Zadie Smith

On Beauty was not an easy book to ''get into''. It only really grabbed me beyond midbook, but it tickled my curiosity nonetheless. Although the story itself left me with a not-so-pleasant aftertaste, I have to praise Zadie Smith''s talent as it shone through the pages, the incidents and the characters. It was long, at times it left me wondering why there was so much extra information that was not so essential to the story, but I reached the conclusion that this is Zadie Smith''s style, she narrates as if she is watching the scenes unfold, and she gives utmost importance to the psyche of her characters. On beauty is a book about families, ideologies, race, social classes, adulthood, marriage, loneliness, betrayal, the American dream... to be able to put all of these parameters in a cohesive story is worthy of a prize indeed! The characters flow through the story and we glimpse their interactions, the chemistry, the author never revealling her personal preferences but rather, letting the arguments debate among themselves. We glimpse a 30-year old iter-racial marriage scarred with betrayal, a fight to the end between liberalism and conservatism. The paradox of children wanting to pursue their vocation irrespective of their parents'' beliefs, the clash between a comfortable middle-class family and those ''on the street''. It''s an ocean of pivotal arguments brought to us in a narrative fashion. We witness the pros, the cons, the trivial, the essential, all intertwined, all very very insightful.

Un relato fresco y divertido de la Inglaterra moderna a través de la historia ferozmente ingeniosa de los inmigrantes en Inglaterra durante un período de cuarenta años. Situado en un barrio londinense de inmigrantes, el inmenso fresco humano que dibuja la autora tiene como epicentro las familias de Archie Jones y Samad Iqbal, dos ex combatientes de la Segunda Guerra Mundial que vuelven a encontrarse despues de treinta años sin verse. Archie esta casado con una jamaicana exuberante y Samad con Alsana, bengali como el, y con las ideas muy claras. Pero lo mas preocupante no es estar casados con mujeres jovenes de caracter endemoniado, ni la falta de dinero, ni las secuelas de la guerra; no, la prueba mas dura es la relacion con sus hijos, que a la hora de llevar a cabo los proyectos fracasados de sus padres se rebelan: se rebelan contra el racismo britanico, contra su propia clase social, incluso contra su barrio, sus origenes, y su historia. Asi, cada uno a su manera, son la prueba viviente de lo dificil que resulta escapar de un destino trazado de antemano. Sin duda uno de los autores jovenes mas destacados de la literatura anglosajona de los ultimos años, la britanica Zadie Smith asombro a la critica y al publico lector cuando, con apenas veintidos años, revelo en esta excepcional primera novela una inaudita capacidad para registrar las grandezas y miserias humanas con un ojo observador y distante, pleno de humor y sabia ironia. Galardonada con los premios Whitbread y Guardian, ademas de quedar finalista en todos los demas concursos literarios importantes de Gran Bretaña, Dientes blancos fue portada del New York Times y Le Monde y, por añadidura, ocupo los primeros puestos en las listas de libros mas vendidos en ambas orillas del Atlantico.La critica ha dicho...Un debut que asombra por su consistencia, divertido y serio a la vez; la voz tiene autentico timbre literario. Dientes blancos me encanto y me impresiono. Tiene garra.Salman Rushdie Un prosa acida, lujuriosa, electrica. Zadie Smith es una Dickens de la era postcolonial.L'Express Un nuevoy gran talento. Un optimismo mordaz e irreverente sin ser frivolo, comprometido y entretenido a la vez.The Guardian Smith mantiene el tipo con una confianza y energia desbordantes, exentas de falsedad. Al acabar el dia, hay motivos para alegrarse, y este elocuente y divertido libro es uno de ellos.The New York Times Book ReviewUna gran novela sobre grandes temas; un relato ingenioso, de aguda inteligencia y comicidad.The Bookseller Aguda, fluorescente y polifacetica, la novela de Smith recuerda a las obras de Rushdie: extremadamente contemporaneas y sin embargo imbuidas de contenido historico.Publisher's Weekly Hilarante, poliedrica y, a la vez, sumamente inteligente, profunda y madura opera prima.Que LeerDientes blancos es una novela ciertamente ambiciosa, nutrida de un potencial narrativo que denota un sorprendente poderio.El Pais Dientes blancos deja el buen sabor de boca y la frescura de un excelente elixir; divierte y permite imaginar un Londres no tanbritanico, menos victoriano y caduco; un imposible te de las cinco servido en porcelana exotica con el humor de Woody Allen.El Correo...

