White+Teeth


 * __White Teeth__ ** By: Alex Huynh

__**Background and Information**__
 * The book __White Teeth__ by Zadie Smith tells the story of two friends, Archiebald Jones, and Samad Iqbal and their current lives in London. It tells the history of how they met and then continues to follow them as they continue through their lives and follows the events of their family and children.
 * The author of this book is Zadie Smith. She was born in 1975 in north London. She is half English, and half Jamaican and her ethnici[[image:teeth_3.jpg width="182" height="283" align="left"]]ty is displayed through one of the essential characters who shares the same heritage. She graduated from Cambridge in 1997 and __White Teeth__, published in 2000, is her first novel. Her other two novels written after __White Teeth__ are __The Autograph Man__ and __On Beauty__.
 * I personally like the title of this book. I don’t think that it was the most appropriate title that the author could’ve picked but it caught my attention. The title comes into play throughout the book where the author makes references to the different scenes in the book using some camparison to teeth or the mouth. She also would name some of her chapter titles using dental vocabulary. I found these references kind of awkward because I really didn’t get the symbolism or link that the author was trying to convey to the reader.

__**Style and Writing**__
 * The author leads the reader into the story by starting the book out with the Archie Jones attempting to commit suicide. This immediately drew me into the story because things were getting interesting right from the start.
 * Smith gives vivid and colorful description throughout the whole story. Through the whole book one could see everything that was happening exactly as she wanted you to see it. At times it was a little too much but most of the time the level of description was just right.
 * Most of the time there was enough action to hold the reader to the book. Occasionally there were some dry parts but m[[image:teeth_1.jpg width="203" height="179" align="right" caption="Zadie Smith"]]ost of the little stories she tells associated with the main characters or their histories were very entertaining and she often uses humorous events or dialogue to enhance the experience. But the thought of a couple dry chapters should not in anyway differ the thought of reading this book because all of the other chapters make up for the couple boring ones.
 * There was not really any suspense but the reader also couldn't predict what was going to happen. The entire book was more a collection of short stories both present and past of the actual time in the fictional present day. These short stories combine together to create the entire plotline and although it might seem a tad random at first the reader understands more and more and gets used to the format by the end of the book.
 * The sentences and wording in this book had some of the best flow and style that I’ve ever read. Smith incorporates her unique wording with humorous dialogue and narration that it keeps readers intrigued and entertained through the entire book.

__**Characters and Plot**__ __**Themes and Recommendation**__ __** More information on **__ [|Zadie Smith] [|Critical Review] [|Smith Interview and other Information]
 * Smith’s characters were defiantly believable. The diverse personalities of the ten or so essential characters along with the numerous side characters creates one of the most interesting and believable cast that I’ve personally read about in a long time. The way they talk is very believable and you could really imagine someone actually talking like they do. Every action and even every thought of each character is depicted with such detail by Smith that you really get to know every in and out of each character’s mind and that brings the story all the more personal.
 * This book has an entire realistic plot. There aren’t any science fiction or fantasy based elements. All the characters could in the right circumstances be real people and all the events could happen. You should know though that these realistic bonds in no way create boring characters or scenes. On the contrary, in my entire reading life, I found these characters to be one of the most exciting and intriguing cast of characters and defiantly one of my favorites.
 * The story was not short. The entire book finished off at around 450 pages hardcover. The length of the book wasn’t that bad but the length of the chapters were long and very annoying because you needed to keep reading to finish off sections. At some parts in the book the plot seemed to b[[image:teeth_2.jpg width="192" height="281" align="left" caption="Cover"]]e taking very long to get to the point but that was probably because Smith’s plot featured a lot of flashbacks so that by the end of the book you basically knew the life history of every character. But besides from the numerous flashbacks, the rest of the story paced well.
 * The climax of the book was without a doubt the strangest climax of any book I’ve ever read. At first I was so confused that I just kept reading it over and over again without progress. Then I finally realized what happened and that it was so strange because in order to understand it the reader must remember a little seemingly unimportant scene all the way from the beginning of the book. After the climax though, the actual conclusion brought the story to a close.
 * There are some major points about life contained within Smith’s novel. Diversity, looks, fate, free will, science vs. religion, chance, immigration, identity, and life in general are all presented throughout the book and are all posed as problems or issues for the characters or affect them directly in some way. By tying in these themes with her fictional characters, Smith revels the same or the thematically linked problems associated with the real world and exposes the reader to them.
 * The book made the reader reflect on these different themes shown throughout the book and often entices the reader to reflect on his or her own society and beliefs.
 * I would defiantly recommend this book to anybody. This book is unique, funny, insightful, and just an all in all pleasure to read. I am sure that anybody with a general interest in books will find a place on their shelves for __White Teeth__.