Book 24 - Zadie Smith "White Teeth"
Apr. 8th, 2026 10:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jazzy_daveZadie Smith "White Teeth" (Penguin)
White Teeth by Zadie Smith is an energetic and sprawling epic about class- and color-stratified Greater London. It's difficult to summarize - one reviewer (Maya Jaggi in the Guardian) explained, "Its characters embrace Jehovah's Witnesses, halal butchers, eugenicists, animal-rights activists and a group of Muslim militants who labour under the unfortunate acronym KEVIN." It centrally follows two families with roots in Jamaica and Bangladesh, the fathers of which met in the war. A scientist's genetic programming of laboratory mice sets up a clash of science, compassion and religion that affects them all.
It's astonishing that the author, half-Jamaican herself, was 24 years old when she wrote this. Its rich story and bravado would seem to have come from someone much more experienced. Is it post-racial? It struck me as more "frankly racial" than "post". It also provides glimpses into a London not often portrayed. I can see why it's received all the accolades it has.
White Teeth by Zadie Smith is an energetic and sprawling epic about class- and color-stratified Greater London. It's difficult to summarize - one reviewer (Maya Jaggi in the Guardian) explained, "Its characters embrace Jehovah's Witnesses, halal butchers, eugenicists, animal-rights activists and a group of Muslim militants who labour under the unfortunate acronym KEVIN." It centrally follows two families with roots in Jamaica and Bangladesh, the fathers of which met in the war. A scientist's genetic programming of laboratory mice sets up a clash of science, compassion and religion that affects them all.
It's astonishing that the author, half-Jamaican herself, was 24 years old when she wrote this. Its rich story and bravado would seem to have come from someone much more experienced. Is it post-racial? It struck me as more "frankly racial" than "post". It also provides glimpses into a London not often portrayed. I can see why it's received all the accolades it has.
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