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White Teeth
Zadie Smith. Knopf: 2001 (paperback). ISBN: 0375703861. 464 pages.
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Smith's novel was one of most eagerly awaited debuts in the year 2000, and no wonder.
It's about the peculiar and sometimes ferociously funny relationship between two very different families living in North
London in the 1990s. First we meet the Joneses: ordinary Archie, who makes life-changing decisions by flipping a trusty
coin; Clara, his beautiful, toothless Jamaican wife; and Irie, their witty teenage daughter, whose buck teeth, wild hair,
and wide hips can't quite camouflage the beauty she'll soon become. Then we meet the Iqbals: Samad, a Muslim Bengali who
has never really made London his home; Alsana, his fiery wife (from an arranged marriage) who likes to settle arguments
with her husband by wrestling him to the ground; and their twin teenage sons Millat (a pot-smoking wannabe Muslim terrorist)
and Magid (an wise teenager who manages to be both otherworldly and nerdy at the same time). Sounds like a strange cast of
characters? It is, and while the intricate story is plotted with perfect, page-turning pace, the characters are what make
this novel an extraordinary debut.
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