of many people from many different times and of many races. It is a book fit for every age and any race. Zadie Smith uses a sharp sarcastic comedy that keeps you laughing at the worlds' gut-busting problems. White Teeth contains a truckload of philosophy and challenging ideas. Though the book wasn't all laughs, aside from its humor it dealt with various problems and shined a light on the many pitfalls in life. The book deals with war, love, suicide, religion, race, drugs, as well as many other issues. Smith goes full throttle into many controversial matters. I enjoyed this book and would recommend it to anyone. It was one of the most hysterical novels I have ever read but it also made me stop and think. I cannot wait to read another of Smiths' enlightening novels.

One great way to "read" this fantastic novel is to listen to it on CD. The performance is stunning. But, either way, this is modern Dickens and carries a giant, sweeping plot hurtling along with tremendous force. The characters are vivid and wonderful and the variety of ways she attacks race issues and explores racial relations is just beyond belief. She set the bar high and vaulted over.

This was a great novel! I read it while I was traveling and could not put it down. Zadie does a great job bringing out race relations and the difficulties often faced by immigrant parents trying to bring their children up in a culture that is not their own. Her writing was contemporary yet classic. I was very impressed with her accuracy and her ability to really give you a sense of her very human characters. I could see how some people might not appriciate it because the book focuses on subjects that aren't experienced by everyone, just people who grew up in interracial homes or homes with immigrant parents. There is no fairy tale, she recognizes that the world looks different from that angle and describes it with all it's beauty and ugliness very elegantly. I would highly recommend this book to anyone!

Zadie Smith's deput is an astonishment, a privilege to read in this era of the endlessly declining quality of fiction and writing in general. The anatomy of Smith's writing is as follows: one foot in the East, one in the West, tongue in cheek, one eyebrow raised, eyes crossed, and a hand stretched out to the future. White Teeth is one of the funniest books you will read this or any year, and a well-paced story that enthralls from the first pages. It compares favorably with its Americanized counterpart, Love Songs of the Tone-Deaf; both are debuts by novelists I am certain will entertain us for years to come, and both are not just droll or amusing, but downright hilarious reading, while never straying from their stories. Terrific stuff.

This book has an enourmous amount of potential and the end is a little abrupt, but overall it does a great job entertaining and showing little tid-bits of cultural positioning in England. The characters are fun, maybe a little more could be done with the females and their social make ups. Looking forward to her next,

I bought this book solely on a review in Time magazine and expected to be blown away by the talent emanating from Ms. Smith. However, after forcing myself to read at least half of it, I find myself dragging my feet to finish the other half. It is simply not compelling. Perhaps it is a bigger hit in London but I don't understand why everyone is falling all over themselves about this book!

I really looked forward to diving into "White Teeth" each day on the subway going to and from work. The first two chapters are sensational, and though it's not consistently great, there are many places where it soars. Smith has tremendous compassion for her flawed characters. Just when she seems to be running out of steam in places, she introduces new characters like the incredible Chalfen family, or brings back old ones like Magid, the twin exiled to Bangladesh, whose dialogue with a cockney/Asian bar owner is priceless.

I have to say that I really enjoyed this book for the most part. I found it a really comfortable read and quite comical at points. However, it seemed to have a lot of careless editorial mistakes that kept distracting me. At one point, I am pretty sure she gets the twins confused and some of the dialogue didn't fit so well with the time period the story was supposed to be taking place in. Again though, I think these errors have to do with inexperience, (although I imagine the editor had slightly more, what went wrong?)
I also thought the ending was really weak, I loved the way she built up the characters and the action, but it all seemed to kind of flop around at the end.
Worth reading and I look forward to more in the future...

The fun in reading this book has many layers. First are the characters, who are varied, unusual, and yet quite credible. Second is the author's wit and spirit, which makes the reading easy and enjoyable. Those layers, of course, are the classic elements of a splendid book, but there is also a more unusual third layer. That comes in knowing that the author is a 24-year-old woman who already has mastered enough about writing and people to tell a mature story. I read it taking a triple pleasure in the scenes, style, and in anticipation of all the other fine novels bound to come from Zadie Smith.

First off, I've read this book 2X and have enjoyed it both times, however, on the 2nd time through, I couldn't shake the fact that the only white family in the book are overly-intellectual, bigoted, sappy, smarmy love-themselvers. And thoroughly unrealistic. The novel ,which up to the introduction of the Chalfens was rich and realistic and very, very funny, took a downward turn that it barely recovered from due to the ridiculousness of the Chalfen-clan. I am obviously recommending this book, and Zadie Smith IS an extraordinary writer, but I feel that in order to demonstrate one of the book's main purposes of alienation and the search/struggle for a personal and national identity, she unnecessarily, perhaps inadvertantly, streamlined middle-class whites into a forged stereotype. Which is a shame, as the rest of the novel is quite textured and even at times intimate.

