Review: White Teeth

White Teeth by Zadie Smith

My rating: 5 of 5 stars



In one sentence: This is how I want to write.

Zadie Smith is one hell of a writer. Wise, funny, eloquent, irreverent. White Teeth is one of the best books I've read--ever. Truly deserving of five stars. Un-for-get-ta-ble.

Some of Smith's words reminded me of Arundhati Roy's The God of Small Things :
Roy: "Orangedrink Lemondrink Man"
Smith: "fathersons, oldyoung, bornherebornthere"

But whereas Roy's book can be likened to a sighting of what looks like a breathtaking nymph bathing in a spring ("Looks like, but can't be sure, the mist is too thick, but oh she's so beautiful!), its lyrical, dreamy prose sticking to your head for days on end, Smith's writing is like meeting a 14-year-old girl who can assemble Kalashnikovs, speak 13 languages, quote Sartre and Plato, and play Bach effortlessly on the piano. KICK-EFFIN-ASS.

I only brought up Roy because she's also one of my favorite authors and The God of Small Things is her first book, as White Teeth is Zadie Smith's. But Smith is a class all her own. And what marvelous stupendous class!






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