However, just like with ‘White Teeth’, I enjoyed ‘NW’ more than I thought I would. Inevitably, some readers will find this frustrating. I n many parts, the story felt either unpolished or even unfinished and reads more like a series of snapshots than a coherent linear narrative. It contains various characters, events, places and relationships and yet there is only the barest hint of a real plot which hangs it all together. It is one of those books where it’s difficult, if not impossible, to pin down a genre on it beyond the hazy realm of literary fiction. Reviews of ‘NW’ on various blogs have been decidedly mixed and I can see why. Over a decade after her first novel was published when she was just twenty-five years old, Smith now offers us ‘NW’, another ambitious and sprawling novel which focuses on four thirty-something characters – Leah, Felix, Natalie and Nathan – who all grew up on the Caldwell council estate in north-west London and find that their lives continue to overlap many years later. I enjoyed it more than I thought I would but it did have a few flaws. I gave a slightly mixed review of ‘ White Teeth‘ by Zadie Smith last year.
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