Zadie Smith

Deeply personal and powerfully moving, a short and timely series of essays on the experience of lock down, by one of the most clear-sighted and essential writers of our time "There will be many books written about the year 2020: historical, analytic, political and comprehensive accounts. This is not any of those -- the year isn't half-way done. What I've tried to do is organize some of the feelings and thoughts that events, so far, have provoked in me, in those scraps of time the year itself has allowed. These are above all personal essays: small by definition, short by necessity." Crafted with the sharp intelligence, wit and style that have won Zadie Smith millions of fans, and suffused with a profound intimacy and tenderness in response to these unprecedented times, Intimations is a vital work of art, a gesture of connection and an act of love -- an essential book in extraordinary times.

Six Essays

Intimations

Deeply personal and powerfully moving, a short and timely series of essays on the experience of lock down, by one of the most clear-sighted and essential writers of our time "There will be many books written about the year 2020: historical, analytic, political and comprehensive accounts. This is not any of those--the year isn't half-way done. What I've tried to do is organize some of the feelings and thoughts that events, so far, have provoked in me, in those scraps of time the year itself has allowed. These are above all personal essays: small by definition, short by necessity." Crafted with the sharp intelligence, wit, and style that have won Zadie Smith millions of fans, and suffused with a profound intimacy and tenderness in response to these unprecedented times, Intimations is a vital work of art, a gesture of connection, and an act of love--an essential book in extraordinary times.

Helen 

That I met a human whose love has allowed me not to apply for love too often through my work even when we've hurt each other desperately. That my children know the truth about me but still tolerate me, so far. That my physical and moral cowardice have never really been tested, until now.

To consider yourself lucky, even in situations which almost anybody else would consider ex- tremely difficult and unfair. To think, reflexively, of whoever suffers. To forgive anyone who has wounded you, no matter how badly, especially if there is any sign whatsoever that a person has, in wounding you, also wounded themselves. To make no hierarchical distinction between people. To tell any story just as it happened, only exaggerating for humour, but never lying, and never trying to give yourself the flattering role.

That prejudice is most dangerous not when it resides in individual hearts and minds but when it is preserved in systems. For example: an educational system that proves unable to see a boy as a child, seeing him only as a potential threat. That any child who enters such a prejudiced system will be in grave danger. Be he ever so beautiful and talented, inspired and inspirational, loving and loved he can still be broken.

Watching this manic desire to make or grow or do 'something’, that now seems to be consuming everybody, I do feel comforted to discover I'm not the only person on this earth who has no idea what life is for, nor what is to be done with all this time, aside from filling it.

Love is not something to do, but something to be experienced, and something to go through - that must be why it frightens so many of us and why we so often approach it indirectly. Here is this novel, made with love. Here is this banana bread, made with love. If it wasn't for this habit ofindirection, of course, there would be no culture in this world, and very little meaningful pleasure for any of us.

I am not a scientist or sociologist. I am a novelist. Who can admit, late in the day, during this strange and overwhelming season of death that collides, outside my window, with the emergence of dandelions, that spring SOmetimes rises in me, too, and the moon may occasionally tug at my moods, and if I hear a strange baby cry some part of me still leaps to attention to submission. And once in a while a vulgar strain of spring flower will circumvent a long-trained and self-consciously strict downtown aesthetic. Just before an unprecedented April arrives and makes a nonsense ot every line.

Deeply personal and powerfully moving, a short and timely series of essays on the experience of lockdown, by one of the most clear-sighted and essential writers of our time From the critically acclaimed author of Feel Free, Swing Time, White Teeth and many more 'There will be many books written about the year 2020: historical, analytic, political and comprehensive accounts. This is not any of those - the year isn't half-way done. What I've tried to do is organize some of the feelings and thoughts that events, so far, have provoked in me, in those scraps of time the year itself has allowed. These are above all personal essays: small by definition, short by necessity.' Crafted with the sharp intelligence, wit and style that have won Zadie Smith millions of fans, and suffused with a profound intimacy and tenderness in response to these unprecedented times, Intimations is a vital work of art, a gesture of connection and an act of love - an essential book in extraordinary times.

