Zadie Smith: White Teeth

My darling sister Bethy has a weakness for anything that speaks disparagingly of our former religion, and so naturally recommended this book. Sadly, I feel like what is (possibly) the chief reason for her recommendation is also one of the weaker points. The description of Irie's Witness upbringing captures the flavor of the thing, but is packed with inaccuracies that having a real former Witness read the manuscript would have made evident. One wonders if Smith didn't bother, or if capturing the gist was more important to her than the details. Further, one wonders if the descriptions of Bangladeshi or Jamaican expat culture suffer similarly from a lack of verisimilitude.

Nonetheless, the book was great. I recommend it in spite of the very reasons for which Bethy may have recommended it. All the things I look for in a book: indelible characters, recurring thematic elements that sneak up on you, an ending that simultaneously leaves the reader unsatisfied and makes perfect sense, believable dialogue, in short, the whole package. I really should read more of this sort of book, but one must read so many terrible ones before finding a good one . . .