Hooray! You have added the first book to your bookshelf. Check it out now!
[−]
  • Search Digit-count Valid ISBN Invalid ISBN Valid Barcode Invalid Barcode
Blog this item

White Teeth

(Wheeler Compass)

By Zadie Smith

(240)

| Hardcover | 9781568959504

Like White Teeth?
Join aNobii to see if your friends read it, and discover similar books!

Sign up for free

Book Description

On New Year's morning, 1975, Archie Jones sits in his car on a London road and waits for the exhaust fumes to fill his Cavalier Musketeer station wagon. Archie--working-class, ordinary, a failed marriage under his belt--is calling it quits, the deciding factor being the flip of a 20-pence coin. WhenContinue

On New Year's morning, 1975, Archie Jones sits in his car on a London road and waits for the exhaust fumes to fill his Cavalier Musketeer station wagon. Archie--working-class, ordinary, a failed marriage under his belt--is calling it quits, the deciding factor being the flip of a 20-pence coin. When the owner of a nearby halal butcher shop (annoyed that Archie's car is blocking his delivery area) comes out and bangs on the window, he gives Archie another chance at life and sets in motion this richly imagined, uproariously funny novel.

Epic and intimate, hilarious and poignant, White Teeth is the story of two North London families--one headed by Archie, the other by Archie's best friend, a Muslim Bengali named Samad Iqbal. Pals since they served together in World War II, Archie and Samad are a decidedly unlikely pair. Plodding Archie is typical in every way until he marries Clara, a beautiful, toothless Jamaican woman half his age, and the couple have a daughter named Irie (the Jamaican word for "no problem"). Samad--devoutly Muslim, hopelessly "foreign"--weds the feisty and always suspicious Alsana in a prearranged union. They have twin sons named Millat and Magid, one a pot-smoking punk-cum-militant Muslim and the other an insufferable science nerd. The riotous and tortured histories of the Joneses and the Iqbals are fundamentally intertwined, capturing an empire's worth of cultural identity, history, and hope.

Zadie Smith's dazzling first novel plays out its bounding, vibrant course in a Jamaican hair salon in North London, an Indian restaurant in Leicester Square, an Irish poolroom turned immigrant café, a liberal public school, a sleek science institute. A winning debut in every respect, White Teeth marks the arrival of a wondrously talented writer who takes on the big themes--faith, race, gender, history, and culture--and triumphs.

Critics

  • White Teeth by Zadie Smith

    Some books sneak up on you. Others are thrown at you from every corner of the media to the extent that you almost make a conscious decision NOT to read them, or at least, not yet. Let the furore die down. If they're still around in a few years, your ... (read full critics)

    thebookbag published on Sun, 4 Sep 2011

  • In a strange land

    White Teeth Zadie Smith Hamish Hamilton, £12.99, 480pp A debut with the zest and ambition of White Teeth is customarily hailed as the arrival of a new "voice" in fiction. Yet the ear is as gratifying as the voice in this poised and relentlessly funny ... (read full critics)

    guardian.co.uk published on Sat, 25 Sep 2010

13 Reviews

Login or Sign Up to write a review

  • 3 people find this helpful

    Reading "white teeth" and "the opposite house" at the same time was a great idea. Both are set in London, England and both feature the lives of immigrant families trying to find meaning, cultural and personal identity, and happiness in a foreign city. However, they are very different stories. "Wh ... (continue)

    Reading "white teeth" and "the opposite house" at the same time was a great idea. Both are set in London, England and both feature the lives of immigrant families trying to find meaning, cultural and personal identity, and happiness in a foreign city. However, they are very different stories. "White teeth" is more of a funny, irreverent, "William Kotzwinkle-esk" family saga, starting in 1974 and going to 1999. "The opposite house" has more magic realism/spirit world references, is very serious, and somewhat more challenging, and yet equally enjoyable. I highly recommend both.

    Is this helpful?

    Leah said on Sep 11, 2008 | Add your feedback

  • 2 people find this helpful

    If you want to read a book about how ethnic minorities live in the UK these days, this is just the book you´ve been looking for! It´s a masterpiece.

    Is this helpful?

    gabriel2009 said on Feb 2, 2009 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

  • 1 person find this helpful

    Liked the structure of the book. Just when the plot and cast was in danger of becoming claustrophobic, an additional set entered which re-energised the book.

    I never saw the final twist coming, but then I never do.

    Is this helpful?

    Mearso said on Nov 5, 2009 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

  • I cannot blame myself enough for having read this book only this year, while it had been out since 2001.
    Zadie Smith's characters are a powerful mixture of funny and tragic, so well-defined and so human, thanks to a wealth of brilliantly built situations and a superb use of language.
    To my great s ... (continue)

    I cannot blame myself enough for having read this book only this year, while it had been out since 2001.
    Zadie Smith's characters are a powerful mixture of funny and tragic, so well-defined and so human, thanks to a wealth of brilliantly built situations and a superb use of language.
    To my great surprise, I found that it is set in the same part of London in which I live - which made it even more realistic to me, even more familiar.
    The only thing I'm slightly less satisfied with is the ending: after such a rich, complex plot, I couldn't help but find it hurried, a bit rushed. But otherwise, this is almost exactly the book I'd love to have written myself, if someone else hadn't done it before. It was heartbreaking to get to the last page, and realise it was all over.

    Is this helpful?

    Iris Trouble B. said on Mar 25, 2012 about the School & Library Binding edition | Add your feedback

  • Zadie Smith can do no wrong

    With her 3 novels Zadie Smith has set future expectations extremely high. The language in White Teeth is both beautiful and accessible, her characters are all flawed in extremely realistic ways, and they come together in manners ordinary and amazing.
    The story is tight, well developed and a full 36 ... (continue)

    With her 3 novels Zadie Smith has set future expectations extremely high. The language in White Teeth is both beautiful and accessible, her characters are all flawed in extremely realistic ways, and they come together in manners ordinary and amazing.
    The story is tight, well developed and a full 360 degrees.

    Is this helpful?

    Rebecca Gebhardt Brizi said on Nov 30, 2010 | Add your feedback

Book Details

Improve data of this book

Margin notes of this book

Prices Change currency & sellers

ISBN Edition List Sale Seller
9781568959504 Hardcover $28.95 -- The Book Depository
Other editions →
+ 6 copies tradable: →
Added to Shelf Added to Wish List

Inline Translation Mode

Left click to navigate, right click to translate.

inline translation guide

or close

Inline translation is not ready for this page yet.

Inline translation mode.

Share this page with your friends.

The viewport has not loaded.