Name: White Teeth
Rating: 3.813397129186603 (209 reviews)
ISBN: 9780375703867

Zadie Smith

Set in post-war London, this novel of the racial, political, and social upheaval of the last half-century follows two families--the Joneses and the Iqbals, both outsiders from within the former British empire--as they make their way in modern England. A first novel. Reprint. 200,000 first printing.

A Novel

White Teeth

sina (she/her) 

Helen 

But as midnight inevitably came and went without the horsemen of the apocalypse making an appearance, Clara surprised herself by falling into a melancholy. For ridding oneself of faith is like boiling sea-water to retrieve the salt something is gained but something is lost. 

 "Men are like camels: there is barely one in a hundred that you would trust with your life.""

‘I’m as liberal as the next person,' complained Alsana, once they were alone. But why do they always have to be laughing and making a song-and-dance about everything? I cannot believe homosexuality is that much fun. Heterosexuality certainly is not.’

You must remember this, a kiss is still a kiss, 

As time goes by. - Herman Hupfeld, 'As Time Goes By' (1931 Song)

'Is it tea or is it coffee? "Tea,' said Joyce firmly. Fruit if possible.”

“Fruit not possible. Not even Earl Grey is possible. I come from the land of tea to this godawful country and then I can't afford a proper cup of it. P.G. Tips is possible and nothing else." 

Joyce winced. P.G. Tips, please, then. 'As you wish.’

Isabel 

You have picked up the wrong life in the cloakroom and you must return it. 

102 pages in and I’m still not a huge fan of this book, but this passage slapped me in the gut. 

amelia

“Can’t you see…the INTENTION? They weren’t slapping their salamis—spreading the white stuff—they were looking for something a little more PERMANENT.” 

“I can’t see the difference, frankly,” said Archie. “When you’re dead, you’re dead.” 

“Oh NO, Archibald, NO,” whispered Samad, melancholic. “You don’t believe that. You must live life with the full knowledge that your actions will REMAIN. We are creatures of consequence, Archibald,” he said, gesturing to the church walls. “They knew it. My great-grandfather knew it. Some day our children will know it.” 

Dang I was so disappointed in this book so far but pages 102-103 are fire. 

“Our children will be born of our actions. OUR ACCIDENTS WILL BECOME THEIR DESTINIES. Oh, the actions will remain. It is a simple matter of what you will do when the chips are down, my friend. When the fat lady is singing. When the walls are falling in, and the sky is dark, and the ground is rumbling. In that moment our actions will define us. And it makes no difference whether you are being watched by Allah, Jesus, Buddha, or whether you are not. On cold days a man can see his breath, on a hot day he can’t. On both occasions, the man BREATHES.”

“It was the same now. Always the fear of consequences. Always this terrible inertia”…”Only blankness. Nothingness. Something like the end of the world. And facing the end of the world, or even just the end of the year, had always given Josh a strangely detached feeling. Every New Year’s Eve is impending apocalypse in miniature. You fuck where you want, you puke when you want, you glass who you want to glass—the huge gatherings in the street; the television round-ups of the goodies and the baddies of time past; the frantic final kisses; the 10! 9! 8!”…”they were all confident that it wouldn’t happen or certain they could deal with it if it did. But the world happens to you, thought Joshua, you don’t happen to the world. There’s nothing you can do. For the first time in his life, he truly believed that.”…”That is how we all got here. Between rocks and hard places. The frying pan and the fire.”

“‘Now, will someone please tell me: what is it about the English that makes them build their statues with their backs to their culture and their eyes on the time?’ He paused to let the shivering KEVIN Brothers contemplate the rhetorical question. 

‘Because they look to their future to forget their past. Sometimes you almost feel sorry for them, you know?’”…”’They have no faith, the English. They believe in what men make, but what men make crumbles. Look at their empire. This is all they have.’…’The sun rises and sets on it in twelve hours, no trouble. This is what is left.’”

“That’s it. That’s the long, long history of us and them. That’s how it was. But no more. 

