The writing in Zadie Smith's debut novel White Teeth is very densely and very richly textured. The book begs multiple readings just to get the full myriad of meanings out of every paragraph and catch every joke. But it is not for those who don't know the word "bibliolatry".
The question is: is this a good thing? For book lovers, it is very fun to read but it's not really something that could keep me up at night. It requires too much focus. There are times when the reading gets easy and fast, but most of it is far to specifically crafted for that. Zadie's word choice is beautiful and funny, like the best part of Dane Cook. They have a little different style in their word choice, but the main difference between the two wordsmiths is that Zadie realizes her power with words and Dane often doesn't.
It is "Instantly Artistic" in its style but in a very entertaining way. The first chapter is tied up better than most writers do their entire book. She leaves out key points of data to keep everything slightly vague, but it all comes out clearly in the end.
...Of that chapter. And eventually the book ties up quite impressively as well, but half way though, I realized that there wasn't actually going to be a plot. It is too heavily driven by character; plot is not the focus. There are a lot of people who do not like this, to them I say avoid White Teeth. For those who love character driven books, this could easily become your favorite book. To me, it slowed down and lost a lot of it's charm in the last chapters.
The primary theme in White Teeth is life in London for an immigrant. The novel paints, very painstakingly, a vivid realist portrait of what that means. She appears an expert and I suppose I'll just have to take her word for it as I am neither British nor an Immigrant. Maybe some day. Without that experience, I can still see the wisdom of the book. Zadie Smith is an obviously intelligent individual.
Analysis (spoilers to follow):
One of the reasons I say that the beginning of White Teeth is the high point is that she abandoned some of the characters I found the most interesting. Specifically, Clara. She has one chapter. After that, she disappears. The book becomes more about Alsana and the Iqbal's than Clara or Archie or their daughter. But Samad's a prick and Alsana's tiring and their children are obnoxious. Irie's a bit obnoxious as well, but she seems to have more reason, more of an excuse.
The "White Teeth" metaphor is not overplayed, which stands the book in stark contrast to Invisible Monsters. For that I was extremely grateful.
I actually didn't find anything overtly unrealistic with the plot (or lack thereof). True, Samad sends one of this sons to Bangladesh, but what was Alsana really supposed to do. Others criticized this, but I still don't see it, really. The more unrealistic part is the connection between the two boys she described. Twins are similar, but just because one is safe (or breaks his nose), that doesn't mean the other'll stay safe. It was misplaced in this otherwise earthly book and doesn't achieve the same level of mythology that Neil Gaiman achieved in one story in American Gods.
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