Shelby Doherty

Gelaine Trinidad

3.5/5 

Intimations is a short and precious piece of non-fiction that captures life during quarantine in New York City. I like how she started this book by talking about a special intimate moment that happened before the lockdown started. She talks about how being a writer doesn’t ultimately equip her with the right skills to handle hardships in real life. As a writer, she has control on how she addresses thoughts and feelings; she can control how readers feel. That is perhaps why she decided to write this book—to keep that sense of control given such an unprecedented time. Zadie also reflects on her role as a “natural woman” trying to make sense of women’s biological control. Unlike flowers that embrace their growth and maturity through open submission, Zadie talks about avoiding the biological clock and refusing to let it control her.

In another essay, Zadie Smith talks about Donald Trump's view of America and how often he falsely protects the country's pride and identity during the pandemic. Trump is not a good president and this pandemic showed that he should definitely not be elected for another presidential term. Zadie Smith also makes a claim that this pandemic showed the level of inequality in America including gaps in healthcare in relation to race and income. She hopes for America to demand for different values and priorities that puts the interest of the community and the public first before people's private needs.

She justifies the thoughts many people have during this pandemic—the silver lining of having so much time in our hands while also being critical of the relationship between suffering and privilege. This book also includes snapshot stories about ordinary New Yorkers in the midst of a pandemic. Smith writes with compassion when sharing small glimpses of these people's lives. I believe the most impactful essay here is the one about contempt as a virus. I will not say more of this essay because it is so profound and I want people to read it without spoilers. Lastly, Zadie writes sweet tributes about loved ones and role models in her life as a dedication—shaping the woman she is today.

This is a great short read I would recommend to anyone.

Angelyn Francis

What a way to revisit and think about 2020.

Hannah Yoon

I decided to read this after hearing a review of this book on NPR. I was intrigued to read someone's thoughts on pandemic and how we are all experiencing it. The essays were simple yet thought-provoking. It ends with powerfully and this will be a must-read for those in the future to have a glimpse into what we experienced in 2020. It does feel like she could have had more and kind of feels incomplete. Maybe there will be another set of essays.

I had a hard time staying focused sometimes because I felt Smith went off on tangents or had side notes for what she was writing about. It could have been also that I was reading this before bed and it was hard to follow her train of thought. Still, I say 4.5/5 and would recommend everyone take a read. It'll take you one afternoon to finish it.

Isabella 

was in a reading slump so i wanted to read something fast-paced and this did the job! a collection of essays with varying topics. really enjoyed reading it! my fave essays were "something to do," "suffering like mel gibson," and "contempt as a virus."

“Smith does more than illuminate what we're going through right now. She offers a model of how to think ourselves through a fraught historical moment without getting hysterical or sanctimonious, without losing our compassion or our appreciation for what's good in other people. She teaches us how to be better at being human.” —John Powers, Fresh Air Deeply personal and powerfully moving, a short and timely series of reflective essays by one of the most clear-sighted and essential writers of our time. Written during the early months of lockdown, Intimations explores ideas and questions prompted by an unprecedented situation. What does it mean to submit to a new reality--or to resist it? How do we compare relative sufferings? What is the relationship between time and work? In our isolation, what do other people mean to us? How do we think about them? What is the ratio of contempt to compassion in a crisis? When an unfamiliar world arrives, what does it reveal about the world that came before it? Suffused with a profound intimacy and tenderness in response to these extraordinary times, Intimations is a slim, suggestive volume with a wide scope, in which Zadie Smith clears a generous space for thought, open enough for each reader to reflect on what has happened--and what should come next. The author will donate her royalties from the sale of Intimations to charity.

Elena Kuran

I especially enjoyed the essay comparing the epidemic of contempt to Covid. Zadie Smith always reminds me why/how much I love to read.

Natalie

A collection of interesting insights eloquently detailing the intial impact of the coronavirus pandemic, but understandably nothing more than that

iamazoo

probably some of the best writing about the covid years, perceptive yet compassionate. but i’m just so fatigued by any pandemic discourse at this point - not the author’s fault.

