I'd been meaning to read NW since it came out last year but was waiting for a digital copy from the library. Finally got fed up waiting and read the h/c. I had a mixed response to it. The book had moments of brilliance, and was not at all hard to get through. The fact that the plot(s) basically went nowhere didn't alarm me much, and I enjoyed the "local color" of the London suburbs. The story, centering on the lives and interactions of Leah and Natalie, two rather different women from the neighborhood does have a hard edge to it that was not very evident in White Teeth or On Beauty, even though race was an issue in both books. The structure of the book seems a bit chaotic - for example,one section of the last half of the book that focuses on Natalie proceeds via some strange numbered fragments that sometimes seem random. I liked the very indeterminate ending and the gritty reality of the characters and their surroundings. Was the book worth waiting for? I'd say, 'yes'.
For a review of the book by The Guardian, click here: http://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/aug/31/nw-zadie-smith-review
For a review of the book by The Guardian, click here: http://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/aug/31/nw-zadie-smith-review
