Rating: 
Summary: Please don't believe the hype!
Review: Don't believe the hypeI'm still trying to work out why all the critics gushed over this novel. All I can think is that they actually think this book is an honest, sincere glimpse into the life of Blacks and Asians in London. I think that is what's so frustrating about this book. Nothing rings true. If this book does open a floodgate of imitators (which I'm quite sure it will) I hope someone else with a bit more talent can improve on this. The worse thing would be that anyone got the impression that this is what London life is really like for us. I finished this book not caring about ANY of the characters, which is surely not a good sign. Not Archie, not Samad, not Clara or Alsana, not Millat/Magid /the Chalfens and definitely not Irie - who I'm sure was supposed to hold this whole story together. There's not one sympathetic character within the pages. By the end of the book, you're left wondering why you wasted so much time (and it is a long book) reading about such a pathetic bunch of people. Most of the critics seem to be in awe of what they consider as the author's confident, assured and mature style of writing (especially considering her young age, it's her first novel etc.). However, I think the tone of this novel is one of pure indulgence and arrogance. It appears that a thesaurus was used the whole way through the novel, (for every simple expression, the most elaborate word is substituted in its place, which meant the story was made unnecessarily laborious to follow. The author also used half facts, and down right untruths about certain things pivotal to the story (i.e. the Jehovah's Witnesses religion, multicultural London life) to blatantly patronise and mislead the reader. I am not a Jehovah's Witness, but I know for a fact, that Clara would not have been sent to a Catholic school, none of their members would wear a cross, they don't quote from the King James version of the bible and they don't sing secular hymns and they are not your stereotypical Pentecostal churchgoers, in fact a Witness wouldn't use the word church, the rank and file Witness does not have any influence on what is printed in their magazines (unlike Ryan Topps) and they would never - I repeat NEVER organise a protest for ANY reason. These are all things that could have found out quite easily. The fact that it wasn't shows contempt for the reader as far as I'm concerned. The Witnesses are an easy target, but singling them out for what amounts to amateur attempt of humour is quite spineless. I 'm not an expert on the Muslim religion, but certainly this story isn't exactly a good advertisement for it either (but then it WAS recommended by Salmun Rushdie - perhaps that should have been a clue). There was no real thread running through the story - it starts off following Archie, then skips to Clara, leaves Clara halfway through her story, jumps to Samad then to their children - but instead of fleshing out their characters, they're just left as empty shells, while the past history of characters who don't really have a lot of bearing on the story are delved into in far too much detail. Clara, who should have been a strong central character, seems to disappear from the whole story. Irie, who is a central character, ends up becoming spoil and vindictive. Samad and Alsana are just Asian caricatures, no depth, just the regular stereotypes. No one seemed to have any redeeming features.. There were a few times where I thought the story showed a bit of humour - the black hairdressers, the false teeth - even Joyce Chalfen (although she also seems to disappear half way through the story) but nothing about this novel was new or fresh. I hope no one read this thinking they were getting some sort of insight into how Black/Asian Londoners live - it doesn't even come close. And what was that ending about? None of the ends are tied up. It all comes across as if the author is trying just that bit too hard to be clever. Perhaps the author really does need to mature. In my opinion, this book is a wasted opportunity to put the real story of multicultural London out there.
Rating:
Summary: White Teeth
Review: Come on people, this book was highly overrated and plain old boring. I found it quite hard to get through it. Aside from Clara, characters are vacant and dull. The author just doesn't take the opportunity to develop personalities enough to conjure up any compassion in the reader. What could the editorial reviewers have been thinking of when they awarded this book such high praise.
Rating: 
Summary: NO FALSE TEETH
Review: I wish the author's age hadn't entered so often into my reading of this book, but it did, mostly because the scope of the novel is so broad and the scope of her years so narrow. Most first novelists are lucky to accurately capture dormroom conversations; Smith captures an entire seething metropolis and a huge cast of its diverse, conflicted inhabitants. The novel is exhilerating and exasperating in equal measures, but I wouldn't trade it for a truckload of BRIGET JONES' DIARIES.
