As I’ve
mentioned in another post or two, I often get asked about whatever novel I am currently
reading, and when the book is not particularly famous, the number one question
is, not surprisingly, “What’s it about?”
Sometimes I’m able to answer that question pretty early on in my
reading, either because the trajectory and focus of the novel is clear from the
outset or because a sufficient summary is provided on the back cover of the
book. But at other times—and I would
venture to say that it was quite often—I wouldn’t be able to answer that
question until I was just about done with the story. So much of what a novel is about is
determined by where it goes and what it focuses on in the end. This latter situation was certainly the case
with White Teeth. At first it
seemed to be a novel about Archie Jones, then about Archie and Samad’s
relationship, then about the Jones and Iqbal families, then about what it means
to be an immigrant in England when your family comes from places once
controlled by the British Empire, then about what it meant to be a second
generation non-white kid growing up in England in the 80s and 90s, and finally
about three generations of three families in England at the end of the millennium. The novel unfolds itself as you read,
introducing new characters, new situations, and new connections, and as she
introduces each new element, Zadie Smith, the author, lets you appreciate the
individual element before letting you see how it fits in with what you already
know. Add to this technique of
revelation and discovery interesting characters, fantastic dialogue, developing
plots, great humor, irreverent jabs, and writing of great clarity and insight,
and you have a dynamite novel.
White
Teeth tackles so many different issues that I had a hard time collecting my
thoughts about it. The novel is about
what it means to be English, what it means to be an immigrant, what it means to
be the child of immigrants, what it means to be non-white in England, what it
means to have roots in a colonized country what it means to be Muslim in
England, what role religious and philosophical fundamentalism plays in our
lives and in our culture, and what it means to accept or deny the notions of
fate and free will. Intellectually, I
wondered if this broad focus weakened the strength of the novel, but I only
wondered that for the first half of the novel, when it was unclear to me where
we were going. We were leaning about the
characters and their families’ pasts, but their future was not forecasted at
all. Then, at just about the half way
point, Smith brings these entertaining and colorful characters into a collision
course with white middle-class England with the introduction of the
Chalfens. That’s the point at which White
Teeth takes off. The Chalfens act as
a point of contrast (and similarity) for the Joneses and the Iqbals, but they
also start entangling themselves inextricably in their family affairs and in
the lives of their children. And that’s
when Smith’s wide focus made sense to me as a reader.
All those
different focuses I mentioned earlier (generations, Britishness, colonialism,
immigration, family roots, religious and philosophic fundamentalism) are at
play in the experience of a multicultural England, and they all need to be in
play for a novel to attempt to capture anything close to the experiences of the
families and people it seeks to discuss.
Smith handles all these concerns with grace and seeming ease by anchoring
everything in the relationships at the center—and flung out at the edges—of her
story. Smith is a master at
relationships, at the desire to come together and the need to push apart, at
the mixture of admiration and disgust that we feel for each other. What’s more, she creates this beautiful
delineated web of relationships while artfully crafting a compelling plot that
seems to wander away and then comes snapping back together in beautiful and
unexpected ways.
The characters
are wonderful. The relationships are
brilliantly presented. The writing is delightful
mixture of crude and lyrical language. The
observations are insightful. The plot is
tight and driving in quiet and unexpected ways.
White Teeth is a beautiful novel that I highly recommend.