Because Millat was here to finish it. To revenge it. To turn that history around. He liked to think he had a different attitude, a second generation attitude. If Marcus Chalfen was going to write his name all over the world, Millat was going to write it BIGGER. There’d be no misspelling HIS name in the history books. There’d be no forgetting the dates and times.”

“He relished it. He relished standing nose to nose with evil and saying, ‘You yourself: prove it to me. Go on, PROVE IT.’…Prove to me that you are right. Prove to me that you are more right than God. Nothing on earth would do it.”

“But surely to tell all these tales and others like them would be to speed the myth, the wicked lie, that the past is always tense and the future, perfect.”

Published in the first month of the first year of the new century, Zadie Smith's debut novel White Teeth - winner of the Guardian First Book Award and the Whitbread First Novel Award - was an immediate bestseller and stunningly acclaimed.One of the most talked about fictional débuts of ever, 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.'Funny, clever ... and a rollicking good read' Independent 'An astonishingly assured début, funny and serious ... I was delighted' Salman Rushdie'The almost preposterous talent was clear from the first pages' Julian Barnes, Guardian'Quirky, sassy and wise ... a big, splashy, populous production reminiscent of books by Dickens and Salman Rushdie ... demonstrates both an instinctive storytelling talent and a fully fashioned voice that's street-smart and learned, sassy and philosophical all at the same time' New York Times'Smith writes like an old hand, and, sometimes, like a dream' New Yorker'Outstanding ... A strikingly clever and funny book with a passion for ideas, for language and for the rich tragic-comedy of life' Sunday Telegraph'Do believe the hype' The Times'Relentlessly funny ... idiosyncratic, and deeply felt' GuardianZadie Smith was born in north-west London in 1975. Her debut novel, White Teeth, won the Whitbread First Novel Award, the Guardian First Book Award, the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Fiction, and the Commonwealth Writers' First Book Prize, and was included in TIME 100 Best English-language Novels from 1923 to 2005. Her second novel, On Beauty, was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize and won the Orange Prize for Fiction. She has written two further novels, The Autograph Man and NW, a collection of essays Changing My Mind, and also edited short story anthology The Book of Other People. Zadie Smith was chosen by Granta as one of its twenty best young British novelists in 2003, and as well as to Granta has contributed writing to the New Yorker and the Guardian.Zadie Smith's new novel, NW, is available from September 2012.

Josephine Cammarano

Our children will be born of our actions. Our accidents will become their destinies. Oh, the actions will remain. It is a simple matter of what you will do when the chips are down, my friend. When the fat lady is singing. When the walls are falling in, and the sky is dark, and the ground is rumbling. In that moment our actions will define us. And it makes not difference whether you are being watched by Allah, Jesus, Buddha or whether you are not. On cold days a man can see his breath, on hot day he can’t. On both occasions, the man breathes.

ending felt a bit rushed but i loved the ambition and depth of voices in this (debut!!) novel. though i haven't visited london (yet), i truly felt smith's love and understanding of her city and its many peoples

alice

this one definitely wasn’t as enjoyable as on beauty for me. while the stories themselves were individually enjoyable, all together they meshed into one giant gloop where each chapter doesn’t really say all that much. and the accented writing was terrible to read through . it felt way too long in the middle and end and we were dragging all the FATE and KEVIN stuff without going all that into it which was frustrating as a reader. a good debut but not career making. 

ella rec

this one definitely wasn’t as enjoyable as on beauty for me. while the stories themselves were individually enjoyable, all together they meshed into one giant gloop where each chapter doesn’t really say all that much. and the accented writing was terrible to read through . it felt way too long in the middle and end and we were dragging all the FATE and KEVIN stuff without going all that into it which was frustrating as a reader. a good debut but not career making. 

