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Still, the book's home base is a scrubby North London borough, where we encounter Smith's unlikely heroes: prevaricating Archie Jones and intemperate Samad Iqbal, who served together in the so-called Buggered Battalion during World War II. In the ensuing decades, both have gone forth and multiplied: Archie marries beautiful, bucktoothed Clara--who's on the run from her Jehovah's Witness mother--and fathers a daughter. Samad marries stroppy Alsana, who gives birth to twin sons. Here is multiculturalism in its most elemental form: "Children with first and last names on a direct collision course. Names that secrete within them mass exodus, cramped boats and planes, cold arrivals, medical checks."
Big questions demand boldly drawn characters. Zadie Smith's aren't heroic, just real: warm, funny, misguided, and entirely familiar. Reading their conversations is like eavesdropping. Even a simple exchange between Alsana and Clara about their pregnancies has a comical ring of truth: "A woman has to have the private things--a husband needn't be involved in body business, in a lady's... parts." And the men, of course, have their own involvement in bodily functions:
The deal was this: on January 1, 1980, like a New Year dieter who gives up cheese on the condition that he can have chocolate, Samad gave up masturbation so that he might drink. It was a deal, a business proposition, that he had made with God: Samad being the party of the first part, God being the sleeping partner. And since that day Samad had enjoyed relative spiritual peace and many a frothy Guinness with Archibald Jones; he had even developed the habit of taking his last gulp looking up at the sky like a Christian, thinking: I'm basically a good man.Not all of White Teeth is so amusingly carnal. The mixed blessings of assimilation, for example, are an ongoing torture for Samad as he watches his sons grow up. "They have both lost their way," he grumbles. "Strayed so far from what I had intended for them. No doubt they will both marry white women called Sheila and put me in an early grave." These classic immigrant fears--of dilution and disappearance--are no laughing matter. But in the end, they're exactly what gives White Teeth its lasting power and undeniable bite. --Eithne Farry
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Book Description Paperback. Condition: new. Paperback. Most highly praised debut novel in recent yearsOne of the most talked about fictional debuts of recent years, WHITE TEETH is a funny, generous, big-hearted novel, adored by critics and readers alike. Dealing - among many other things - with friendship, love, war, three cultures and three families over three generations, one brown mouse, and the tricky way the past has of coming back and biting you on the ankle, it is a life-affirming, riotous must-read of a book. Dealing - among many other things - with friendship, love, war, three cultures and three families over three generations, one brown mouse, and the tricky way the past has of coming back and biting you on the ankle, this book is written with a passion for ideas, for language and for the rich tragic-comedy of life. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability. Seller Inventory # 9780140276336
Book Description paperback. Condition: New. Language: ENG. Seller Inventory # 9780140276336
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Book Description Paperback. Condition: New. BRAND NEW ** SUPER FAST SHIPPING FROM UK WAREHOUSE ** 30 DAY MONEY BACK GUARANTEE. Seller Inventory # 9780140276336-GDR
Book Description Paperback. Condition: Brand New. 560 pages. 7.68x5.04x1.54 inches. In Stock. Seller Inventory # __0140276335
Book Description Paperback / softback. Condition: New. New copy - Usually dispatched within 4 working days. Dealing - among many other things - with friendship, love, war, three cultures and three families over three generations, one brown mouse, and the tricky way the past has of coming back and biting you on the ankle, this book is written with a passion for ideas, for language and for the rich tragic-comedy of life. Seller Inventory # B9780140276336
Book Description Condition: New. In. Seller Inventory # ria9780140276336_new
Book Description Condition: New. Dealing - among many other things - with friendship, love, war, three cultures and three families over three generations, one brown mouse, and the tricky way the past has of coming back and biting you on the ankle, this book is written with a passion for ideas, for language and for the rich tragic-comedy of life. Num Pages: 560 pages. BIC Classification: FA. Category: (G) General (US: Trade). Dimension: 196 x 129 x 36. Weight in Grams: 390. . 2001. 1st Paper Back - 6th Impression. Paperback. . . . . Seller Inventory # V9780140276336
Book Description Condition: New. Dealing - among many other things - with friendship, love, war, three cultures and three families over three generations, one brown mouse, and the tricky way the past has of coming back and biting you on the ankle, this book is written with a passion for ideas, for language and for the rich tragic-comedy of life. Num Pages: 560 pages. BIC Classification: FA. Category: (G) General (US: Trade). Dimension: 196 x 129 x 36. Weight in Grams: 390. . 2001. 1st Paper Back - 6th Impression. Paperback. . . . . Books ship from the US and Ireland. Seller Inventory # V9780140276336