Swing Time

Two brown girls dream of being dancers but only one, Tracey, has talent The other has ideas about rhythm and time, about black bodies and black music, about what constitutes a tribe, or makes a person truly free It s a close but complicated childhood friendship that ends abruptly in their early twenties, never to be revisited, but never quite forgotten, either.Dazzlingly energetic and deeply human, Swing Time is a story about friendship and music and stubborn roots, about how we are shaped by these things and how we can survive them Moving from northwest London to West Africa, it is an exuberant dance to the music of time. Read Swing Time – kino-fada.fr This is my second Zadie Smith book and I find myself disappointed once again I saw a comment somewhere that summarized my feelings on Smith s novels she should write less, say .Smith is, in some ways, a fantastic writer Her social commentary is witty and insightful, her detailed and complex characters drive her work, her little observations about human nature ring true But oh my, does she waffle on about everything She brings themes of race, gender, colonialism, capitalism, celebrity cu This is my second Zadie Smith book and I find myself disappointed once again I saw a comment somewhere that summarized my feelings on Smith s novels she should write less, say .Smith is, in some ways, a fantastic writer Her social commentary is witty and insightful, her detailed and complex characters drive her work, her little observations about human nature ring true But oh my, does she waffle on about everything She brings themes of race, gender, colonialism, capitalism, celebrity culture, and dance theory and mixes them all together, touching on each in turn but leaving all of them a little flat Swing Time skims the surface of these topics but, for me, it doesn t do anything truly memorable with any of them.This is the second literary work I ve read recently that felt like a series of disconnected but beautifully written pieces, all floating around without direction or focus The other one being The Nix, which I actually enjoyedBoth authors throw in ...this is a three and a half star that i am unapologetically rounding up to four.is it zadie smith s best book far from it.a great book is like an egg it is round and firm and full of burning life bits held in place by a narrative design both delicate and strong enough to sustain its beating heart.but this book, if you will permit the metaphor, is an egg slightly scrambled the larger story is lost in the specificity of particular moments that never seem to adhere into a coherent narrative inten this is a three and a half star that i am unapologetically rounding up to four.is it zadie smith s best book far from it.a great book is like an egg it is round and firm and full of burning life bits held in place by a narrative design both delicate and strong enough to sustain its beating heart.but this book, if you will permit the metaphor, is an egg slightly scrambled the larger story is lost in the specificity of particular moments that never seem to adhere into a coherent narrative intent fittingly, in an exchange between the narrator and another characterI don t know how you do it Do what Deal with the drops when you can see the ocean this is a book preoccupied with the drops and for me, that s not a dealbreaker, because zadie smith s writing is strong enough that...My first Zadie Smith and perhaps not the best one to have started with The prose itself was fine but the story left me cold It started promising enough, our narrator and her friend Tracy, two brown girls dream about being dancers Our narrator, however, has flat feet and little talent for dance, though she can sing Tracy is the one with dance talent and her acceptance into a dance school with serve to start the separation of our two friends.Forward to the future, our narrator is an assistant My first Zadie Smith and perhaps not the best one to have started with The prose itself was fine but the story left me cold It started promising enough, our narrator and her friend Tracy, two brown girls dream about being dancers Our narrator, however, has flat feet and little talent for dance, though she can sing Tracy is the one with dance talent and her acceptance into a dance school with serve to start the separation of our two friends.Forward to the future, our narrator is an assistant to popular dancer singer, maybe a Brittany Spears type of entertainer who w...Some novels are brilliant all the way through and the ending is of no elevated consequence with others the ending is all important and can either make it or kill it This for me falls in the latter category There was a point about half way through where I felt this was going out of focus That Smith had assembled an exciting and topical panorama of material but that her storytelling wasn t quite doing it justice In short, not for the first time, I had the feeling that she s a better writer th Some novels are brilliant all the way through and the ending is of no elevated consequence with others the ending is all important and can either make it or kill it This for me falls in the latter category There was a point about half way through where I felt this was going out of focus That Smith had assembled an exciting and topical panorama of material but that her storytelling wasn t quite doing it justice In short, not for the first time, I had the feeling that she s a better writer than she is novelist However the clarity with which the last fifty pages brought all her themes into focus changed my mind to some extent The ending redeemed some of the mid point mean...Nopenot for meDrags onand onand onDisjointed and confusing plot One dimensional characters Randomly preachy and not in a way that made me think Bizarre and gratuitous sex stuff I don t mind sex at all in books if it advances the plot or even if it is part of a cheesy romance and is there to titillate the reader In this book, it is just weird Not very clearly delineated time jumps Events that don t rea...Click here to watch a video review of this book on my channel, From Beginning to Bookend.Brilliantly written, this novel from Zadie Smith is a mishmash of modern culture and timeless themes Ideas about female friendship, family, and identity are interwoven with music and dance from pop and musical to African and hip hop What Smith gets very right in the book is the way relationships between characters are based upon their relative power the way superstar Aimee is a vortex around which all other lives are determined the power of language, what is said, or how and when speech is w Brilliantly written, this novel from Zadie Smith is a mishmash of modern culture and timeless themes Ideas about female friendship, family, and identity are interwoven with music and dance from pop and musical to African and hip hop What Smith gets very right in the book is the way relationships between characters are based upon their relative power the way superstar Aimee is a vortex around which all other lives are determined the power of language, what is said, or how and when speech is withheld the removal of agency or belonging when all those around you are speaking another language, literal or metaphorical Again and again, this leads to miscommunication, misunderstand...I am conflicted while the language is impressive and there were plenty of parts that I truly enjoyed immensely, the overall reading experience was uneven and a bit of a dissappointment for me I was super pleased to receive an arc of this book as Zadie Smith is one of those authors whose work I have intended to get to at some point, sooner rather than later Now I am not so sure any if this was the...Wow This huge, powerful novel is so minutely observed that readers can be forgiven for occasionally missing the forest for the trees Sex, race, and class are backdrop here, setting and makeup for half a life of self abnegation performed on a world stage Dichotomies between first world third world value sets, the insular self preserving life of huge celebrities, the influence of money on impulses of every kind, the debts we owe another, how generosity manifests, who family really is these l Wow This huge, powerful novel is so minutely observed that readers can be forgiven for occasionally missing the forest for the trees Sex, race, and class are backdrop here,...Zadie Smith can be brilliant and frustrating in equal parts This book certainly doesn t lack ambition, it is always readable and entertaining and parts of it are excellent, but once again I was left feeling this is not the great work that such a talented writer should be capable of, and for me none of her subsequent novels have matched her debut White Teeth.To start with the positives I really enjoyed the first part in which the unnamed narrator describes her childhood friendship with Tracey Zadie Smith can be brilliant and frustrating in equal parts This book certainly doesn t lack ambition, it is always readable and entertaining and parts of it are excellent, but once again I was left feeling this is not the great work that such a talented writer should be capable of, and for me none of her subsequent novels have matched her debut White Teeth.To start with the positives I really enjoyed the first part in which the unnamed narrator describes her childhood friendship with Tracey They meet in a dance class and share a love of old musicals, Tracey is thetalented dancer but without the narrator she lacks direction and struggles to escape her broken family and her largely absent criminal father The narrator has a caring but ineffectu...

• English
• 05 February 2017
Zadie Smith
• Hardcover
• 453 pages
• 0241144159
• Zadie Smith
• Swing Time