Greg Talbot

Did this book have to be so protracted and difficult? Smith has wildly descriptive content, and builds up so many scenarios and situtations, that the long form and 450 page book ultimately is a drag. There is no doubt she has an impressive vocabulary and brillant literary language. Consider she wrote this at age 24 too. <br /><br />I commend Smith's book for its ambition and the multi-layers of story. I think her style is original and imaginative and any serious reader should at least consider taking it on.

when I started the fraud I was frustrated and confused and when I finished the fraud I was like whoa it all comes together. so when I started white teeth I put a whole lot more trust in our author and she did not disappoint. everything connected in the good way that it does and even though there are loose threads I think the audiobook good narrators make me forget that. all I feel is satisfied at a good read. 

Jules 

Good, not the best, but I definitely recommend. The artistry of the writing and how it becomes more poetic the closer the end looms makes this a wonderful classic to read on a sad and rainy day. 

new addition to the ‘favourite books of all time’ list 

ellie 💐💌⭐️

Zadie Smith's White Teeth is a classic international bestseller and an unforgettable portrait of London, available as a Penguin Essential for the first time One of the most talked about fictional debuts ever, 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. 'Funny, clever ... and a rollicking good read' Independent 'An astonishingly assured d�but, funny and serious ... I was delighted' Salman Rushdie 'The almost preposterous talent was clear from the first pages' Julian Barnes, Guardian 'Quirky, sassy and wise ... a big, splashy, populous production reminiscent of books by Dickens and Salman Rushdie ... demonstrates both an instinctive storytelling talent and a fully fashioned voice that's street-smart and learned, sassy and philosophical all at the same time' New York Times 'Smith writes like an old hand, and, sometimes, like a dream' New Yorker 'Outstanding ... A strikingly clever and funny book with a passion for ideas, for language and for the rich tragic-comedy of life' Sunday Telegraph 'Do believe the hype' The Times 'Relentlessly funny ... idiosyncratic, and deeply felt' Guardian Zadie Smith was born in north-west London in 1975. Her debut novel, White Teeth, won the Whitbread First Novel Award, the Guardian First Book Award, the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Fiction, and the Commonwealth Writers' First Book Prize, and was included in TIME 100 Best English-language Novels from 1923 to 2005. Her second novel, On Beauty, was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize and won the Orange Prize for Fiction. She has written two further novels, The Autograph Man and NW, a collection of essays, Changing My Mind, and also edited a short-story anthology, The Book of Other People.

Gelaine Trinidad

Family saga meets historical fiction. This book is up my alley. It focuses on the lives of two families intertwined by the friendship of two very different men who met as soldiers near the end World War II. Zadie Smith's writing in this book is so hilarious yet somehow tragic and intimate; it's as if she has encountered these characters and situations in her life before. There are many strong themes in this book such as religion and immigration. Smith manages to reveal the relentless journey and lives of immigrants in the United Kingdom while looking back at the history of British colonization in India and Jamaica.

“Never let your country become a trading post.” This ability to go back and forth in time allowed me to truly reflect on how colonization has impacted both families. What I find striking with this book is her way of showing the valid existence of intergenerational trauma; a past that continues to haunt them. "You must live life with the full knowledge that your actions will remain. We are creatures of consequence... [b]ecause this is the other thing about immigrants: they cannot escape their history any more than you yourself can lose your shadow."  This book felt personal at times, especially when there were conflicts between second generation immigrants and their parents about various things. These conflicts are usually rooted on cultural clashes and opposing values. Though bonded by blood, it is common for older generation parents to hold contempt over their westernized children and vice versa. This keeps the debate open between nationalism and assimilation. 

White teeth symbolizes many things; every time it's mentioned, it anchors you back to what I think Smith wants to convey with this book—the reality of racism, assimilation, and the privilege of whiteness. Smith was also brave enough to show the extremities of religion — from radical Islamic groups to Jehovah Witnesses' belief on Judgement Day. Through the characters, she was able to offer a critical eye on how religion plays a role in people's concept of morality and fate. On the other hand, she does not deny the power of religion in helping individuals belong, believe in something, have faith, and conquer difficulties they weren't able to comprehend at the time. "If religion is the opium of the people, tradition is an even more sinister analgesic, simply because it rarely appears sinister."

