Sophia C. reviewed on 2/19/2012 + 289 more book reviews

Zadie Smith's debut novel made sense to me until the last few chapters. I thought I was reading an expansive, witty, but serious novel about finding one's place in late twentieth-century mutlicultural Britian. Centered around two army buddies who served together at the close of WWII, Archie Jones and Samad Iqbal, the narrative initially focused on one quirky character at a time, and slowly expanded to include their younger wives and resultant children. I really enjoyed the depth of Smith's characterizations and her wit while dealing with profound themes while weaving through various timelines, but then it felt as the web of characters was spinning tighter and tighter towards one event on New Year's Eve, 1999, but abruptly stops, leaving me wondering "what was that all about?" Nonetheless, I'm glad the list of 1001 books you must read before you die led me to this read, which, as Salman Rushdie aptly said, has "bite."

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