Set in North West London, (postcode NW, naturally) Smith's new novel explores the lives of four thirty-somethings emerging from the estate where they were born.
Given Zadie Smith’s writerly pedigree - for those not familiar with her, she is a critically acclaimed author and recipient of several awards, including the Somerset Maugham Award for 'On Beauty' in 2006 - it is not surprising to see that NW has been receiving a great deal of critical attention. And opinion seems strongly divided over whether Smith's experimentation with form in NW has produced a mess or a masterpiece.
I personally suspect that the novel's detractors have never experienced the environment the author brings so vividly to life, or have never struggled with their identities whilst trying to escape the social limitations of their upbringing. My initial reaction the NW's opening pages was one of recognition.
My second response to NW, after a Summer of light-weight holiday reading (and some of the not-so-light-weight ‘A Song of Ice and Fire books'), was that I had suddenly arrived back at university on my English Literature degree.
The abrupt, fractured prose style of the opening pages, representing a character, Leah's, stream of consciousness, brought me back to my undergraduate time spent reading Joyce’s Ulysses and Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway. It struck me how effective a formal tool this style of writing is for communicating the realities of life in a busy urban environment.
Smith's experimentation with form, however, is far from flawless, and NW lacks some of the impact of her earlier novels. This fact is not enough to eclipse the novel's strengths though, for instance the attention she pays to Felix, a character we are introduced to all too briefly, which gives us something truly worth reading for.
An ear for dialogue means that Smith, when she is on top form, creates deep, intriguing characters who communicate in a way that sounds real to the mind's ear. Felix is one such character.
Leah and Nathalie, a third character, with whom Leah shares the majority of the word count, read less fluidly, but, to me, come to represent life in London in our contemporary moment. Brief encounters with an endless sea of strangers, and the need to make connections and make sense of the constant stream of information modern technology bombards us with makes for a disjointed experience. NW, whether intentionally or not, seems to reflect this fractured mode of living.
The conclusion I came to about Smith's latest novel is that, though it is not her greatest work, it is very timely. I'd recommend you give it a try, bearing in mind that you may find the experience as jarring as a tube journey in the rush hour. Stick with it. The moments where NW shines are points of clarity, like pausing in the bustling crowd to take a deep breath.
NW is a flawed but very worthwhile read.