I do think this book was a tad too long. I also wish there was more focus on Alsana and Clare. Both matriarchs were a joy to read, and I wanted more character introspection and growth from them. However, I enjoyed the addition of another family at the end (The Chalfens) and laughed at how ridiculous they were. What really hits home for me is the perseverance of these immigrants and their desire to belong and not merely tolerated despite how dysfunctional their lives may seem. “And it goes to prove what has been said of immigrants many times before now; they are resourceful; they make do. They use what they can when they can.”  It's impressive that this book was published 20 years ago and still remains relevant today. It goes to show the "wicked lie... that the past is always tense and the future, perfect."

A classic I recommend to anyone.

Ryan Mateyk

Though it’s a bit meandering at times, this is so vibrant and fun! A beautiful story about family.

Heather Margaret

“If someone asked her just then what memory was, what the purest definition of memory was, she would say this: The street you were on when you first jumped in a pile of dead leaves … with every fresh crunch came the memory of previous crunches. She was permeated by familiar smells … she was moved by these sensations.”
I'm not sure why it has taken me so long to dive into Zadie's writing but here I am. I really liked the narration of multiple characters. If you didn't enjoy or agree with one viewpoint, you had another one to dive into. The mastery of vernacular, slang, wordplay, and voice is so definitely strong within Zadie. White Teeth’s main focus is culture clash; between religions, countries of origin, the sexes, and generations. It’s not so much that she offers solutions to these clashes, but points out the very hypocrisy in the way people treat and regard each other, alarming us into taking notice next time we start to slip into such cynicism and anger.

In the author's words, this novel is an attempt at a comic family epic of little England into which an explosion of ethnic colour is injected. It tells the story of three families, one Indian, one white, one mixed, in North London and Oxford from World War II to the present day.

Ditipriya Acharya

Amelia C 

another one of those books that keeps getting interrupted by other books.. but i will finish this book!! i am determined to.. from what ive read- its definitely laugh-out-loud-east-london-funny!!

White teeth.

Laura Mauler

The end chapters dragged, and then suddenly it's the climax and the ending rushing in together and it's all over. Huh? Hmm. Okay, well, I guess that will work.

Jayme Cochrane

Two days to read the first half, two months to read the second. Ugh.

Lila R E

i loved this book!!!! reading shouldn’t be this fun

Maurice FitzGerald

An interesting exploration of the intersection of cultures, detailed and dialogue heavy. Went on a little too long to keep my attention.

Molly Bridge

Andrew John Kinney

Wow, I really wanted to like this book, and I did until about 35% of the way through. And then it got repetitive and pontifical and had way too much internal dialogue at the expense of plot.

So no thanks. And too bad because the first third or so had me rapidly turning the pages to see what came next. The introduction of the characters was interesting, and the set up was equally compelling, describing the milieu of multi-cultural London, and Smith does have a message, buried in all those words that an editor should have trimmed back. I struggled to finish it because of the ultimately predictable and repetitive scenes. In the first several pages about the Chalfens, she had made her point about liberal, highly-educated white people, but she couldn't stop beating drum for another fifty pages. Same for street-wise East Asians. See the following for a review that mirrors my thoughts: 

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

In the author's words, this is an attempt at a comic family epic of Little England into which an explosion of ethnic colour is injected, telling the story of three families, one Indian, one white, one mixed, in North London and Oxford from World War II to now.

Dora Tominic

Disclaimer: this is not a review.

I will think about it and let you know

Taylor

This is a book in which about 6 things happen and only half of one is interesting.

Elle Geoghegan 

Dentes brancos

Nelson Zagalo

“Dentes Brancos” é uma obra poderosa, carregada de significados impossíveis de decifrar numa única passagem. É uma obra imensamente rica porque pede não mera reflexão mas diálogo em busca dos significados pretendidos e dos que cada um de nós leu, interpretou e sentiu. Mas não sendo eu grande fã de simbolismos, ou melhor das ultrainterpretações a que dão azo, tenho de dizer que aquilo que primeiro me seduziu em Zadie Smith foi a sua escrita, que Quinn muito bem definiu no New York Times como: “exuberante pirotecnia verbal”.

