Rating: 
Summary: White Teeth more aptly titled 'Root Canal'
Review: This novel has been in my 'to be read' pile for several months and I was anxious to get to it based on the overwhelmingly positive reviews by critiques. 'Wonderful', 'Astonishing', 'Funny as hell', the jacket promises. I failed to see the humor anywhere. What I found were angry ramblings in regard to characters that I don't think even the author particularly liked. Ms. Smith touched on animal rights, radical organizations, love, friendship, war, marriage, religion, science, class and culture with such a brutal tone that I became more and more depressed with the turn of each page. There was no focus of the 400+ pages which (I believe) led to a rather ridiculous and completely unsatisfactory end. I'm very sorry that I devoted the time I did to trudge through this great disappointment.
Rating: 
Summary: I'm not even done and I'm ready to rate it
Review: This book is amazing. It is hillarious, but not because the situations are so funny. In fact, they are sometimes painfully sad. The huge cast of characters are often confused, emotional, "involved" in a web of relationships that they can't seem to figure out how to handle. It gorgeously describes the clash of cultures, even within families, showing that even people who grow up in the same house or witness the same war, can end up very different people. And though I love the story and the characters, the writing is what blew me a way. Each carefully crafted paragraph reads like Zadie Smith has been writing this in her head for decades. Each sentence is witty, each line fits into place like an insane jigsaw puzzle, but it never seems contrived or forced. It is as if the funniest friend you have mixed with the best story teller you've ever heard is telling this story. I can't even explain it all that well, so you'll just have to read it.
Rating:
Summary: Believe the hype.....it's epic in breadth and sweep
Review: I have pondered but not penetrated the meaning behind the constant teeth reference in Zadie Smith's debut novel. Notwithstanding, what we have in "White Teeth" is an impressive and stunningly mature piece of work from a precocious new talent who writes likes she's already lived a hundred years, ingested the entire social and cultural history of mankind and applied those influences to create a wonderfully fresh new novel about multigenerational conflicts within immigrant families in England. There are even touches of the great Rushdie in this hilarious yet absorbing and relevant tale of racial, sexual, social and cultural confusion that now pervades the proverbial "green and pleasant land". There are many rivers and tributaries feeding into the soil of multicultural England. East Indians (Pakistan), West Indians (Jamaicans), you name them, they're there. What's fascinating about this explosion of influences coming from all sides including the host culture is the capacity they create for the unexpected. Nothing is what they seem. The wilful retreat of Samad into eastern conservatism, the clear eyed revolt of his wife, Alsana, who wishes to annihilate all references to her own motherland, the opposite natures of their twin boys, Magid and Millat, and the mindboggling paths they took towards their destinies, etc is the stuff of great fiction. I also loved the characterisation of the obsessive Chalfens, whose eccentricity is uniquely English. Joyce is an absolute scream. The novel just builds and builds. It never flags and indeed ends on a big note. Smith's language is quite simply dazzling but also occasionally overworked. That's when you develop a mild headache but it's a small criticism. "White Teeth" is such a massively enjoyable piece of fiction it will entrance readers for years to come. The second novel will be the big test but if Zadie Smith continues to produce novels of this quality and standard, she will soon find herself ensconced among the pantheon of great contemporary writers. Believe the hype. This novel is epic in breadth and sweep. Don't miss it. For once, the critics got it right.
Rating: 
Summary: Beautful and funny, stumbles at the finish
Review: It took me two weeks to read this book, and for the first week I felt I'd discovered my new all-time favorite novel. The narrative is spectacular (what was she when she wrote this -- 22, 23 years old?...amazing, really), the crafting of the story intiguing, and the characters weird and wonderful. I couldn't wait to read more. But somewhere along the way, maybe three-quarters into the story, I felt like the author ran out of ideas, and struggled to tie up her various loose ends. Having said that, I'd read this book again, mostly to see if my first impression is too harsh...perhaps I had unrealistic expectations, given the thrill I experienced during my first week of reading it. The book says a great deal about the painful struggle of assimilation -- for immigrants, the young, the socially awkward and the idealogically estranged. And it says it without guerilla melodrama. Ms. Smith is obviously very talented, and I can't wait to read her next effort.
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Summary: BORING!!!
