| Plot Summary of White Teeth |
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"This is quite a complex and engaging account of contemporary Britian in the face of its ending colonial prowess and beginning post-colonial identity. The characters all come face to face with what it means to live in a post-colonial, multi-ethnic country and they struggle with understanding identity and morality in this new environment. However, the sombre subject does not overshadow the book; there are light moments of human frailty and silliness. "
Sallie Hirsch, Resident Scholar
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"WHITE TEETH,a metaphor for the perfect blue-eyed Anglo-Saxon Englishman or woman, is a novel that seeks to show that there is no such animal. "Do you think anybody is English: Really English? It's a fairy tale." screams the Bengali wife Alsana.
Zadie Smith, writing her first book at the age of 23, peoples her story with two main characters: Archie, (Alfred Archibald Jones), a working-class Englishman, and Samad Igbal, a Bengali Muslim, now a waiter in a touristy Indian restaurant.
Both men wives half their age.
Samad, who proudly acknowledges his famous great grandfather, Mangal Pande, as the Bengal leader who first died fighting the English in India in 1857,has twin sons, Magid and Millat.
Magid is the symbol of fundamentalist Muslim tradition, while Millat, who speaks the very up-to-date street language of the young London tough, is the symbol of the assimilaated, anglicized Brit.
Archie marries Clara who gives birth to their daughter, Irie, the Jamaican word for "no problem".
In a(n) hilarious episode, Irie tries to get her beautiful, waist-length, curly hair straightened in an attempt to win Millat's love.
"WHITE TEETH" is an attempt to portray polyglot London inhabitants as the real English , as indeed they are, but the novel bogs down in a wealth of detailed research that obstructs, rather than pushes the story forward.
Zadie Smith pays homage to the author, Zalman Rushdie, whose novels are full of textural richness, but Rushdie is a master or ironic storytelling. Smith is still a beginner.
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Betty-Jeanne Korson, Resident Scholar
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"Tells the story of two families, one Bangladeshi and one British/Jamaican, living in London from the 1940s through the 1990s. The husbands meet during WWII and remain friends as their children grow up, rebel against their parents, and figure out their places in society."
Beth Hoffman, Resident Scholar
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| Review Analysis of White Teeth |
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Our unique search engine provides a wealth of detail about books by breaking them down into many different literary elements, all of which are searchable (click here).
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Tone of book?
- thoughtful
Time/era of story
- 1980's-1999
Kids growing up/acting up?
Yes
Inside culture (main char)
- British
Other aspects:
- immigrant story
Culture clash?
- family young v. old guard
Is this an adult or child's book?
- Adult or Young Adult Book
Outside culture (society)
- Indian (Ghandi, not Sitting Bull)
- British
If story of urban/rural...
- Big city life
Ethnic/regional/gender life
Yes
Age group of kid(s) in story:
- high school
Parents/lack of parents problem?
- rebelling against parent's expectations
Wild kid(s)?
- committing crimes
Woman's story?
Yes
Main Character
Gender
- Male
Profession/status:
- servant
Sense of humor
- Mostly serious with occasional humor
Physique
- average physique
Setting
How much descriptions of surroundings?
- 5 (an average amount)
Europe
Yes
European country:
- England/UK
Asia/Pacific
Yes
Asian country:
- India
City?
Yes
City:
- London
Style
Person
- mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death?
- explicit references to deaths
Sex in book?
Yes
What kind of sex:
- actual description of hetero sex
Unusual Style:
- a lot of flashback and forwards
- No single main character?
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