[para ler a análise com imagens e links, aceder a https://virtual-illusion.blogspot.pt/...]

Pela sua qualidade estilística Zadie está na, minha, galeria de escritores ao lado de Jonathan Franzen e Philip Roth, embora para a maioria da imprensa esteja ao lado de Salman Rushdie. Impressionando, impacta verdadeiramente quando percebemos que “Dentes Brancos“, primeira obra, foi publicada em Janeiro de 2000, quando tinha 24 anos, e segue quando descobrimos que esta surge de um primeiro manuscrito datado de 1997, com 21 anos, que lhe valeu um contrato em redor das 250,000 libras. A idade impressiona, e houve quem qualificasse Zadie como uma daquelas crianças hiperativas que se revela cedo demais, correndo o risco de se perder no futuro, mas em 2017 sabemos que tal profecia não se concretizou, Zadie publicou desde então mais 4 romances, um dos quais, “Uma Questão de Beleza”, já aqui dei conta antes com nota máxima. Impressiona-me particularmente já que Zadie nasceu um ano depois de mim, o que me dá uma perspectiva muito próxima do que terá sido necessário para atingir este nível. Zadie é talento em bruto, mas não chega, o qualificativo de hiperatividade não é descabido, já que foi preciso investir muito do seu tempo em leitura, em introspeção e escrita. Produzir um texto desta magnitude com vinte e poucos anos não está ao alcance de muitos de nós, pode faltar talento mas falta acima de tudo o amor e a dedicação que Zadie depositou na literatura.

Em termos temáticos Zadie usa “Dentes Brancos” para ir ao fundo das complexidades familiares, raciais, colonizadoras e culturais da Inglaterra contemporânea. E se o livro terá impactado em 2000, o Brexit em 2017 veio tornar ainda mais relevante tudo o que nele se discute. Temos numa mesma narrativa, mais de 150 anos de história, três gerações e várias ex-colónias britânicas. A Jamaica, o Bangladesh e a Índia são chamados para a mesa inglesa, e o diálogo torna-se explosivo, multicolorido, dando a conhecer a essência da multiculturalidade. Zadie introduz temas como a 2ª Guerra Mundial, a eugenia, as religiões, a ciência, o livre-arbítrio, o suicídio, colocando toda uma constelação de personagens a questionar o propósito da vida. O propósito é aquilo que torna o resumo do livro tão difícil, e os personagens tão diversos e realistas podem afastar-nos mas Zadie usa uma forma inteligente de nos aproximar de tudo e todos, o "humor sério". Não sendo eu grande apreciador de comédia, tenho de dizer que ri, gargalhadas espontâneas, imensas vezes ao longo da leitura, com o modo como tratando assuntos sérios e complexos, os personagens, cada um dotado das suas lógicas e crenças culturais, questionam o mundo.

Todas estas temáticas só são possíveis pelo contexto que envolve Zadie, as suas raízes. Filha de mãe negra, imigrada em 1969 da Jamaica para Inglaterra, e de pai branco britânico, em segundo casamento. Com dois meios-irmãos e dois irmãos mais novos, e uma adolescência marcada pelo divórcio dos pais, que a levou a mudar o seu nome original, de Sadie para Zadie. Este contexto parece ter servido de ebulição à criatividade que viria a demonstrar na universidade, no King's College em Cambridge, onde daria nas vistas com pequenos contos, e conseguiria então captar o interesse para um contrato de primeira obra.

