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5 novels found

Beautiful

Beautiful

General Fiction

Zadie Smith

318K01

"Beauty" revolves around two families who also come from academia but uphold diametrically opposed values. The main scene is set in New England, and part of the plot takes place in London. Through a series of cultural wars and emotional entanglements on both sides of the ocean between the Belseys and the Kipps, the novel connects the fierce conceptual collisions in many aspects from family life, political stance to personal, academic and political fields. It places poor moral behavior in lofty idealism, trying to explain the meaning of love and beauty, and the various impacts that life may have on them. With the disintegration of the Belsey family, it reflects the confusion of our unstable era and goes straight to the core of the family. Facing the ruins of liberalism and the hypocrisy of right-wing conservatism, the love and beauty embodied in the friendship between the hostesses of the two families, Kiki Belsey and Karin Kipps, become another important theme of the novel. Although their husbands competed with each other in academic fields, their friendship transcended differences in class, politics, and religious views and became "the only bond." The novel's bold and noisy plot foreshadowing, its perfectly set-up witty or acerbic dialogue, and its penetrating portrayal of the absurd current situation in academia all reflect Zadie Smith's masterful control of grand, Forster-esque themes: friendship, marriage, social conflict, and the expression of artistic debate. In a way, this is a heroic attempt to give dignity and meaning to modern life through the medium of Bloomsbury writing.

Major League

Major League

General Fiction

Zadie Smith

123K0

"The whole world is a text, and pain is the least abstract thing among them." Zadie Smith, "the representative of the young generation of British writers", is the first short story collection, a long-listed work for the Carnegie Award, and an annual recommended book by many authoritative literary review media. This book is Zadie Smith's first collection of short stories, which collects nineteen short stories she has written over the past twenty years. In addition to some works previously published in well-known literary media such as The New Yorker, Granta, and The Paris Review, it also includes eleven latest short stories. The writer relies on his unparalleled insight to deeply deconstruct the complexity and anxiety of contemporary life. These short stories break through the limitations of genre and perspective, and freely travel through different time and space, from the corners of history to the current torrent, and even the surreal dystopian world. From them, readers can get a glimpse of the absurdity and vitality of this world, and touch some of its threads. Identity, rebirth, the shadow of the past and the rush to arrive at the future, Zadie Smith accurately captures the complexity and turmoil of this era. As her readers, just like her protagonists, they are running rampant in the virtual horizon, struggling in countless parallel projects, and at the same time being unconsciously included in other people's stories. Zadie Smith once again shows her bold experimental spirit, using rich narrative and even counter-narrative techniques to explore the infinite possibilities of short story creation. This book was shortlisted for the Carnegie Award and was listed as an annual recommended book by many authoritative literary review media.

White Teeth

White Teeth

General Fiction

Zadie Smith

319K0

In North London at the turn of the century, people's surnames and first names formed a tangled web that confused where they came from. Aji, a middle-aged white man who was divorced and attempted suicide, accidentally got married to a young black Jamaican girl. His Bangladeshi friend Samad, whom he met during World War II, also came to London with his wife to settle down. Aji has been mediocre in his life and makes decisions by tossing a coin; Samad comes from a privileged background, but can only work as a waiter in a small restaurant. As their next generation grows up, the personal crisis of faith evolves into the unfinished expectations of their parents. The conceptual differences between generations, the confusion and anger of misplaced identities, and the collisions and conflicts caused by different cultural backgrounds gradually condense in the northwest corner of the city, and finally erupt into a ridiculous accident on New Year's Eve... The intersection of Eastern and Western cultures shakes the origin of individuals, envelops the fate of several generations, and writes the desires and fears unique to our era.

Swing Time

Swing Time

General Fiction

Zadie Smith

236K0

In 1982 in northwest London, two mixed-race little girls met in a community dance studio and quickly became friends. Both dream of becoming dancers, but only Tracy has the talent; the other has all kinds of weird ideas: about rhythm and time, about black bodies and black music, or what makes a person truly free. As they enter adolescence, their passionate friendship quickly cools and they take different paths. Tracy became a supporting actress in the musical, but soon ruined her life in other ways; her friend, the protagonist of the novel, left the neighborhood and accidentally became the assistant of Amy, their childhood idol, and was involuntarily dragged forward by that glorious world. When Amy decides to go to Africa to carry out her charity work, the protagonist's life changes drastically. After experiencing deception, betrayal, the death of her mother and disappointment in the entertainment industry, she eventually returned to the neighborhood of her birth and her childhood friends.

Feel Free

Feel Free

Literature

Zadie Smith

268K0

"Representative of the young generation of British writers" Zadie Smith is a collection of ten years of essays, facing the chaos and absurdity of the times. She is the winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for Review in 2019 and recommended by the New York Times for the year. He is not only a talented novelist, but also a critical commentator. This book collects Zadie Smith's non-fiction creations over the past ten years, comprehensively demonstrating her originality in this field from current affairs, art, philosophy, literature, life and personal experience. It not only contains an in-depth understanding of the current era, but also continues the writer's consistent attention and reflection on popular culture, reflecting her diverse cultural insights. Zadie Smith's keen observation is like her beloved dance, which moves freely and freely through different fields. She uses this method to organize her seemingly messy thoughts, while always maintaining an open curiosity; unlike the popular academic writing nowadays, her tone is intimate but not overly personal, her vision is broad but not limited, and she can often see both sides of things at the same time; rather than convincing readers to agree with a certain point of view, she prefers to shape a way of thinking. This book can be regarded as a comprehensive summary of Zadie Smith's writing career over the past ten years, and it also proves that she is not only a talented novelist, but also a critical critic.