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review 2019-07-15 16:01
Der Swing gerät aus dem Takt
Swing Time - Zadie Smith

Ewig lange habe ich mich vor dieser Rezension gedrückt, sie vor mir hergeschoben und mir den Kopf über meine Beurteilung zerbrochen. Dies geschah aber nicht aus dem Grund, dass ich nicht gerne Verrisse schreiben würde, im Gegenteil, da laufe ich oft in punkto Bösartigkeit und Humor zu meiner Höchstform auf. Das Problem, dass ich hier mit dem Roman und der daraus resultierenden Bewertung habe, ist der Umstand, dass ich gar nicht benennen kann, was mich konkret so an dem Buch gestört hat. Ich kann normalerweise immer recht sachlich formulieren, was der Autor beziehungsweise die Autorin meiner Meinung nach hätte besser machen können, oder warum gerade mir der Roman aus bestimmten persönlichen Gründen bzw. Neigungen und in welchen Kapiteln konkret gar nicht gefallen hat. In diesem Fall bin ich ein bisschen ratlos, ich kann nur ein vages Gefühl benennen.

Dabei startete die Geschichte furios und sen-sa-tio-nell: Die Autorin präsentierte mir eine wundervoll beschriebene Mädchenfreundschaft mit Substanz und Hintergrund zwischen einer ungenannten Protagonistin und ihrer Freundin Tracey mit grandioser Verknüpfung von soziokulturellen Milieus, Werten und Gesellschaftskritik. Viele interessante Themen werden zu Beginn nahtlos und leichtfüßig quasi swinging in die Handlung eingeflochten wie Rasse, Identitätsfindung, soziale Schicht, Bildung, Leidenschaft für das Tanzen.... Zudem präsentiert uns die Story zwei großartig gezeichnete sehr vielschichtige junge weibliche Hauptfiguren ohne Zickenallüren mit substantiellen Problemen. Der Roman schien all das einzuhalten, was ich mir von Elena Ferantes Meine geniale Freundin erhofft hatte, aber nie gekriegt habe.

Ganz plötzlich und sehr früh begann ich dann die meisten Kritiker nur zu gut zu verstehen. Ab Seite 103 verliert man als Leser zunehmend den Kontakt zu den Figuren. Alles wirkt auf einmal so aufgesetzt, blutleer und gefühlslos, als Aimee auftaucht. Die Figur der Aimee soll ja die Königin der Selbstinszenierung, Madonna darstellen und ist wahrscheinlich auch recht gut getroffen, aber mich hat diese oberflächliche seichte Glamourwelt der Superstars nicht interessiert. Die ungenannte Protagonistin beginnt als persönliche Assistentin für den Star zu arbeiten, und gibt fortan ihr eigenes Leben zugunsten des Supports von Aimee komplett auf. Milieustudien sind im Plot noch immer zahlreich vorhanden, aber die beschriebenen Milieus sowohl aus der Welt der Musikindustrie als auch abseits davon, wie beispielsweise das afrikanische Dorf, in dem Madonna ja Adoptivkinder geholt hat, war für mich gähnend langweilig und platt. Dabei bin ich prinzipiell and der Geschichte von Madonna gar nicht uninteressiert, aber ich weiß nicht, warum und auch wie die Autorin in der Entwicklung des Plots und der Figuren so derart den Anfangsesprit verlieren konnte.

Ab der Hälfte war der Roman bedauerlicherweise für mich eine Qual. Irgendwie uninspiriert und langweilig, aber ich könnte nicht genau festmachen, warum und wo genau ich die Geschichte konkret so uninteressant fand.

Fazit: Eigentlich wollte ich den neuen Roman von Zadie Smith lesen, habe aber dann kurzfristig zu Swing Time umdisponiert. Das hätte ich lassen sollen, wäre besser gewesen. Auch von mir gibt es leider keine Lesempfehlung für dieses Buch, obwohl mir das Herz blutet, weil der erste Teil gar so grandios war. Ich kann mir auch nicht vorstellen, wie es passieren kann, dass ein Roman plötzlich so abstürzt.

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review 2019-01-20 16:02
Cultural Congruence and Clashes
White Teeth - Zadie Smith

Zadie Smith’s White Teeth is a multi-layered, thought-provoking and extremely funny novel that tackles timely and sensitive topics with a rare, nuanced touch.  Archie Jones is the archetypical Everyman-a working-class man with low ambitions and a seemingly simplistic view of the world.  As White Teeth opens, he is on the edge of a successful suicide attempt when he is saved by a Halal Butcher who is more disturbed by Archie’s car blocking his deliveries than by the fact that he has discovered a man on the brink of death. Archie gains a new zest for life after being pulled back from the brink and is riding high on his new-found optimism when he encounters the enchanting Clara at a nearby party.  She is a statuesque Jamaican woman who is also coincidentally seeking change and the two make quite an unusual pair.  From their union the story blossoms to envelop other wonderfully imagined characters, each struggling in some way with the cultural clashes, traditions and identities that are enmeshed in an increasingly diverse British city. Smith addresses the juxtaposition of faith and science, cultural preservation and integration of immigrants, violent protest and tolerant acceptance. Although these topics can easily be rendered too heavy and didactic, Zadie Smith manages to provide incisive commentary on these important issues while also skillfully unfolding an addictive narrative with characters worth caring about. 