While reading this book, I had a dream that tells me all I need to know about Zadie Smith's "philosophy" in this vastly over praised diatribe against a meaningful life. The dream: on the deck of a ship is a living whale which is having its flesh carved from its body with sharp knives as it looks on with infinitely sad eyes.
Zadie Smith uses her sharp tongue to eviscerate life. All the characters in this book are the absolute worst of collective fools and despisers of life who haven't the self reflection or will to make the least little attempt to drag themselves from the cesspools from which they came. I wouldn't spend five minutes with any of these characters for fear of being tainted by their lunacy, lack of spirit and outright hatred of life. Take Archie a cipher who slouches through life pathetically flipping a coin to make decisions for him, he would even kill himself based on this chance event. And when "life"--in the form a deranged butcher who starts each day making a mad attempt at hacking live pigeons to death with a sharp cleaver-offers Archie a second chance his first act is to drive around until he finds a commune in which he can get drunk and laid-what magnificent philosophical insight. Archie's sole "contribution" to the world is saving the life of a Nazi eugenicist-and so it goes throughout this book.
Then there is Clara, future wife of Archie, whose mother is a Jehovah's Witness waiting for the second coming mostly in anticipation of seeing everyone, save the blessed 144,000 left standing at the world's end, having their "eyes melt in thier sockets" and being burned alive thereby giving justification of her clear and obsessive hatred of life. Clara just flips to some equally ridiculous opposite of this "religion" by becoming a drug taking slut - fine everybody needs to experience the different sides of themselves but no one in this book, and I mean no one, ever learns a thing from their experiences and grows from them; they are absolutely bound by their past with no hope or even reason to bother with making their future different.
I could go on and on about Smith's utterly offensive take on life as expressed through the characters of this novel. But a summary will do. All men, particularly fathers, are either fanatical, self delusional, masturbatory fools or flaccid, passive nothings. Women, who are no better, all make pathetic choices or allow choices to be made for them and then stay with them as if this were emblematic of love--but love of what?. Their children either become their soulless, spiritless parents or their equally execrable fanatical or flaccid opposites.
Smith refers to Yeat's poem The Second Coming which speaks to the coming of the Spiritus Mundi where "somewhere in the sands of the desert/A shape with lion body and head of a man,/A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,/Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it/Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds." But she invites the reader to mock this beast all the while beckoning it along.
This book is not funny, it is not wise and it is not a pleasure to read unless of course it makes you feel better, like Hortense (Clara's mother) to imagine life eviscerated before your very eyes. Smith wraps all this "philosophy" in fancy, glittering gibberish but it doesn't cover over the stink of her sense of the world. Everyone has white teeth, however Smith's, like Clara's have simply been knocked out leaving only a razor sharp tongue stripping the flesh from life.

"White Teeth" is an amazing read, a novel so large with a reach so extended one can only marvel at Zadie Smith's ability to pull it into one cohesive whole. Smith covers so many issues--religion, race, science, gender-- with so many characters that it's a true testament to her abilities I didn't get lost somewhere around page 300. No, each character has his or her own voice; Smith's ability to credibly speak for so many points of view is perhaps the greatest strength of "White Teeth." The only caveat (and one not large enough to change my rating from anything but 5 stars) is that she sometimes seems in love with her own prose. The love is usually justified, given her obvious and considerable talents, but Smith's ramblings become tedious, almost contrived more than once. A great book nonetheless. ThE best novel I've read all year!

There are few writers who have Smith's intelligence and original voice that she displays in this standout first novel. She captures cultural London perfectly. The characters are all vivid and flamboyant and the plot is amazing. I doubt that many other young authors could do better.

I think all the reviews I read about this book have an element of truth in them.......I had the book on tape that was read by Jenny Sterlin and the job she did with the different dialects was incredible. I listen to a lot of books on tape and this was one of the most fun ones I've ever heard.

Maybe it's because I'm somewhat ignorant to British, West and East Indian cultures (i.e. i'm American), I thought the book was a fun and engrossing read. I haven't really read much because I've spent the last 10 years working on a bachelor's and two masters degrees and the last thing I want to see most I the time when I get home is a book. But I found myself absorbed and completely involved in the plot and entertained from beginning to the (somewhat disappointing) end. I did think that the character of Irie was underdeveloped, though. Simply put, I liked it.

I did not like this book one bit. I am amazed at the awards and critical acclaim it has received. Alright, it is a tremendous achievement for Zadie Smith to have written a novel at the young age of 24. However, that does not necessarily mean it is an interesting, engaging or fun read.

As a principle, I like to finish every book I begin to read. I did finish this one too, but trust me, it was a struggle! I have lost count of how many times I fell asleep trying to get through it!!

So what are the issues I had with this book? Firstly, the author attempts to cover a range of diverse topics (immigrants living in the UK, lifestyles of the middle-class society, Islamic fundamentalists, genetic experimentation, etc.). By trying to cover off such a vast amount of subject matter, there is no focus for the reader and the story lacks continuity. Secondly, the characters are pathetic! At the end of it, you feel no affection or empathy for the two protagonists - Archie Jones or Samad Iqbal. Archie is a boring, uninspired individual who is unable to make any important decisions and goes through life with a 'laissez-faire' approach. He makes no effort to carve his own path for his life. Arche's closest friend Samad Iqbal is a man that is stuck in his so-called glorious past. He struggles to find a balance between his Bangladeshi cultural heritage and his life in Britain. He is forceful with this viewpoint and fails to understand others' perspectives. Finally, the overall story was quite pointless! There is a huge amount of time spent on the two friends - who frankly speaking, are not interesting to read about in the least. Other characters such as their wives or their children could have been developed further, leading to a more engaging story line.

