NW is the latest novel from Zadie Smith, author of Autograph Man, White Teeth and On Beauty.
I’m liking
This is more quirky Zadie Smith and I like quirky Zadie Smith. I loved On Beauty and White Teeth – and not just because they were set in North London where I lived. It takes a bit to get used to the style and this book was the same. She has a punchy way of writing and while I like that it took me almost half the book to get comfy with it this time. So…once I was able to get comfy with that, and had got to know all the characters which are so loosely linked, I enjoyed the second half of the book. Also…and I’m not sure that i’d say I liked it but it certainly shocked me in one part – and I liked that the book could do that.
Things that made me go hmmmm
To be honest the first half of the book was a little too much like hard work for me. I felt like the style had reached such a level that it got in the way of telling a story. It’s meant to be clunky, it’s meant to be quirky but at the end of the day most of us just want to climb into bed and read a story. It’s also tricky if you don’t like the characters – and in this book its a struggle to like the characters. The first character you meet seems hopelessly drawn to needy cases – putting their needs before her own. But before you can sympathise you find out she’s making some pretty strange decisions of her own without telling her husband…not that you could like him …and here we go.
The conclusion
This was a book of two halves. I’d recommend the second half but not the first. I’m generally a speedy reader (or was before I had children) but I found it hard going for a long time, although I did end up enjoying it!