Rating: 
Summary: Push your fears aside and...read
Review: I received White Teeth as a gift a month ago and I was immediately intimidated by its length, design and the fact that it was written by a woman only a few years older than me. When I finally garnered up the courage to enter Smith's world, it was as if I boarded a British Airways flight to London to spend the week with Archie, Samad, Irie, Milat and Magid. First and foremost, I had fun. I felt like I really got to know the characters (their hang-ups what made them tick) and their situations: Samad's inner struggles with himself and his sons, Irie's unrequited love for Magid, and the hilarious elitism of Joyce and Marcus Chalphen around the dinner table. The backward manner in which Smith weaves her events, not dissimilar to Tarantino's film Pulp Fiction, is so sophisticated and works no well in the novel form. I can't possibly convey all of the magic of White Teeth, so I'll have to urge you to go out and pick it up. You'll finish it yearning for more. Smith's voice is so unique that I have no doubt we'll be reading her books for years to come.
Rating: 
Summary: A bit overrated
Review: I was disappointed in this novel after reading the high praise it received. Smith has written a very ambitious book--touching on religion, race, nationality, the British--Indian dilemma, sex, adolescence, idealism, fanaticism in the name of religion, animal rights, etc.--I'm afraid she tries to do too much. I never got a handle on her older male characters--Samad and Archie--who dominate the first half of the book. She does better with the next generation, and her portrayal of Irie comes alive--but then again, she's a 24 yr. old black woman (or Indian?) who lives in London, and in Irie the author portrays someone she seems to know VERY WELL. Certain set pieces come alive--the hair scene with Irie,the description of her school, and oddly enough given my prior comments, the war scenes--but all in all I found this one hard to plow through.
Rating: 
Summary: Earnest attempt, but falls short of the mark
Review: Sections of this novel were full of rich detail, but the story never came alive. The characters could have been more interesting and animated. What could have been an engaging story somehow fell short. I will be curious to see what Zadie Smith does next.
Rating:
Summary: A Multi-Generational, Multi-Cultural Novel
Review: A careful and considered synopsis of Zadie Smith's first novel would take far more words that the constraints of this review would allow. Suffice it to say that 'White Teeth' is a long, convoluted, multi-generational, multi-cultural novel. If there is a topic of importance that Smith doesn't touch on I'm at a loss to identify it! 'White Teeth' is a dense novel, in the sense that it is packed full of ideas and ideologies, but it is also a fabulous story of redemption and triumph. All the characters endure a considerable 'arc' in their development and seem fully realized, if not always likable, and Smith has a gift for dialogue that a reader rarely encounters 'White Teeth' has garnered the kind of praise usually reserved for more established authors but I find that the exuberance of some reviewers is not entirely justified. While this is a remarkable first novel, it does not redefine the 'novel' or any particular genre. Let's wait for her next novel before anointing her the Queen of the Written Word. I agree with at least one of the other Amazon reviewers in that 'White Teeth' definitely loses it's bite in the final quarter and is only redeemed by a beautiful ending that brings all the characters together in a finale that you won't forget.
Rating:
Summary: Trying too hard
Review: The "suicide" in the first few pages was wonderfully written but as the story moved on I found myself thinking "relax, stop trying so hard". For a first novel it was entertaining but not five stars. Smith has some work to do to find her voice. Much of the book rambled on without adding substance. I found it hard to buy into an Irie who went from complete mortification over her hair and body to the confident single mother at the end. How did she get there?
Rating:
Summary: A wonderful book despite some narrative flaws
Review: Since I think everyone agrees on the strengths of this book: an honest, funny portrayal of multi-ethnic London and the often hilarious prose, I want to note a minor flaw to any readers who - like me - discovered the book because of the considerable hype surrounding it. Through the first three quarters of the book, Zadie Smith manages to convey both the rootlessness of the immigrant experience as well as the seeming inevitability of following in our ancestors' footsteps; she does this simply through excellent storytelling. Unfortunately, the plot is sometimes predictable; I found myself predicting key plot points chapters in advance. Also the subtle "show-not-tell" approach is all but abandoned in the final quarter, when she seems explains her thematic intentions, and by page 450, I couldn't help but think that this shouldn't be necessary. Fortunately, the beautifully rendered final scenes are less didactic and tie together all of the book's themes of the into what one reviewer correctly defined a "life-affirming" book.
Rating:
Summary: What A Writer!
Review: For someone who's only 24 years old,Ms. Smith has an incredible grasp of the human condition,a true sense of place and vivid charactors. A bit long-winded at times,but hey, it's her first book and a bloody good one at that!
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