I think this is a great book to explore the themes from a cultural studies post-colonial perspective. I liked it at times, but my English college students HATED it for a plethora of reasons folks already mentioned here.

One thing that BUGGED me was the over use of

"it was a kind of past-tense, present-perfect moment..."

At first I loved that use of description as a teacher of writing, but the 3rd time I wanted to scream.

Otherwise, check it out!

The condition of the book was just as described, if not maybe a bit better, and arrived well ahead of my expectation. This first edition copy of Zadie Smith's 'White Teeth' will be treasured for many years to come.

This is a first class debut novel, which has made the news due to the huge advance, which the author received - a six-figure number. So, the question seems to be: is White Teeth worth all that money? The answer has to be YES.
White Teeth is a brilliant novel, superbly confident in its execution. It starts off in 1975, the year of the author's birth, with the attempted suicide of Archibald Jones. Anyone who was born in 1970s Britain cannot fail but identify with the characters and events in this book. If you can recall the VW badge craze, then this is the book for you. However, this is not just a novel for the younger generation, for there is at least one extended family in White Teeth, each member of which is brought vividly to life. There's Archibald Jones and Samed Iqbal, who first meet in a British tank in 1945, and who then meet up again thirty years later to start the families featured within White Teeth. There's the brilliant and comic portrayal of the aged Hortense Bowden, an avid Jehovah's Witness, who keeps waiting for the end of the world.
Zadie Smith's novel has been described as Dickensenian, but I think there's a touch of Thackeray in there too. The author mocks her characters, and parodies them, but she also has a lot of compassion for them. No one, in the world of White Teeth, is beyond redemption. Zadie Smith's characters are truly vibrant. Take Samed Iqbal and his troubles with 'slapping the salami'. As a reader, you begin to wonder how Zadie Smith has such insight into the male mind and universe, because it rings so true.
For anyone embarking on a Cultural Studies course, this novel is a must. Throw away your textbooks with their dry statistics! One of White Teeth's main themes is the mix of cultures in North London, from the Bengali Iqbals, to the archetypal Englishman Archie Jones, to the half-Jamaican Bowdens, and a slight smattering of the Irish. The novel maps these characters as they try to live out their years in a world which is losing religion and tradition. Samed kidnaps one of his sons to be brought up as a proper Bengali back home, while his other son, Millat, flirts with girls and joins the fundamentalist Keepers of the Eternal and Victorious Islamic Nation (KEVIN - they've got an acronym problem).
History and fate are intermingled in this novel. Hortense Bowden's apocalyptic vision of the future is indivisibly linked to the aftershocks of her birth. Samed can't stop boring people with tales of his illustrious ancestor, the rebellious Mangal Pande. Irie Jones seeks to visit her family's home of Jamaica. And Joyce Chalfen sees genius in each Chalfen portrait, whilst Joshua Chalfen literally joins up with FATE. Archie Jones, who leaves most decisions to the flick of a coin, also finds that History has a nasty shock in store for him. However, the future's present here also, with Marcus Chalfen's work on genetics forming a pivotal part of the plot.
Like BBC TV's 'Our Friends in the North', White Teeth is divided up amongst a handful of years relevant to the characters. So, you can wallow in nostalgia as you see the Berlin Wall fall down once more, relive of the turmoil of that October 1987 storm, and remind yourself of the Bradford protest against The Satanic Verses. Salman Rushdie's review of White Teeth is the only bit of marketing on the front cover, and indeed, Zadie Smith has been compared favourably with Rushdie.
There are quite a few pop culture allusions scattered throughout the novel, but I doubt that these will date, as they tend to be of the immortal kind (references to 'Taxi Driver', and 'Goodfellas'). The plot of another gangster movie, 'Miller's Crossing', seems to reflect Archie Jones' dilemma. But please don't point any tedious accusations of theft in Zadie Smith's direction. She has her own, extremely witty, voice as a writer, and White Teeth comes very much from her perspective. It seems that Zadie Smith has been writing this novel for a very long time: witness the similarity of the characters and story in `Mrs. Begum's Son and the Private Tutor', a story short she wrote for the Cambridge May Anthologies in 1997.
There are only a few jarring notes. Smith has a tendency to write aesthetic words such as 'monstropolous', when there's really no need to do it, other than maybe showing off. Having said that, you try looking up `monstropolous' in any online dictionary, and you'll have drawn a blank. But if you look up references to the word on the net, then it points all the way to Zora Neale Hurston's `Their Eyes were Watching God'. Hurston's writing was rediscovered and promoted by Alice Walker in the 70s, and this tome is credited by many for being the first novel in which Southern U.S. Blacks are portrayed as being independent from White society. Once you consider the provenance of `monstropolous', there can be no possible objection to Zadie Smith's prose. What had once seemed intrusive, now has a power all its own. If a single word could tell a story, then `monstropolous' is it. My first impression was wrong. There are no discordant notes. The music is sublime.

I enjoyed the story lines in the book of all the characthers. I throught it was sad when samad sneaked and sent one of his twin son's away, without their mother knowing about it. Samad and Alsana had an unsually marriage. The author did a great job bringing all the characthers to life.

