Swing Time [S0014]

2016 HCDJ in nice clean condition. "Smith's thrilling cultural insights never overshadow the wholeness of her characters, who are so keenly observed that one feels witness to their lives." -O, The Oprah Magazine • "A sweeping meditation on art, race, and identity that may be [Smith's] most ambitious work yet." -Esquire A New York Times bestseller • Finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction • Longlisted for the Man Booker Prize. An ambitious, exuberant new novel moving from North West London to West Africa, from the multi-award-winning author of White Teeth and On Beauty.

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, 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. Tracey makes it to the chorus line but struggles with adult life, while her friend leaves the old neighborhood behind, traveling the world as an assistant to a famous singer, Aimee, observing close up how the one percent live. But when Aimee develops grand philanthropic ambitions, the story moves from London to West Africa, where diaspora tourists travel back in time to find their roots, young men risk their lives to escape into a different future, the women dance just like Tracey-the same twists, the same shakes-and the origins of a profound inequality are not a matter of distant history, but a present dance to the music of time.

From Amazon/GoodReads reviews: "If you love Zadie Smith, you will love this book. It is a sad story of the life of a woman who grows up in a poor neighborhood in London. Her mother is an immigrant from the Caribbean and the front half of the novel includes her childhood in great detail. The rest of the novel is about her fascinating young adulthood, (with flashback back and forth) and the angst and confusion of a modern day woman with a college education being pulled in many directions emotionally. This includes her childhood best friend, a troubled girl, who is not given the kinds of opportunities given to the main character. I believe it is largely biographical due to the exquisite detail."; "The story works on many levels and takes in multifarious themes, which although are generally familiar territory for Zadie Smith, are approached in what feels like a very focused, new and intelligent way. There is so much in this novel, it is difficult to know where to start, challenging to encapsulate - but in an attempt to try and convey... This is a story of friendship, family, betrayal, ambition, life and death, race and racial politics, power, class and gender; but it is much more than that - questions are suggested concerning - what is success, what is privilege - what is it and what does it actually mean to any of us? The story moves from North London, to the USA to Africa and raises questions about belonging....not just geographical or racial belonging, but family belonging, friendship and community belonging."; "This was my second Zadie Smith, so I was well prepared for the slow pace of the prose and the detailed meandering through the lives of several characters. I enjoyed reading this book though I think it's less of a story and more of a touching exposition on the interactions between ordinary people."