Review: When a writer has something important and meaningful to say about our society, commonsense suggests that the most effective way to communicate his or her message to the reader would be to write what is first and foremost an entertaining book. I'm sorry to say that Zadie Smith clearly has little respect for such a notion, because WHITE TEETH is unbelievably dull. Don't get me wrong; if preachy, long-winded diatribes, mannered dialogue, cultural/religious stereotypes and creaky 'Look at me! Aren't I clever?!' prose is your cup of tea, then you will be in heaven. But if you're looking for a truly exciting, powerful and intelligent debut book from a talented young writer, I would strongly suggest that you read either THE BEACH by Alex Garland, PROZAC NATION by Elizabeth Wurtzel, GENERATION X by Douglas Coupland, FIGHT CLUB by Chuck Palahniuk, or THE VIRGIN SUICIDES by Jeffrey Eugenides instead. Just because everyone else has fooled themselves into thinking that Smith's novel is the best thing since sliced bread doesn't mean that you have to as well. WHITE TEETH is mind-numbing, overrated, overwritten tedium. DON'T BELIEVE THE HYPE!
Rating:
Summary: It was like pulling teeth to finish it
Review: With all the great reviews and promise of an exciting new voice, I purchased the book to read on vacation. It took an enormous amount of effort to finish it. Yes, her mastery of several types of ethnic dialog is to be applauded but the story was painfully long and hard to read for something that didn't seem to say anything. She jumps from past to present from one paragraph to the next which confused me... it took me the next 3 paragraphs to figure out that she had jumped into a story from the past. And the end of the story was not indicative of the rest of the book. She spends 448 pages in excruciating detail about mindless stuff only to abruptly end the story in the last 2 paragraphs of the book - almost like she actually got tired of the story too.I've read some of her other writings and was impressed - which made this book a real let-down.
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Summary: Intriguing Look at Great New Novelist
Review: In this book Zadie Smith has shown that she has an extensive and intimate understanding of the various cultures of London, and their histories and religions. The interactions of the multicultural characters and their relationships are very illuminating, and lead to many entertaining misunderstandings and moments of clarity. I wouldn't be surprised if Smith used her own experiences with multicultural friends and family as a basis for most of the characters and plot elements in this book, because most of them give the appearance of authenticity. I also wonder if Smith based the Irie Jones character on herself, as Irie is the most complex and deep-thinking person in the book. Smith's writing style is usually light and effortless, and occasionally sharply funny. Here we have a very ambitious new novelist with huge ideas. Unfortunately, Smith proves in this book that she's a little too ambitious for her own good. In the second half, the plotline becomes very messy and starts to unravel, and Smith lapses into a lot of long-winded sermonizing, both from the narrator and the characters. A never-ending treatise on social consciousness toward the end then rushes into a conclusion that is wrapped up too quickly. However, I would still recommend this book, especially if you're interested in hot new writers. Now if Zadie Smith can learn to reign in her big ideas and find a little more focus - then I can't wait to see what she comes up with next.
Rating:
Summary: dazed and confused!!!!!!!!
Review: This could be, by far, one of the worst books I have ever read! I actually had to log on to Amazon and read the editorial review in an attempt to explain (or understand for that matter) what the book was about. An extremly slow, wordy, overly elaborate first novel, with no particular reason for being. I will say that the author has a wonderful ear for dialogue and all of her voices are quite believable, but that's all I can say. Spare yourselves and take those many hours it will take you to plod through this mess and take a nice long drive in the country!
Rating: 
Summary: Too Many Tangents, Inconsistent, Ultimately a Let-Down
Review: After much critical acclaim, I could not wait to immerse myself in a book that touted "great story-telling". The introduction held much promise, but, produced a book that was impossible to finish. Multiculturalism, is a much touted phrase these days and I feel that Zadie Smith bit off more than she could chew with "White Teeth" and took advantage of a trend. Bored to tears, confused and could not wait to unload this novel on a unsuspecting reader.
Rating:
Summary: Getting a bit long in the tooth
Review: I read 'White Teeth' after many positive reccomendations and reviews. I am embarrased to admit this, but I could not finish this novel. This book started out with truly gripping scenarios and vivid descriptions of each character. The rich detail gave me the sense that I knew exactly what each character looked and sounded like. Thus I was engrossed in this novel-for a while. I feel that Ms. Smith has a clever knack for storytelling. She manages to infuse some wonderful dry humor throughout. But it also was frusturating. I would be reading this scenario, for example when Irie gets her hair done. I really felt such empathy for her and her predicament. Then the whole story changes and you are introduced to a whole new set of charactors and I simply felt left hanging. This seemed to happen numerous times. You are immersed in wonderful plots and story telling, then it all comes to a screeching halt and onto another topic. I felt that there were too many charactors and a general lack of focus. I think Ms. Smith is a gifted writer and I perhaps may read another novel. I just hope that she can narrow down the number of charactors introduced throughout. I found the main charactors to be abundant in personality and immensely interesting, I just wanted more of THEM.
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