Voltando ao início, o livro está carregado de símbolos. Não são necessários decifrar para se compreender a história, para se sentir prazer na leitura, mas instigam-nos a ir mais fundo, assim como separam o livro do mero historiar de aventuras familiares de raças diferentes. Elevam o sentido da leitura e explicam porque a literatura continua tão relevante enquanto arte, já que consegue não apenas fazer-nos passar bons momentos, mas ao mesmo tempo ensinar-nos, contribuindo para o edificar da nossa base civilizacional.

E assim, mesmo não sendo particularmente fã da ultrainterpretação simbólica, não quero deixar de destacar aqui o sentido do título da obra. Como disse, existe muito mais nas páginas do livro, tal como o RatoFuturo, o KEVIN, ou o Dr. Doença, que poderiam por si dar origem a páginas e páginas de reflexões, e que terão já dado múltiplas teses de mestrado. Mas porquê “Dentes Brancos”? Tenho de confessar que as ideias que passo a explorar não são originariamente minhas, surgiram de várias leituras (ligações: a, b, c, d, e), que me permitiram, como disse por via do diálogo e confrontação de ideias, chegar uma interpretação que satisfez a minha leitura e o meu mundo.

Os “Dentes Brancos” surgem ao longo do livro várias vezes, mas sem conotações concretas, do impacto visual dos seus estragos (uma personagem não tem todos os dentes da frente), contrastando-se com o excessivo cuidado na sua limpeza (um dos personagens lava os dentes 5 a 6 vezes por dia). Como se os dentes tivessem uma relevância de classe, capaz de marcar a diferença de cultura e até de raça. Contudo, o mais significativo não surge nas páginas, temos de chegar lá por analogia, pela construção discursiva que nos une. Sendo um texto defensor do multiculturalismo, o que costumamos dizer é que a cor da pele na conta porque debaixo da mesma, corre o mesmo sangue vermelho. Ora dentro das nossas bocas estão também os mesmos dentes brancos, iguais para todos mas ao mesmo tempo diferentes, tão diferentes que são usados para identificar os restos mortais de corpos muito deteriorados. Ou seja, na igualdade podemos encontrar a diferença, e juntas contribuem para definir aquilo que somos. Não somos apenas iguais nem apenas diferentes, somos singulares, e por isso é fundamental preservar e acarinhar as raízes, as mesmas que garantem o branco dos nossos dentes.


Análise publicada no VI 
https://virtual-illusion.blogspot.pt/...

Anna Brunner

four stars!! this was objectively one of the best books i've ever read (emphasis on the ‘objectively’). the prose was excellent and so witty, and i love how cleverly smith uses classic references (e.g. 

) without making it glaringly obvious or using allusion for allusion's sake. it's clear that the novel as a whole is extremely well-researched, and all of the characters, but particularly the twins, are so very loveable, a direct result of the brilliant narrating style. and everyone’s so, so human--you feel archie's pain, irie's want to be loved, and clara's desperation so vividly and so acutely. it not-very-subtly talks about social issues, but in a way that’s humorous and more matter-of-fact, and rather than making it the surface focus of the novel, it’s one of the stronger underlying themes, which is always refreshing. four instead of five stars because even though the prose was just perfect, it didn't make me feel anything emotionally in the way my other favorites have. but seriously. this book was so good.

four stars!! this was objectively one of the best books i've ever read (emphasis on the ‘objectively’). the prose was excellent and so witty, and i love how cleverly smith uses classic references (e.g. david copperfield, forster, nabokov, othello) without making it glaringly obvious or using allusion for allusion's sake. it's clear that the novel as a whole is extremely well-researched, and all of the characters, but particularly the twins, are so very loveable, a direct result of the brilliant narrating style. and everyone’s so, so human--you feel archie's pain, irie's want to be loved, and clara's desperation so vividly and so acutely. it not-very-subtly talks about social issues, but in a way that’s humorous and more matter-of-fact, and rather than making it the surface focus of the novel, it’s one of the stronger underlying themes, which is always refreshing. four instead of five stars because even though the prose was just perfect, it didn't make me feel anything emotionally in the way my other favorites have. but seriously. this book was so good.

White Teeth A Novel

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