Smith is not a writer--she's a quilter, weaving together people and their history, places and their atmosphere, religion and its descrepencies. This quiet debut deserves far more attention than it has been currently receiving. Even though, it can be a bit wordy at times...the end result is astonishing.

White Teeth is a wonderful, well written, complex, and verywitty novel about a Bengali Muslim and a working class Brit who hadbeen war buddies, and their families. Circumstances have broughtthese friends to their London suburb where they and their wives (Samad's marriage has been arranged; Archie has married a young Jamaican woman) struggle with cultural, racial, and adolescent issues. A third family brings liberal influences to the multicultural mix. Zadie Smith's characters are sympathetic and entrenched, and the dialects are a pleasure to read. The book isn't perfect--but so worthwhile!

This book is must read for any desi, african american, muslim, arab etc. minority. it's funny,insightful and tackles the awkwardness minorities encounter while trying to assimilate themselves into the English or American culture. I love the humorous situations that the characters find themselves in. and the worst part is knowing that i'm all too familiar with them!
I didn't understand the ending, but after a bit of thinking, i may have grasped it.

After seeing the PBS movie for "White Teeth" I absolutely had to find the author of the book and buy it. How such a story could come about with irony and humor galore was enough to spark my interests and find this book to have and read.

Sharp and funny at the beginning, White Teeth loses steam about halfway through and I found myself grinding through the last 200 pages. I blame Zadie Smith's editors; after all, it's difficult (and unnecessary) to maintain carefully calibrated satire for so long unless you're Salman Rushdie (echoes of whom appear in White Teeth). What became particularly annoying was the souped up, hyper-hip and "smart" rhetoric that came out of the mouths of ALL the main characters. This lack of differentiation among characters that are supposedly more complex was tiresome. I'm hoping her next book will be a tight 300 pages of fun or a sprawling drama with better fleshed-out characters.

I had to keep turning back to the author photo to convince myself that this book was written by a twenty-five year old woman. The story is captivating; it revolves around the friendship of two unlikely WWII veterans raising families in 1970s London: Iqbal, a devout Muslim with a young shrewish wife and twin boys that are trouble, and Archie, a doddering, meek white man with a beautiful, young jamacian wife and daughter, Irie. Their lives and families intertwine, and no matter what character she's focusing on, Smith writes with truth, honesty and heartfelt emotion. Don't miss this book.

Ms. Smith is a very good writer--ballsy, clever, fascinated with the meaning of words. The real achievement of the book though is that she has written a book that takes London's multicultural personality as a premise instead of subject, with the result that novel reaches beyond the boundaries established for writers of color.
Chatty though the novel may be, it still has a lot to say, and it does so with grace and a hipster kind of eloquence.
There are details of Jamaica life and culture that miss the mark. But that is to be forgiven.
Zaidie Smith can write nuh rass

The reviews I read were wonderful, and I got this book for Christmas. The beginning was engaging. The descriptions of Clara and her experiences were dynamite. I was loving this book. Then, somewhere about 1/3 of the way through, I had no idea why this person was here or that person was there, and it bogged down. I completely lost interest.

After the bombings in London were revealed to have allegedly been committed by suburban youth, I felt that I understood the situation better and in more depth because I had read Ms. Smith's tour de force of a debut novel. Witty and entertaining, albeit a little loose and perhaps in need of one more edit, WHITE TEETH reminded me of a Victorian novel with a touch of Tom Robbins thrown in: myriad, seemingly disparate threads come together all tied up in a nice, neat bow at the end. Clever language and interesting characters are icing on the cake.

"White Teeth" by Zadie Smith is about history, multicultural northern London, gender and the difficulties for people to understand eachother. This could have been an interesting novel but I wasn't too impressed. As there are too many characters figuring in the story I don't feel like I get to know anyone of them properly. They almost turn into stereotypes, unfortunatly. But I think Smith's talent is in her narration, the language is witty and expressive like a painting made by sparkling colors. So I would not be surprised to find better novels by her in the future.

Told in episodic spurts this uneven story follows three intertwined families through three generations. Characters are introduced in a linear manner. In the order in which they begin to twine into the other character's lives. One or two things did bother me. Things like the anachronistic use of the term "flares" rather than "bell bottoms" to describe a pair of pants in the 70s. The theme of the book takes some time to discover, but is worth finding. The experience of immigrants and the struggle of the second generation to find a sense of belonging is subtly offered to the reader. The author also acknowledges that it is not only immigrants that seek a sense of belonging. All in all a lovely read.

...and I don't say that very often. This book definately lives up to its hype. It's the type of novel that makes you laugh out loud and revel in the sheer beauty of the way the words are put together. I was sorry that it had to end.

What a gifted writer, and so young. The diverse nature of the book is amazing. I live in the U.S. but I know all of these people. It took me a month for me to complete this book because it was something to be savored.I didn't want it to end,in fact I'm praying for a sequel. The characters, each where richly explored and I could feel their saddness, passion, anger and frustration with life. Yet, throughout the text was an underlying thread of humor that allows us to laugh at the human condition with all of its flaws. In life there is always a laugh to be had and White Teeth provides many. Zadie, Job well done! Incredible read.

