Swing Time

Zadie Smith

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'Swing Time' by Zadie Smith is a novel that delves into the complexities of friendship, family relationships, and identity. The story follows an unnamed narrator and her best friend Tracey from their childhood in London to their adult lives. The narrative explores themes of race, class, privilege, power, and fame, all while shifting back and forth in time. The writing style of the book is described as compelling and skillful, with a focus on broader global themes and ideas, such as forging a hybrid identity in different contexts.

The plot of 'Swing Time' revolves around the main character's relationships with other strong and interesting female characters, including her friend Tracey and a narcissistic pop star named Aimee. The story also touches on issues like growing up biracial in the 80s, the challenges of female friendships, and the dynamics of family relationships. The novel is praised for its ambitious narrative structure, but some readers found it difficult to connect with the unnamed protagonist, leading to mixed feelings about the book's overall impact.

Characters:

The characters are varied and richly developed, with the narrator often feeling overshadowed by stronger personalities.

Writing/Prose:

The prose is engaging and poetic, striking a balance between humor and poignant social critique.

Plot/Storyline:

The narrative focuses on the evolving friendship between two girls from different backgrounds, highlighting their diverging paths and the societal issues they encounter.

Setting:

The settings are integral, contrasting the urban landscape of London with a rural African village.

Pacing:

The pacing appears inconsistent, with fluctuations between engaging and drawn-out segments.

I want to describe the church now, and Miss Isabel. An unpretentious nineteenth-century building with large sandy stones on the façade, not unlike the cheap cladding you saw in the nastier houses—thou...

Notes:

The protagonist and narrator of Swing Time is never named throughout the novel.

The story is set in London and a fictional West African community, following the lives of two girls and their diverging paths.

The narrator's mother is portrayed as a leftist feminist who contrasts sharply with Tracey's more casual and less ambitious family dynamics.

The novel explores themes of race, class, and identity through the differing experiences of the two main characters, especially in their aspirations to become dancers.

Tracey has exceptional talent in dance, while the unnamed narrator struggles with physical limitations but finds herself in other fields, such as media.

The narrative style is described as anecdotal, jumping back and forth in time, covering roughly 25 years of the characters' lives.

Aimee, the famous pop star the narrator works for, serves as a foil to both the narrator and Tracey, highlighting the complexities of celebrity culture and 'white savior' narratives in West Africa.

The book critiques the well-intentioned but problematic actions of celebrities, such as Aimee's misguided attempts to aid a West African community by sending inappropriate gifts and setting up a school without proper understanding.

Music and dance are central motifs in the book, representing both aspiration and the shared culture between the characters, linking back to classic figures like Fred Astaire and Michael Jackson.

The author uses humor and poignant observations to delve into serious social issues, yet much of the commentary can feel heavy-handed or surface-level rather than deeply explored.

Sensitive Topics/Content Warnings

Triggers/content warnings include discussions of poverty, drug use, toxic relationships, and themes of race and cultural identity.

From The Publisher:

"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.

Zadie Smith's newest book, Grand Union, published in 2019.

Ratings (5)

Loved It (4)
Liked It (1)

Reader Stats (15):

Read It (5)
Want To Read (8)
Not Interested (2)

2 comment(s)

ehanut203

Loved It

4 months

so zadie smith is a magician

(is that more or less offensive than witch?)

what i'm trying to say is her writing is actual magic

in this book, that covers race, gender, class, movements between and among these states, and a cover that even reflects the "africanness" that some of the characters try to adopt, for one reason or another

(see what i did there)

(if you haven't read the book you didn't get it don't worry)

she has about half a page devoted to the molestation of women and girls

it isn't a theme of the book, and it doesn't even get addressed directly in that paragraph

but somehow that paragraph shines a light into that darkness in a way that entire books dedicated to the subject have not

so zadie smith does magic, that's a thing now

KaraReadsOnTyne

Loved It

5 months

Zadie Smith builds characters in a way that you swear you know them in real life by the time the book ends. You always walk away thinking about them. Chock full of writing and you can’t put it down.

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Swing Time?

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About the Author:

Zadie Smith is the author of the novels White Teeth, The Autograph Man, On Beauty, NW and Swing Time, as well as a novella, The Embassy of Cambodia, and two collections of essays, Changing My Mind and Feel Free. She…

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