White Teeth by Zadie Smith

Format: Audibook (BorrowBox)

Read: April 2024

White Teeth is one of those books that I’ve been aware of for many years as something of a contemporary classic. I remember that there was a BBC adaptation in the 2000s. It is also one of those books that tends to line the shelves of charity shops. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a charity book shop without at least one copy!

Though cheap copies are easy to come by, as a 500 pages family saga my chances of vague curiosity turning into reading it were low! So, when I was trawling BorrowBox for an audiobook and found it available this felt like my chance to see what White Teeth is actually about!

I’m glad that audio was the route I took because I don’t think I’d have gotten through reading it otherwise! That’s not a statement on the quality of the novel, it’s just that multi-generation family saga aren’t a kind of story that tends to hold my attention and it’s quite long! The audiobook version I listened to also had an amazing cast, including Lenny Henry who narrates the first section and he really helped set the tone and draw me into the first few chapters.

Lenny Henry as a narrator should clue you in that this book’s tone is of a comedy drama. The humour is in the keenly observed characters, their approach to life and their relationship dynamics. The novel follows the extended families of two lifelong friends Archie Jones and Samad Iqbal, bonded for life following their experiences in the war.

In the 1970s, a 47 year old Archie marries significantly younger Jamaican immigrant, and ex-Jehovah’s Witness, Clara. His best friend Samad, a Bengali Muslim from Bangladesh who emigrated to London after the war, also has a much younger wife, Alsana, through traditional arranged marriage. After Samad moves his family to the same neighborhood, the wives also become reluctant friends and the two families become more interlinked once they have children.

The story spans decades and examines the life of immigrants in Britain, and various conflicts between the culture of their homeland and that of their adopted country, especially when it comes to the second generation. Themes examined from multiple angles include religion, marriage, parenting, science, teenage strife, and war.

Through the omniscient narrator we are privy to their inner lives, and motivations that they might not be conscious of themselves. The characters are both sharp and verge into definite types, but this is what makes the comedy work. The characters actually reminded me of Charles Dickens, they’re people you recognise but just a bit larger than life.

There is a lot to love about this book, and I definitely understand why other readers would rave about it. But for me, as I’ve already said, multi-generational family sagas aren’t the kind of thing that excite me. Hopping around so many characters at different points in time meant I didn’t feel connected or especially invested in anyone, and when there isn’t a clear driving plot to resolve that meant my attention waned over a 16 hour audiobook.

It took me over a month to finish it because I was never seeking out time to listen, but rather just putting it on whenever I had a chore to do (majority of my listening was done gardening!) or if on the bus into the office.

I am curious about the BBC adaptation of it though, especially having checked out the cast (though Irie doesn’t look like she fits her description). I might give it a watch if I can find it on streaming.

This is another three star for me personally, but I definitely understand why other people have loved it. I’m starting to rack up these books this year!