White Teeth is a tour de force. How does a 24-year-old know so much about the really big questions? Totally absorbing, with characters you gotta love-- not a victim in the bunch. Best book I have read in years.

"White Teeth" is one of the best books I've read this year. The characters are rich and intriguing. Smith writes with such beautiful nuances. Who better to write about the love that one young woman feels for her childhood friend? Who better to show that "The apple doesn't fall far from the tree?" I spent the entire novel wishing for change, hoping for change. Then, I realized, it's all fiction, isn't it?
Don't pass this one up.

I very much enjoyed reading this novel. The author is indeed a gifted writer. Her thoughtful handling of some difficult themes, such as religion, race, and science is impressive. I particularly appreciated her portrayal of the anxieties and difficulties faced by immigrants. Her ability to handle these themes in such a witty, and at times outright funny, way is reminiscent of Tom Wolfe at his best.

This novel is captivating and well written. You'll get caught up in the story. As it relies heavily on the Indian sub-culture in the UK, a knowledge of the history of India benefits the story to no end so I recommend reading books like Salman Rushdie's "Midnight's Children" beforehand (like I did). The books compliment each other to no end. Also do some research and figure out what's going on in this book (like the history of Thatcher's Children)! It brings the story to life when you understand everything going on.

Absolutely stunning postcolonial novel! Zadie Smith confronts history, science, colonialism, freedom. amd love in this novel of eccentric characters living in North London. I enjoyed this witty, ironic, and curiously moving comic novel.

To be honest the only people who will not like this book are Fundamental Muslims, Jehovah Witnesses, and unintellectual book club wanna be's. With that said, I will make this brief. Amazing. Calling this story epic is straigh to the heart. It covers so many years, so many characters, and so much heart wrung emotion. I highly agree with all the hype this book has recieved and I think it is a bloody shame that it wasn't nominated for the Booker Prize. Zadie Smith is going to be one of those novelist that will be taken serious (and deserve to be).

You'll be very sorry and miss out on a great book. There is such an amazing cast of characters in this book that I have begun to think of them as acquaintices rather than characters, and I have to constantly stop myself from referring to "You know, that waiter we met... Oh yeah, you didn't read that book. Never mind." It is just an incredible web of well fleshed-out characters that are actually connected by a cohesive story.

Serious themes, seriously meant and you just can't stop laughing.
That is, when you have a teeny weeny bit of insight into how it is for the first and second generation immigrants. If you have no idea what it's like, or take things too seriously then I can't say for sure if you're going to get all of the perspectives right in this one, which undoubtedly leads to missing all of the best jokes.
It's like being the fly on the wall as the wonderfully developed characters shuffle through the confusion of who they really are.

What a gifted writer, and so young. The diverse nature of the book is amazing. I live in the U.S. but I know all of these people. It took me a month for me to complete this book because it was something to be savored.I didn't want it to end,in fact I'm praying for a sequel. The characters, each where richly explored and I could feel their saddness, passion, anger and frustration with life. Yet, throughout the text was an underlying thread of humor that allows us to laugh at the human condition with all of its flaws. In life there is always a laugh to be had and White Teeth provides many. Zadie, Job well done! Incredible read.

Amazingly, this is Zadie Smith's first novel. Amazing because it is funny, complex, cohesive and very readable. The best book I've read this summer by far. I'm buying another 1st edition and saving it. If her career continues like this, this book will certainly be a collector's item in the future. Read it.

This could be, by far, one of the worst books I have ever read! I actually had to log on to the store and read the editorial review in an attempt to explain (or understand for that matter) what the book was about. An extremly slow, wordy, overly elaborate first novel, with no particular reason for being. I will say that the author has a wonderful ear for dialogue and all of her voices are quite believable, but that's all I can say. Spare yourselves and take those many hours it will take you to plod through this mess and take a nice long drive in the country!

Ordinarily, reading a 400-plus page novel would drive me back to the bookshelf to choose another but this book is so gripping in the way it softens the most ponderous parts with humor that I will not rest until I reach the last page.

I know I'm going to confuse people by praising White Teeth and rating it with a single star, but I figured that if I give it the full 5 stars (which I was planning to do), my review would undoutedly be lost in a whole sea of other great reviews.
White Teeth is quite probably the best book I have read in a long time: I recently met up with a former English teacher and we began talking about books. I mentioned White Teeth and we just started jumping around excitedly, because she'd read it too and enjoyed it, perhaps, even more than I did...she actually asked an English friend about Willesden Green (where the novel is set) and confirmed that it is the sort of place Smith so vividly evokes it to be.
In response to critics of the book who label it 'too long', or boring, one cannot be impatient in dealing with such extraordinary material as this. It does hit hard: the action is far from being subdued, and the descriptions of place and character are both absurd yet rooted firmly in verisimilitude. I never felt that I had to 'plough through' the material: I enjoyed it immensely, especially how Smith converges ideology, religion and situation expertly as the novel accelerates towards the end.
Smith's style is ornately realistic, and White Teeth is filled with such ironic, as well as poignant instances of wit that elude most other novels. A true revolution in the literature of the modern (perhaps post-modern) genre! I may not have read a whole lot of books, but from an adolescent perspective, I think I do know a great book when I read one, and this is doubtless one of those rare gems that I'm glad I lived through!!