Zadie Smith regresa con fuerza a la ficción con una gran novela sobre la Inglaterra victoriana«Dickens puede estar muerto, pero Zadie Smith está absolutamente viva.»The New York Times«Una autora en l

És l’any 1873. Eliza Touchet és la mestressa de casa —i cosina per matrimoni— d’un novel·lista famós, ara en decadència, William Ainsworth. La senyora Touchet és una dona amb molts interessos (litera

Revisiting the terrain of her acclaimed novel NW, The Embassy of Cambodia is another remarkable work of fiction from Zadie Smith.''The fact is, if we followed the history of every little country in the world -- in its dramatic as well as its quiet times -- we would have no space left in which to live our own lives or apply ourselves to our necessary tasks, never mind indulge in occasional pleasures, like swimming . . . ''First published in the New Yorker, The Embassy of Cambodia is a rare and brilliant story that takes us deep into the life of a young woman, Fatou, domestic servant to the Derawals and escapee from one set of hardships to another.Beginning and ending outside the Embassy of Cambodia, which happens to be located in Willesden, north-west London, Zadie Smith''s absorbing, moving and wryly observed story suggests how the apparently small things in an ordinary life always raise larger, more extraordinary questions.

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...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 north-west London to West Africa, it is an exuberant dance to the music of time. Praise for Zadie Smith: 'Smith is the most naturally gifted young novelist around - with a fastidious ear for dialogue and a lethally quiet comic touch. Above all, she can move us' Times Literary Supplement '[Smith] packs more intelligence, humour and sheer energy into any given scene than anyone else of her generation' Sunday Telegraph 'Her dialogue sings and soars; terse, packed and sassy. Smith is simply wonderful: Dickens's legitimate daughter' Independent on NW 'Captivating. Funny, sexy, weird, full of acute social comedy. [Zadie Smith] is up there with the best around' Evening Standard on NW 'Intensely funny, richly varied, always unexpected. A joyous, optimistic, angry masterpiece. No better English novel will be published this year' Daily Telegraph on NW 'Exceptionally accomplished...Smith displays a remarkable talent for embracing all the possibilities of language, and time and again she produces images that shout out in their brilliance...An outstanding novelist' Observer on On Beauty 'Like Forster, Smith possesses a captivating authorial voice - at once authoritative and nonchalant, and capacious enough to accommodate high moral seriousness, laid-back humour and virtually everything in-between' New York Times on On Beauty

SWING TIME

"The Book of Other People" is just that: a book of other people. Open its covers and you''ll make a whole host of new acquaintances. Nick Hornby and Posy Simmonds present the ever-diverging writing life of Jamie Johnson; Hari Kunzru twitches open his net curtains to reveal the irrepressible Magda Mandela (at 4:30a.m., in her lime-green thong); Jonathan Safran Foer''s Grandmother offers cookies to sweeten the tale of her heart scan; and Dave Eggers, George Saunders, David Mitchell, Colm Toibin, A.M. Homes, Chris Ware and many more each have someone to introduce to you, too. With an introduction by Zadie Smith and brand-new stories from over twenty of the best writers of their generation from both sides of the Atlantic, "The Book of Other People" is as dazzling and inventive as its authors, and as vivid and wide-ranging as its characters.

Premio Orange 2006.

