White Teeth: A Novel Summary and Reviews

White Teeth: A Novel
by Zadie Smith

White Teeth: A Novel
List Price: $15.95
Our Price: $6.95
You Save: $9.00 (56%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $0.01 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions


or

Book Summary Information

Author: Zadie Smith
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2001-06-12
ISBN: 0375703861
Number of pages: 464
Publisher: Vintage
Product features:
  • ISBN13: 9780375703867
  • Condition: New
  • Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!

Book Reviews of White Teeth: A Novel

Book Review: "White Teeth" Sparkles
Summary: 4 Stars

On the cover of the paperback version of "White Teeth", there is one of those critical blurbs that proclaims what you are about to read/buy "may be the first great novel of the new century." Zadie Smith's debut work was certainly the "it" novel of the publishing world last year, so one can only begin to read "White Teeth" with fairly high expectations. Does "White Teeth" live up to hype? Yes and no.

It is certainly a creative, fresh, and often comic piece of fiction. Smith has brought together a wildly divergent cast of characters living in modern day London - from the twin sons of an arranged marriage between two Bangladeshi Muslims to an 80+ year old Jamaican Jehovah Witness who rides a sidecar of a motorcycle. The novel has an epic feel, covering a 25-year period (with some flashbacks deeper into the past) in the intertwining lives of the many characters. Smith also shifts the narrative and time period focus four times in the novel. So, as other reviewers have noted, some characters and plot lines disappear, new ones come to the forefront, and others return. And this is where some readers might get into trouble. I readily admit I was baffled by the reappearance of a character in the novel's later stages (it did eventually dawn on me who it was!). At times Smith seems to lose her focus or perhaps just fails to keep the readers' attention (I plead guilty). With this ambitious work, some aspects of "White Teeth" (storylines, characters) will appeal to some readers, while others will not. But, in my opinion, much more things work than do not.

All in all, this is a fine novel and an impressive debut from Zadie Smith. Unfortunately due to the heavy buzz that "White Teeth" has received, some readers will be undoubtedly be left disappointed.

Literary Books

Book Subjects
Most talked about in Literary Books
Island (Perennial Classics) ImageIsland (Perennial Classics)
by Aldous Huxley
Harper Perennial Modern Classics; Published: 2002-07-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.00
Price in other shops: $14.99
Angels ImageAngels
by Marian Keyes
William Morrow; Published: 2002-05-28; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $3.14
Price in other shops: $24.95
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn ImageA Tree Grows in Brooklyn
by Betty Smith
Harper; Published: 2001-11-13; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $14.77
Price in other shops: $23.99
The Devil and Miss Prym: A Novel of Temptation ImageThe Devil and Miss Prym: A Novel of Temptation
by Paulo Coelho
Harper; Published: 2006-07-03; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $4.50
Price in other shops: $24.95
Boonville: A Novel ImageBoonville: A Novel
by Robert Mailer Anderson
Harper Perennial; Published: 2003-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $0.01
Price in other shops: $12.99
Caramelo ImageCaramelo
by Sandra Cisneros
HarperAudio; Published: 2002-10-01; Audio Cassette; Book
Best price: $4.60
Price in other shops: $39.95
Headhunter ImageHeadhunter
by Timothy Findley
PERENNIAL PUBLICATIONS; Paperback; Book
The Crimson Petal And The White ImageThe Crimson Petal And The White
by Michel Faber
Harcourt, Inc./Harvest; Published: 2003; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.50
Great Expectations ImageGreat Expectations
by Charles Dickens
Macmillan Pub Co; Published: 1979-06; Paperback; Book
Price in other shops: $12.10
This Side of Paradise ImageThis Side of Paradise
by Fitzgerald
Scribner Paper Fiction; Published: 1988-09-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.95
Price in other shops: $6.95
Similar books summaries and other product reviews
The Lonely Londoners (Longman Caribbean Writer Series) ImageThe Lonely Londoners (Longman Caribbean Writer Series)
by Samuel Selvon
Longman; Published: 1989-01-11; Paperback; Book
Best price: $10.59
Price in other shops: $16.00
In Search of Respect: Selling Crack in El Barrio (Structural Analysis in the Social Sciences) ImageIn Search of Respect: Selling Crack in El Barrio (Structural Analysis in the Social Sciences)
by Philippe Bourgois
Cambridge University Press; Published: 2002-12-23; Paperback; Book
Best price: $15.00
Price in other shops: $25.99
Regeneration ImageRegeneration
by Pat Barker
Plume; Published: 1993-07-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.67
Price in other shops: $15.00
Wide Sargasso Sea (Norton Critical Editions) ImageWide Sargasso Sea (Norton Critical Editions)
by Jean Rhys
W. W. Norton & Company; Published: 1998-11-17; Paperback; Book
Best price: $11.00
The End of the Affair (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition) ImageThe End of the Affair (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)
by Graham Greene
Penguin Classics; Published: 2004-08-31; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.34
Price in other shops: $15.00
Blood Politics: Race, Culture, and Identity in the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma ImageBlood Politics: Race, Culture, and Identity in the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma
by Circe Dawn Sturm
University of California Press; Published: 2002-03-20; Paperback; Book
Best price: $22.86
Price in other shops: $28.95
The Golden Notebook: A Novel (P.S.) ImageThe Golden Notebook: A Novel (P.S.)
by Doris Lessing
Harper Perennial Modern Classics; Published: 2008-10-14; Paperback; Book
Best price: $10.76
Price in other shops: $18.99
The Remains of the Day ImageThe Remains of the Day
by Kazuo Ishiguro
Vintage; Published: 1990-09-12; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.25
Price in other shops: $15.00
Never Let Me Go ImageNever Let Me Go
by Kazuo Ishiguro
Vintage; Published: 2006-03-14; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.48
Price in other shops: $15.00
Atonement: A Novel ImageAtonement: A Novel
by Ian McEwan
Anchor; Published: 2003-02-25; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.59
Price in other shops: $15.00