I'm always hungry for something new - especially from new writers. And I too am more likely to finish every book I pick up. While Smith seems to have a wonderful prose style and sense of humor, reading the long speeches given by Samad Iqbal (aka "Ick ball") was more like pulling teeth. And Archie Jones, though believable, was absolutely unbearable!
I usually read a book of this length in 2-4 evenings, but I've had this one for about a month - I just can't do it!

Written with verve and permeated with a subtle irony always catching its target, "White teeth" is maybe the best debut work I've ever read. Zadie Smith is wonderful in drawing her characters, in painting their peculiarities in a sarcastic way, but never passing the line of the caricature. In few words she's able to stay suspended on the verge of a precipice, never loosing her perfect balance.

[...]

I found this book to be absolutely amazing. I don't understand why this novel didn't strike others as the contemporary masterpiece that is, but to each his own. I especially admired Ms. Smith's ability to take her character's seriously without being mello-dramatic, to jest at them without being satirical.

The dialogue in this novel is cunning, intricate, and enlightening without being monotonous.

I agree she gets a little long winded at times, but I enjoyed every second of reading.

I wanted to give this book more than 2 stars--the writing is truly inspired--but the story itself fissled a good 100+ pages from the end. I worked hard to get through over 400 pages, and in no way felt rewarded by the end. Instead, disappointed. Too many characters of little or no sigficance bog down and are flat, and lead the reader astray. A little more editing would have made it tons more agreeable. Still, a remarkable undertaking for a first-time novelist

Dreadful fin-de-siecle 'pop-novel'. I had the dubious honour of coming across jean-clad Ms. Smith at a literary awards ceremony the other day and her Oasis-like grunge dress sense reminded me of her writing.
White Teeth is a 'cool Britannia' novel for the Blairite age: superficial and pretentious. They can try as hard as they like, but the Oxbridge-brigade can't write authentically about the trials and tribulations of life on the povery line. Caviar anyone?

I got this book because I liked Zadie Smith's On Beauty. I was excited to read all the gushing blurbs at the back of the book. I started reading the book with earnest enthusiasm but sadly, not even that is enough to get me through all 542 pages. I gave up by page 250. I have no desire whatsoever to know what happened to any of the characters. Smith's writing was difficult to read. I couldn't get into the story or the characters and it felt like she was dragging her feet with her writing. The narrative was not one tiny bit compelling. I'm so disappointed with this book.

zadie really highlights the difference between race relations in Great Britain and the U.S. She does an excellent job of "dentistry" while exploring racial identity in context among the non-whites in her story.

I don't know where to start! This novel is a pager turner of an incredible story with an abyss of emotional depth that will leave the reader spent, shaken out of his or her wooden workaday existence. The descriptions of the dust-bowl and the Depression (the period following the stock market crash of 1929) made me weep more than once. The cast of characters calls to mind Dickens, and the presence of artificial limbs is outright Melvillian. Features also the excellent use of a fey man as the embodiment of a wooden, post-columbian textual figure. A must for teachers, students and parents who care about the rainforest.

I just bought three of these to give out as birthday presents this year. And plan to buy more for Christmas. This is definitely a heartbreaking work of incredible genius.

I loved this book, it was funny, heartwarming, and wonderfully inventive. Zadie Smith has this amazing way of creating very distinct and interesting characters, with surprizingly vibrant lives. I especially like the way she can take a mundane detail (like a man recieving letters from someone he barely even knows) and make it mystical. I think that everyone who loves books should read this one, it is absolutely lovely.

First off she's funny. And wicked smart. She sounds a natural voice from the Jehovah's to the street smart hustlers. That's a rare talent, to speak true from a multitude of voices. The plot gets a little tidy at the end but it's more than forgiven. What wit and cleverness.

I almost dropped this book half way through, but forced myself to go on and found that the second half was much better. It is at times engaging and witty, but at other times difficult to follow and even depressing in the description of some of the shabby lives of these people. I did not like the ending. So I enjoyed bits and pieces of it and suffered though the rest. Overall an OK book.

I very much enjoyed this book for its sometimes hilarious insight into a culture that seemed less familiar the more the story progressed. The characters are well drawn and engaging. Highly recommended both as an entertaining read and "real literature."

"White Teeth" is one of the best novels I have ever read, let along being a stunning debut. Smith's use of dialogue is smooth and un-self-conscious. Her panorama of Britain's cultural melting pot is fascinating. A rare book that could be read twice and enjoyed twice. I can't wait for her next book.

She's gorgeous. This is her first novel. It's fabulous: filled with engaging characters and perceptive insights...
I'm green with envy.
But that won't keep me from recommending the book highly and eagerly awaiting her next work...
Go, Zadie. You're blessed.

While I am amazed that an author so young could write so knowledgably about life, I am saddened by the lives she depicts. There is not one character in her entire novel who exemplifies strength, morality, or values. Each one is a victim to his or her own personal "whines": my father is too religious, my mother is too submissive, our family is too bent on its past. I tired easily of the weaknesses I found present throughout this book. No one was willing to accept responsbility for the consequences of their actions, because it's so much easier to blame someone, or something, else. Most disappointing of all, to me, is the fact that (Indian) people who have immigrated to London want all the benefits that it has to offer, while at the same time disdaining the impurity of the West. "It wasn't enough....his kids doing well, going to a nice school, having tennis lessons, too pale-skinned to ever have a hand laid on them in their lives. Good. But not good enough. He wanted a little payback. For himself. He wanted Brother Ibrahim to stand on that podium and dissect Christian culture and Western morals until it was dust in his hands. He wanted the degenerate nature of these people explained to him..." page 392 paperback edition. Fine. You want to mock the culture from which you take all the benefit? Go home, then.

