Reviews with content warning for Drug use - Swing Time

Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

Swing Time by Zadie Smith

7 reviews

angorarabbit's review against another edition

MY reasons for the DNF: excessively stereotypical characters, no connection to the story, premise didn’t live up to expectations, reading felt like a chore.

I really was looking forward to reading this, but 25% of the way in I was struggling to get 20 pages at a sitting read.The one POV first person narration was good but the characters just kinda sucked to tell the truth. When the narrator was recollecting their childhood it was a little interesting, their adult retelling was just boring and strained my suspension of disbelief.

I will try another of Ms Smith’s books, just not this one. Perhaps my expectations were just to high for Swing Time.

Pro tip: If you see someone berating their employee in public never accept a job offer from that employer. Particularly if you are replacing the now ex berated employee.

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kattyenn's review against another edition

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challenging 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? Yes

5.0

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amgarrido's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad 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

3.25

I hate to be that person but this book had so much potential… I loved how it was started out and I was enraptured by the narrator and Tracey’s childhood antics in North West London. I also really enjoyed the exploration of complex family dynamics, the ambiguous space of being mixed race and the analysis of social class and upbringing in the UK. Despite her flaws, I empathised with the narrator’s mother, although I felt that making her so cold and unmotherly almost reinforced a stereotype.

However, when this book started to focus so much on the narrator’s work for Aimee and centred largely around the glamorous and uninteresting life of this self-absorbed, narcissistic Australian I lost interest and had to force myself to finish it. I see what Smith was trying to do in terms of exploring the intersections between race and class through this employee/employer relationship, where the power dynamics were confused and the boundaries blurry at best. It was interesting how this relationship almost seemed like a (toxic) friendship at times, but could quickly turn back to cold and professional when it suited Aimee.

I will say I enjoyed most of the time the narrator spent in the unnamed West African country, but again, found Aimee’s white saviourism incredibly jarring (now that I express it, this was probably Smith’s intention).

This was my first Zadie Smith novel and despite not having been what I expected, I will definitely be picking up another, as her writing is delectable.

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