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review 2018-06-15 21:58
Difficult, but very well worth the read. Read in small does to appreciate each essay more fully.
Feel Free: Essays - Zadie Smith

Feel Free, Zadie Smith, author; Nikki Amuka-Bird, narrator

To be honest, I wanted to stop listening to this book on many occasions because, at times, it was over my head. However, the spectacular quality of the narrator’s reading voice and accent coupled with the magnificent prose of the author kept making me return, even when I could not quite understand the essay, because I could always understand the narrator’s interpretation, and therefore, get some message from the piece.

This admittedly left-leaning author admits that she wrote these essays during the time of Obama’s reign. She adores him and views Trump as a harbinger of disaster. Now, a year and a half into his Presidency, I do not know if her view has changed, but as a committed Liberal, I doubt it. Whether or not it has changed, had no bearing on my appreciation of her essays. I found, though, that she introduces race, and her own view of it, very often. During Obama’s term, I believe the public became more willing to hear alternate views, even when they conflicted with their own, opening a window that seemed, previously, to be kept purposely opaque.

Although I did not find this discussed in reviews, which surprised me, her analysis of race and racial issues, especially as someone who is biracial, is far different than my own, as a white person, on many levels, which leads me to believe that the divide between the the races when interpreting life situations, is far broader and wider than generally understood. As a person of the Jewish faith, as well, I can understand suspicion, fear and even animosity toward some, but I don’t find the negative perceptions and perhaps grudges that are held against some who represent past heinous behavior, as pervasive in my life, as it seemed to come across with regard to her perceptions in her life and the life of others of color. Still, I found many of her arguments had merit and were worthy of further thought and introspection. Overall, I found, for me, the point is to get each party to come to the middle, to try and understand the divide and bridge the gap. I am hoping that I will better understand her views and be able to reconcile them with my own.

Smith writes on a variety of topics. I don’t even pretend to understand all of her ideas or her philosophy or even her selection of subject matter, at times, but I admired the power of her words, so expressive and analytical were they. The words just seemed to naturally come forth from this author’s hand, in spite of the fact that she disparages her lack of education and laments the fact that so many others with far greater degrees have achieved far less than she has. Yet, so many of the better educated can’t seem to put two intelligent words together to make a sentence that paints any image and she paints masterpieces with her vocabulary.

Some of the topics she discusses are libraries and what they represent to her and the world, socialism and how it served her needs when she was growing up without having everything she wanted or needed, climate change and the perception of some she views as less than bright, the insect world and our perception of it. She analyzes films and comedy skits, art and artists, different forms of music and composers, writers and their intentions, dancers and their identities, realism vs. idealism, the gap that exists between classes, the current immigration policy compared with how it used to be, relationships in families and with friends, suicides, illness, Brexit, Comedy Central and the stars it created, compassion, the internet and its pitfalls, being biracial in a white world, the injustice of the justice system and more.

Her book sometimes reads like a who’s who with so many names dropped, some familiar, some less so, like Boris Johnson, David Cameron, Philip Roth, Jay Z, Beyonce, Sorkin, Zuckerberg, Schopenhauer, Ella Fitzgerald, Joni Mitchell, Hurston, Nabokov, Emmett Till, Baryshnikov, Marquez, Astaire, Bojangles, Kelly, Nureyev, Prince, Murdock, Nigel Farage, and Michael Jackson, to name just some of the myriad personalities that appear in her essays and run the gamut of subject matter. She dissects each subject with a fine tooth comb and makes the reader really think about her message.

At one point, I felt like I was part of the narrative. She brought up the Marcy Housing Project, in Brooklyn, where Jay Z grew up, because as a young teacher, of 20 years, when I thought I could change the world and make it a better place, I taught the children that lived there. It was not an easy lifestyle to survive or a very nice place to live, even decades ago.

There is something for everyone in this book, but not everyone will be able to understand all of the essays. Truthfully, I am not a genius, but I consider myself fairly well educated, and I had trouble deciphering some. That is why I highly recommend it in print version, so it can be read in small doses and delved into more deeply. Each essay imparts an important message. The author’s choice of subject matter, diverse as it is, is very intriguing; the reader will be inspired and encouraged to seek more information to better understand Zadie Smith’s philosophy on each subject.

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review SPOILER ALERT! 2018-04-19 08:21
On Beauty by Zadie Smith
On Beauty - Zadie Smith

As a modern adaptation of Howards End, for which I only gave 2 stars, I surprisingly liked this a little better than the original. The plot and characters aren't exact parallels—there are feuding families here too, the Belseys and the Kippses, but the main story focuses on the interracial Belsey family and their internal conflicts, while the Kippses are merely supporting players.

One of my problems with Forster's original was that I felt the larger themes within the book overshadow the characters themselves, but that is not the case with this. Smith's characters are well-developed and rise above the themes (racial, cultural, political) that they represent, although not all of them are likeable. Father Howard Belsey has a sorry excuse for a middle-age crisis, daughter Zora hides her insecurities by being an unbearably opinionated know-it-all, and youngest son Levi searches for a true identity by faking his accent and pretending he was raised in the streets instead of in a well-educated middle class suburban home. I only sympathized with mother Kiki, the big woman with a bigger heart, and earnest eldest son Jerome.

While the story interested me and some parts are quite funny, I dreaded getting an unsatisfactory conclusion similar to the original and was ready to deduct a star in case that happens. I would've thrown this book in disgust if, for instance, Kiki forgives Howard for his first infidelity and never finds out about his second. Luckily Howard gets the ending that he deserves (Howard's end—get it?) though a bit messy and mostly vague, but that's how real life can be.

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text 2017-11-22 23:44
Reading progress update: I've read 250 out of 454 pages.
Swing Time - Zadie Smith

None of these characters are likeable. None. 

 

But for some reason, I am still enjoying this.

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