I got all the way to page 200 of the huge, long book and I still had no idea what this book was about. I read so many excellent reviews about it, and I am wondering if we were reading the same book. Is there another book named White teeth out there?

I have just finished this book well actually I've got about another 100 pages to go and I don't know if I can be bothered to read anymore. I had heard such good things about this book but I really just couldn't get into it and even now all this way through I am not sure what the point of the book is. As for laughing out loud well I felt more like crying. Over-hyped and over-priced.

I just finished "White Teeth" this weekend and I absolutely loved it. The character development was amazing and the way the lives of these characters merged and intermingled was intriguing and comical and sad and just perfect. I can't say enough good things about Zadie Smith's first novel and I can't wait until her next novel. Enjoy!

My book club choose this book. I'm having a very hard time getting through it. It's hard to understand the dialect and you need to know words from England. She's not clear about what's happening and you need to know things about England. In one part I thought the punks werd going into a theater, but it was the subway. I was trying to read 20 pages a day, so it would be read by book club day, but right now I'm behind. I also don't care to keep on reading the same disgusting language over and over. This book is awful.

Sorry but could not finish this book and I returned it. I really wanted to like it, and I was expecting to be swept away based on the rave critics. It just bored me and simply failed to grab my interest. I failed to see what this hype was for. The writing seemed too dense and convoluted. Many characters, may voices, sketched in the most un-compelling way (unlike JK Rawling's first adult novel where all the many characters and voices are wonderfully rendered and intertwined). Yes, it is about the lives of Blacks and Asians in a big metropolis, a very fashionable race card especially since, the old minorities have become majorities, and have many interesting tales. Unfortunately, we seem to have arrived at a point where people get kudos for race or sex orientation more than for the intrinsic artistic merit. I was simply expecting an exciting read, not the best politically correct book of the moment.

Tedious at best! Just as a character begins to develop,
the author is off on another track. If you like lots of
flashbacks, bits and pieces of each character and have a
lot of time, then you may find the book interesting. The
potential was there, but the author apparently felt that
she would rather be "clever". A no vote for this one!

This book is by far the best example of modern fiction out there. I avoid 99.9% of books written after 1980, but this is a rare gem.

I have read all of her other books and enjoyed them as well.

I am an avid reader and seldom do something as blashemous as to throw a book into the trash, but this is where this one has ended up. It's a sad state of affairs when garbage like this gets rave reviews. Guess you can accomplish anything with good press. How could anyone compare this author to Dickens is beyond me. Save your money and avoid the waste of time and money contained within the cover of this book.

I got all the way to page 200 of the huge, long book and I still had no idea what this book was about. I read so many excellent reviews about it, and I am wondering if we were reading the same book. Is there another book named White teeth out there?

I have just finished this book well actually I've got about another 100 pages to go and I don't know if I can be bothered to read anymore. I had heard such good things about this book but I really just couldn't get into it and even now all this way through I am not sure what the point of the book is. As for laughing out loud well I felt more like crying. Over-hyped and over-priced.

I just finished "White Teeth" this weekend and I absolutely loved it. The character development was amazing and the way the lives of these characters merged and intermingled was intriguing and comical and sad and just perfect. I can't say enough good things about Zadie Smith's first novel and I can't wait until her next novel. Enjoy!

My book club choose this book. I'm having a very hard time getting through it. It's hard to understand the dialect and you need to know words from England. She's not clear about what's happening and you need to know things about England. In one part I thought the punks werd going into a theater, but it was the subway. I was trying to read 20 pages a day, so it would be read by book club day, but right now I'm behind. I also don't care to keep on reading the same disgusting language over and over. This book is awful.

Sorry but could not finish this book and I returned it. I really wanted to like it, and I was expecting to be swept away based on the rave critics. It just bored me and simply failed to grab my interest. I failed to see what this hype was for. The writing seemed too dense and convoluted. Many characters, may voices, sketched in the most un-compelling way (unlike JK Rawling's first adult novel where all the many characters and voices are wonderfully rendered and intertwined). Yes, it is about the lives of Blacks and Asians in a big metropolis, a very fashionable race card especially since, the old minorities have become majorities, and have many interesting tales. Unfortunately, we seem to have arrived at a point where people get kudos for race or sex orientation more than for the intrinsic artistic merit. I was simply expecting an exciting read, not the best politically correct book of the moment.

Tedious at best! Just as a character begins to develop,
the author is off on another track. If you like lots of
flashbacks, bits and pieces of each character and have a
lot of time, then you may find the book interesting. The
potential was there, but the author apparently felt that
she would rather be "clever". A no vote for this one!

This book is by far the best example of modern fiction out there. I avoid 99.9% of books written after 1980, but this is a rare gem.

I have read all of her other books and enjoyed them as well.