Lila R E

2021 Reading Challenge? Completed it mate ;)

This was a good book to "end" the year with; being a collection of essays, it was something a bit different to what I would usually read, it was introspective and made me think and is obviously written by the one and only Zadie Smith <3

It's set the tone really well for next year too; I definitely want to start reading more purposefully - that is to say, choosing books I actually want to read/want to get something out of and taking the time to properly reflect on what I've read and what I've learnt from my reading. Therefore, in the case of 'Intimations', I definitely feel inspired to write like Smith did during the first lockdown (I believe) - she includes these beautiful little snapshots of people in her life before quarantine and even though the subjects of her essays may seem (at face value) mundane, there's something really poetic about everyday life in each of them. 

This is a super easy read and only 80 pages in total so I would definitely recommend it to anyone who wouldn't mind a bit of self-reflection at the end of another long year. I'm going to be looking for more essay-based literature to read in 2022!

so much charisma and honesty in this special series

parker

really enjoyed these essays! 

so much charisma and honesty in this special series

Isabella

nice quick read about the lockdown! read one essay at a time to rly savor each one

fav essays: suffering like mel gibson, the american exception

Katie Chua

i probably should have read this when it came out because my mind was not where she was at anymore

Trever

(3.5) I have mixed thoughts about this, because on one hand I think Smith's observations are worth reading. But I'm not sure this needed to be a book—these could just as easily have been blog posts or Substack pieces. That doesn't make them bad, but if I hadn't gotten this at a thrift store for $1, I might've felt a little cheated.

In other words: worth reading, not buying new.

while many seem to dispute the literary value of this short collection of essays, i think we all need to admit it is valuable at least as a record of the first 6 months of the pandemic. yes, to many people zadie smith seems to not be saying a lot they have not heard before but i'd argue that she manages to channel those thoughts in a much more eloquent and erudite manner than anyone on blue-check twitter ever could. and with every essay, i can't stop thinking "she's right, she's right, she's right".

cw suicide mention

a personally impactful essay was 'suffering like mel gibson'. the story of the teenage girl who took her own life 3 weeks into lockdown because she couldn't see her friends on its own might have not been a revelation to me; but zadie smith's telling of it was. the realisation that - even if this girl might have been relatively privileged - some suffering is just insurmountable for us, i felt, was so deeply empathetic.

cw end. 

i wish more of us could relay other people's inner lives like smith does in this essay.

overall, i felt it was a good little record of the time. it takes great pains, i think, to describe different experiences - sometimes subtly, sometimes more explicitly - and for that, it is valuable.

(side note: the amount of reviews that take issue with the damn dog. guys, come on.)

Fraser Simons

No doubt more impactful than reading it in the year of our lord 2022. Most of the meditations here are sort of perfunctory now, or self evident. And to some degree there is a factor of me not being as interested in the stray thoughts of the author; see: the Anthropocene Review, where I just don’t care to hear every passing thought compiled as a book. Now, this is better by far than that, as it’s rooted in social Justice and identity. But it still falls into the “this is fine” area of my mind. And I am certainly I will remember little to none of this in a few days time.

Samantha Alukas 

The best and only quarantine art I need: Taylor Swift’s Folklore/Evermore, Bo Burnham’s Inside, and Zadie Smith’s Intimations.

Julia Briganti

Likes:
- Some really nice quotes, especially like her thoughts grappling with her feminity and the virus of "contempt"
- Some really great thoughts not only about the pandemic, but about mental health, the US and UK, and black lives.

Dislikes:
- The writing is a bit too difficult and labor-intensive for my liking
- normally I steer away from pandemic books but was somehow interested in this one. For some reason, this one did not feel like there was enough pandemic in it for me.

Trigger warnings: (view spoiler)[pandemic/COVID-19, suicide, racism, police brutality (hide spoiler)]

Zadie Smith has a way of writing (and narrating) that makes you pause and think. She makes you consider the world as it is, the people who are in it, and your own place within. 

This small collection of essays, touching of various going-ons in the year 2020 is no different. 

I absolutely adored the place that my mind went when listening to Smith's essays. I also have the greatest desire to get a physical copy so I can annotate and entwine my own thoughts with her musings. 

Thank you to Libro.FM for providing me a copy of the audio book. This does not impact my opinions, whatsoever.

Hazel Evans

Zadie Smith is (almost) impossible to fault. I greatly enjoyed these essays and am left with the feeling that there is nothing more to say because she's already said it all and with more precision than I ever could (a feeling I am often left with after reading Zadie Smith's work, and perhaps the only fault I can find in it: she's never wrong).

Intimations Six Essays

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