White Teeth
by Zadie Smith · first published 2000
50% recommend38% neutral13% critical
One of the most talked about fictional debuts of recent years, WHITE TEETH is a funny, generous, big-hearted novel, adored by critics and readers alike. Dealing - among many other things - with friendship, love, war, three cultures and three families over three generations, one brown mouse, and the tricky way the past has of coming back and biting you on the ankle, it is a life-affirming, riotous must-read of a book.
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White Teeth, Zadie Smith Fierce Invalids Home from Hot Climates, Tom Robbins Homage to Catalonia, George Orwell Catch 22, Joseph Heller Timequake; Mother Night, Kurt Vonnegut Jr. Seven Pillars of Wisdom, TE…
on “Ask: Read a book that changed your life? Title?” ↗…interesting story but as others have commented, one without a clear point. that's not to say that we can't draw something from it. We can. Or at least I can. Very tangentially I'm reminded of a book called White Teeth (by Zadie Smith) that I found compelling (I was living in England at the time). Some others have commented that the author feels like things like children are an imposition. Superficially, I see why,…
on “My Father, in Four Visits Over Thirty Years” ↗White Teeth, by Zadie Smith, is of the funniest books I have ever read and it contains the most important lesson about getting to the root of a problem that I have yet seen articulated: "The shit is not the shit.…
on “Ask HN: Book recommendations?” ↗…about the beginning of the year: Russia Leaves the War, George Kennan (WW I); The Fate of Man in the Modern World, Nikolai Berdyaev; Philosophy of Logic, W.V.O. Quine; Marrow and Bone, Walter Kempowski; White Teeth, Zadie Smith; Bring Up the Bodies, Hilary Mantel; Writing and Difference, Jacques Derrida; Cartesian Meditations, Edmund Husserl (not quite to the end). White Teeth is charming, and I will read more…
on “Ask HN: What books have you read recently?” ↗History: * Russia Leaves the War by George Kennan * The Battle Cry of Freedom by James MacPherson Fiction: * Hunger by Knut Hamsun * White Teeth by Zadie Smith Philosophy: * Philosophy of Logic by W.V.O. Quine * Modes of Being by Paul Weiss * Phenomenology, Its Genesis and Prospect by Quentin Lauer * Philosophy of Right by Hegel
on “Ask HN: What book(s) did you love reading this year?” ↗Weird that there is no discussion here relevant to the book or the author, though perhaps that's just because the book hasn't been released yet. I really enjoyed "White Teeth" so I suspect I will read this too.
on “Zadie Smith Makes 1860s London Feel Alive, and Recognizable” ↗…put online by "Culture Trip", whoever they are: https://theculturetrip.com/europe/united-kingdom/england/art... This covers a wide range of history, and does cover (pre)modern culture - Zadie Smith's "White Teeth", for example.
on “The Great British Reading List” ↗…the technical aspects that the reader is willing to look past shallowness of characters, a tired theme, etc. And their books are published despite flaws. I'd say this is the case with Zadie Smith's _White Teeth_ for instance. And of course (he says cynically) sometimes books are published for reasons other than their quality. Murakami, BTW, has all but disavowed his first two novels.
on “What Startups Can Learn From Haruki Murakami” ↗Makes me think of the novel White Teeth by Zadie Smith...
on “Heads or Tails: The Impact of a Coin Toss on Major Life Decisions and Happiness [pdf]” ↗…Gary John Bishop The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho Iron John by Robert Bly The Call of the Wild and White Fang by Jack London Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson Modern Romance by Aziz Ansari White Teeth by Zadie Smith Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus by John Gray Moby Dick by Herman Melville
on “Show HN: I've compiled a list of the top books for men according to 56 blogs” ↗