Reviews with content warning for Xenophobia - White Teeth

Reviews tagging 'Xenophobia'

White Teeth by Zadie Smith

14 reviews

nenaveenstra's review against another edition

challenging funny informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

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

4.0

This book was long, spanned half a century and followed three families - and it never got boring. The characters are all so vivid and unique, the prose is so witty, and the social commentary is *chef’s kiss *. It showcased the cyclical nature of human life & history in an amazingly accurate way, as well as the lives of people with different ethnic and religious backgrounds. It taught me a lot about the inner workings of people I rarely meet in my day-to-day life, as well as English culture, and it was a lot of fun.

I did feel like it was maybe a tad too long, and that certain histories of people we meet could have been left out. I’m also not a big fan of the slurs that were used; sometimes they made sense for the characters, but at others it felt more like a sign of the times when this book was released. It is over twenty years old now, after all.

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nova123's review against another edition

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

3.5

it was kind of good but I also felt ĺike I was not intelligent enough for this book

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frankieclc's review against another edition

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3.0

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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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oraclebykittie's review against another edition

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emotional funny reflective slow-paced

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

4.75

SHOWSTOPPING INCREDIBLE NEVER BEEN DONE BEFORE. but seriously i think zadie smith writes in a way that brings so much life and interiority to ever single character introduced in this book, it is mesmerizing. the prose is a rlly engaging mix of meaningful and funny, and neither half conflicts the other.

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