I am an avid reader and seldom do something as blashemous as to throw a book into the trash, but this is where this one has ended up. It's a sad state of affairs when garbage like this gets rave reviews. Guess you can accomplish anything with good press. How could anyone compare this author to Dickens is beyond me. Save your money and avoid the waste of time and money contained within the cover of this book.

I don't have the time to list all of the factual inaccuracies in this book.
It is terribly distracting to read the best written prose or watch the best told film that have been poorly researched.
The next time this author decides to write, homework needs to be done, and better editors need to be selected.
Sorry, but we are not all that ill informed, naive or, stupid. I spent a year in Jamaica and traveled extensively throughout India on numerous trips.
Please have some respect for your readers intelligence.

It's been a while since I read a book that painted such a lasting & vivid picture of the sights and sounds (& smells) of the place where the novel was happening; I was able to smell the Indian food served at Samad's restaurant and the stench of pints gone by at the pub where they spent their days. I really enjoyed this book.

I agree with other reviewers who mention Smith's lack of focus in writing the story and lack of compassion for the characters. It reads like the work of a twenty-something with limited life experience who is overly proud of herself and just can't be bothered to get anything right. Flip judgments of characters don't make for an entertaining or compelling read. This is one to avoid, despite the opinions of reviewers obsessed with the writer's youth and good looks. It's a look, not a book.

Smith's book starts out alright but quickly deteriorates. I was not impressed with Smith's ability to tell a story or develop characters. There are so many good writers to read-- old classics as well as new young ones. I would not waste my time with another one of her books.

I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU GAVE THIS BOOK SUCH A GOOD REVIEW! OUT OF 12 PEOPLE IN OUR BOOK CLUB, ONLY 1 READ THE ENTIRE BOOK, AND SHE FORCED HERSELF TO DO SO. THIS PERSON TEACHES A BOOK CLASS FOR SENIOR CIIIZENS. WE ARE A VERY DIVERS GROUP WITH PROFESSIONALS VERYING IN AGE FROM 85 TO 24. THERE ARE AT LEAST 50% OF OUR GROUP THAT WOULD READ AN ENTIRE BOOK EVEN IF THEY DIDN'T LIKE IT, BUT THIS BOOK WAS NOT WORTH THE TIME OR THE MONEY.

I bought this book because of positive reviews I had read about it and was utterly disappointed. I stopped reading a little more than halfway though because I did not care what happened to any of the characters. It is impressive for such a young author to have a book published, but unfortunate that the book falls far short of impressing.

I loved this book. The characters literally came to life for me, and I felt empathy for each and every one. I laughed out loud. I cried too. I think the Author has an awesome insight into a vast amount of different personalities. I never once found myself straining for credulity.

The ending was very satisfying and touching to me!I did not want this book to end.

After struggling through this book for nearly a month, enjoying some of it, I get to the end and don't understand anything that happens! Some doctor turns up I've never heard of (or can't remember from earlier in the story), Sam is cursing Archie (for what?), chaos reigns and the rodent runs for it. WHAT???!!!

I always complete a book, ALWAYS. Not this one it's still on my table beside the sofa collecting dust. I tried to get to know the characters, I tried to get into the story...that's just it, I had to try very hard to like this book. One day I just put it down and never went back.

...She had to read a few passages to me - not because they were amazing - rather, because they had to do with Vespa motorscooter details, and I'm a fanatic. Anyway, her facts about the Vespa, model year/speed/color, etc. are all wrong. I know this is a minute detail but, it kind of throws the reader - in this case my wife - "off." Just for the record the Vespa GS was not produced for sale until 1955. Maybe she can add this to the list of edits for the next edition. By the way, my Vespa GS can go 70 MPH downhill, not a mere 22 MPH!

I'm not a fan of books where losers get second chances at life. Had her protagonist succeeded, we all would have had better things to do with our time.

Smith can write, but her subject leaves me cold. Would she had left him colder.

I usually finnish a book by the end of the week but I find it hard to finnish this one because of its very flat charaters, the fact that you can't care or want to care about the characters, the plotline was like something out of Eastenders and also the fact that its very unrepresentative glimpse of black and Asian communities.

While "White Teeth" is at times a funny and interesting novel, it is symptomatic of many such books and films about British ethnic minorities, for example "Bend it like Beckham". While the hardships of serving up curry or running a corner shop might raise a few laughs first time round, to turn the observation of cliches regarding South Asians and Jamaicans in Britain into a fictional genre is a step too far. And this is what "White Teeth" is - not more than a catalogue of cliches regarding Bangladeshis and Jamaicans. The characters are likeable but rather one-dimensional - why buy "White Teeth" when you could chat to a Jamaican or a Bangladeshi about their historical experiences ?

I do not find this story or its characters engaging in any way. I cannot identify any unique voice or personality from the author within these pages -- very uncaptivating. I am about half-way through and do not think I will finish. Why is this book so highly regarded?

I read Zadie Smith's On Beauty and loved it. I just gave up trying to read her debut novel White Teeth, which I started because it is on the list of 100 books nominated for the Great American Read. White Teeth has no plot. The two main characters Samad and Arrchie remain essentially the same throughout the many pages I've read so far and they weren't that interesting to begin with. While there are sensational, comic riffs, there aren't enough to hold my attention.