Zadie Smith is one of the best British writers today and this is, without doubt, one of the best debuts I have ever read. Each of the four characters acting as narrators are so well realised and so wittily written that I didn't want the book to end, I felt so engrossed in the two families' lives. Would definitely recommend.

My maiden name being Smith, it's great to see one of my namesakes write such fantastic prose. Plus, considering it opens with a suicide attempt, I don't think any other novel has made me laugh out loud. Join Samad and Archie, one Bangladeshi, one white, as their lives unfold in '70s London, and experience a fascinating glimpse into multicultural family life. I started reading this on the bus to my university for the first time, and only stopped when my friend shook me out of my reverie.

A saga of a book. One that grips you and involves you so wholly. This is set in a time before my existence and yet speaks to me as if it were timeless. Beautiful and hilarious and satisfying and infuriating, one after the other and sometimes all at once. I must say I fully understand the hype. It took me a while to get stuck into Archies' story arc initially ( despite the excellent book s acting from Lenny Henry). Still, once I’d fallen into the story, I kept falling until Smith suddenly and yet gently replanted my feet to the ground. Astounding voice work on this audiobook truly (I read and listened simultaneously and interchangeably) It an amazing novel, and to think this was Zadie Smith’s debut is impressive. Highly recommended.

Although I would not agree that 'White Teeth' is the 'a-laugh-a-minute' gag fest that critics have made it out to be (from their comments that are splashed on the cover to entice readers), it cannot be denied that its constant irony and satirical tone make it in parts very funny. One particular moment that comes to mind is Samad bemoaning the commercialisation and superficiality of the West, favouring the East's affinity for tradition. Before promptly smothering his meal in tomato ketchup. A symbol of the West if there ever was one. 'White Teeth' covers a wide range of issues that affect us all, not in the least growing up, the complex nature of relationships and our desire to live life as best as we can. In this way, Smith's novel transcends the different cultures, races and nationalities that she writes about. The way in which her characters face struggles with themselves and the people around them is incredibly poignant. Smith's prose is clear and coherent capturing the backgrounds and identities of various characters. It is sprinkled with colloquialisms and phonetics which add to the novel's clever humour. Hortense's narrative of Jamaican phonetics was particularly enjoyable to read aloud. Her characters all had clear identities and individuality as a result of these language devices. Although I did not like some of her characters, I could relate to aspects of all of them. The novel's only weakness was its ending. It didn't live up to the vibrancy and sharpness of the rest of the novel. It didn't really seem clever enough to end a novel which had successfully captured the universality of people's fears and desires, and how the past is a constant and oppressive presence in our present and and thus a direct influence on the choices we make in the future. The only thing that redeemed the novel's end was Archie's italics of the last sentence. Although it rounded the novel off nicely, it was not entirely satisfying. Overall 'White Teeth' is incredibly thoughtful and lives beyond it's slightly meagre ending.

White Teeth is brilliant and beautiful Zadie Smith’s first book. It follows the stories - past and present - of a couple different families that all ended up in Willesden: Samad Iqbal from Bangladesh along with his wife and their twin boys; his best mate from WWII, Archie Jones, a British man who married Clara, a Jehovah’s Witness from Jamaica; and the Chalfens, a white, British, middle-class family. These stories weave many important themes together. It discusses immigration, and the strains not only between the immigrants and the “native-born,” but also between first and second generation immigrants. It compares and contrasts the differences between regular, old racists, and “liberal, educated” people like the Chalfens, who still hold very racist ideas and perpetuate a white savior narrative and don’t even realize. It discusses faith, science, balancing your faith without going too far into extremism or indifference. It discusses fundamentalism and activism, traditionalism vs. modernism, family life and family strife. Ultimately, it shows how the world is small, how our stories so often overlap, and how “the end is simply the beginning of an even longer story.” Zadie Smith has a writing style unlike anyone else, less dialogue, and a hyper-awareness on the details that maybe feel insignificant, but all work together to make a character or a story what it is in the end.