Reviews with content warning for War - White Teeth

A lively saga of two London families, from the World War II friendship of unlikely soldiers Archie Jones and Samad Iqbal, through the '90s with their children taking their places in a very different world. Our main protagonist is Archie's biracial daughter Irie, a clear stand-in for the author, and she is the most fully-formed and sympathetic character. It's a wonderfully drawn picture of London cultures in different eras. For me the tone of social satire becomes more and more pronounced as the book goes on; the second half was really more satire and less heartfelt than the the first. Still, it made a wonderful audiobook.

Content Warnings

nelliecdownie's review against another edition

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challenging medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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ramalam98's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Listen... I wanted to love this, and when I started it I really did. But oh my god it DRAGGED. It provides excellent commentary and insightful ideas, but the narration (a bit holier-than-thou at times) really started to get on my nerves and I was begging for it to be over by the end of it. At over 500 pages of tiny font and huge paragraphs it's much longer than it needed to be. But I'm still giving it three stars because I'm glad I've read it and I would consider it to be a good book.

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donkeykong's review

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dark emotional funny reflective tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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linesiunderline's review against another edition

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challenging emotional funny reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

This book is SO MUCH. It has so much life, so many themes, characters, layers… it’s a book you need to devote yourself to, not a casual kind of reading experience. I’m glad to have finally picked it up, but I’m not going to pretend it wasn’t effortful at times.

A few words to describe Smith’s debut:

Crowded

Meandering

Rich

Funny

Chaotic

Epic
Intimate

Because of the sometimes chaotic feel, I didn’t feel consistently connected to the narrative and there were moments when I had to knuckle down and push on to get to the next section. Still, I was ultimately rewarded by it all.

I’ve been mixed reviews on the ending, but I thought it was outstanding.

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sadiemclaughlin's review against another edition

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emotional reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I loved how Zadie Smith would use fun and original formatting in this book to spice the otherwise slow paced story up.

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