WHAT'S UP WITH NW? (09/10/12)

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I just started NW by Zadie Smith and I'm not convinced I'm going to like it. The prose is unconventional and sentences are sometimes incomplete. The dialogue has no quotation marks and one passage is written in free-form poetry. There's a reason for all this, the author says and I certainly hope so.

The two main characters, Leah and Natalie are childhood friends who grew up in northwest London, a multi-racial working class neighborhood. Reviewers called NW "a portrayal of thirty-somethings and an exploration of money, morals, class and authenticity."

The narrative meanders in time and space through decades of Natalie and Leah's friendship. Hopefully it will all make some sense in the end. I enjoyed WHITE TEETH and ON BEAUTY by Zadie Smith and am wondering if NW will live up to her previous successes. Keep tuned...... 


ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Zadie Smith was born in Northwest (NW) London. She has published four novels, short stories and magazine articles and is currently a tenured professor of English at New York University.

For more information on Zadie Smith check out this website; 
http://literature.britishcouncil.org/zadie-smith

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