On ne combat pas le feu avec de l'air. Mais on ne peut se battre pour une liberté qu'on ne sait plus identifier. A un lectorat toujours avide de liberté, je propose ces textes afin qu'ils soient utilises, modifies, demanteles, detruits ou ignores, c'est selon ! " Pour la grande ecrivaine Zadie Smith, aucun sujet n'est indigne d'interet, et c'est notamment dans la presse ecrite qu'elle laisse s'exprimer cette ouverture d'esprit et son insatiable curiosite. De l'art de la danse aux reseaux sociaux, de Justin Bieber aux jardins italiens, Feel Free, qui rassemble des textes parus ces quinze dernieres annees, se lit comme un eventail libre et infini de reflexions aussi riches que captivantes.

Invéntate un personaje. No importan el color, el sexo o la religión, ni tampoco la especie. Con esta única directriz, Zadie Smith invitó a los mejores escritores anglosajones de su generación a crear un relato para una antologia. El resultado es El libro de los otros, veintiuna historias asombrosas que suponen una excelente introduccion a la obra de un selecto grupo de autores de gran talento, provenientes de ambos lados del Atlantico, entre los que se encuentra la propia Zadie Smith.Los protagonistas de cada relato son, en su mayoria, humanos, pero tambien hay un monstruo con una crisis de identidad, un gigante que sufre por amor y un cachorro en busca de un hogar. Veintiuna voces que, como ocurre siempre en la buena literatura, no solo hablan de si mismas, sino de todos nosotros.Autores de los relatos:Edwige Danticat, Dave Eggers, Jonathan Safran Foer, Andrew Sean Greer, Aleksandar Hemon, A.M. Homes, Nick Hornby (con ilustraciones de Posy Simmonds), Heidi Julavits, Miranda July, A.L. Kennedy, Hari Kunzru, Jonathan Lethem, Toby Litt, David Mitchell, Andrew OHagan, ZZ Packer, George Saunders, Zadie Smith, Adam Thirlwell, Colm Toibin, Vendela Vida

Leah, Nathalie, Félix et Nathan ont grandi dans la cité de Caldwell, au nord-ouest de Londres. Ils se sont connus, aimés, ou juste frôlés, puis ils ont pris leur envol. Mais à l'approche de la quaran

A partir de quatro vidas que se cruzam numa Londres multiétnica e multicultural, Zadie compõe um vertiginoso romance urbano sobre como encaramos o passado e o que esperamos do futuroNeste seu primeir

Chosen by the Guardian as one of the Best Books of the 21st Century From the MAN BOOKER PRIZE- and WOMENS PRIZE-SHORTLISTED author of Swing Time, On Beauty and Grand UnionBELIEVE THE HYPE The TimesThe international bestseller and modern classic of multicultural Britain - an unforgettable portrait of LondonOne of the most talked about debut novels of all time, White Teeth is a funny, generous, big-hearted novel, adored by critics and readers alike. Dealing - among many other things - with friendship, love, war, three cultures and three families over three generations, one brown mouse, and the tricky way the past has of coming back and biting you on the ankle, it is a life-affirming, riotous must-read of a book.The almost preposterous talent was clear from the first pages Julian Barnes, GuardianStreet-smart and learned, sassy and philosophical all at the same time New York TimesOutstanding Sunday Telegraph

Dans un quartier populaire de Londres, deux petites filles métisses nouent une relation fusionnelle autour d’un même rêve : devenir danseuses. Mais seule Tracey, la plus effrontée, a du talent. L’aut

The Book of Other People is about character. Twenty-five or so outstanding writers have been asked by Zadie Smith to make up a fictional character. By any measure, creating character is at the heart of the fictional enterprise, and this book concentrates on writers who share a talent for making something recognizably human out of words (and, in the case of the graphic novelists, pictures). But the purpose of the book is variety: straight realismif such a thing existsis not the point. There are as many ways to create character as there are writers, and this anthology features a rich assortment of exceptional examples.