Advantages: It's a new path for Clancy but still retaining names you'll know if you've read a lot of Clancy
Disadvantages: Its the start of a new series I think!

...The Teeth of the Tiger takes regular Clancy readers away from from what we've come to consider as the Norm. For those who've never read Clancy before - this could be a place to start - as I do think that this is going to be a new series from the man. For those who are avid Clancy fans (like myself) it is a bit confusing at first. I'd bought TTOTT along with Red Rabbit and started reading TTOTT before thinking to myself - Damn I've missed a whole book and then started Red Rabbit (only to find I'd gone back in time with that one!) The Teeth of the Tiger features Jack Ryan Jnr and two of his cousins (who are twins). Jack has a good insight into the Intelligence Gathering side of America thanks to his father and his childhood and manages to "Blag" his way into a job through putting two and two together. His two cousins... Read review

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Advantages: The characters and it is constantly fast moving
Disadvantages: None

...‘White Teeth’ is Zadie Smith’s first novel, and well worth getting into. It has been awarded numerous prizes including the prestigious year 2000 Whitbread first novel award, and the Guardian First book award. I would not claim to be a huge reader, but do probably read more that your average teenager, yet was a bit dubious about all the awards and praise that is heaped upon this book, but after reading it through, I can firmly say that it does live up to all the hype and beyond. True it did look daunting at first as some of these award winners can be complicated and nearly 550 pages of words, it may put a few people off, but believe me once you get into the novel you will not regret it. Zadie Smith comes from North-West London, and born in 1975, so plenty is to come from this young author. As I mentioned ‘... Read review

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Advantages: great characters
Disadvantages: remember te early chapters the will make more sence in the end!

...Its 1975 and the book beings by introducing one of the main characters, Archie, who is attempting suicide after his marriage has broken up. The attempt is foiled by a local butcher who is distraught at the idea of a man killing himself near his shop, not because of any human kindness or thoughtfulness but because everything in his shop is Halal and must be killed properly. This is when Archie decides to start enjoying life again. In his attempt to live every day like its his last, Archie joins a party that he finds going on in a near by house. He doesn't know any one else there but he soon meets Clara. Clara is 19 year old a black Jamaican with hardly any teeth, Archie is 47 years old and from London. Archie's best friend is a Bangladeshi man called Samed. They met during World War 2 were they were in a platoon of miss-fits who... Read review

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Advantages: Easy to read, suitable for all.
Disadvantages: Over ambitious with an ending which lets it down...

...Zadie Smith's debut novel 'White Teeth' a tale of multicultural and multiethnic London, spanning three generation has attracted attention galore over the last few years. Recently I came across it in the library and decided that it was time to see what all the fuss was about. About the Author ********************************************************************* Zadie Smith was born in North London in 1975 to an English father and a Jamaican mother. She read English at Cambridge, graduating in 1997. She was only 21 when she wrote the book and in part I believe her youth contributed to all the attention that White Teeth received. The book has won an impressive array of awards and prizes. These including the Guardian First Book Award, the Whitbread First Novel Award, and the Commonwealth Writers Prize (Overall... Read review

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Advantages: Original to begin with.
Disadvantages: Length, ending, last 450 pages, imitative yet depthless, marketing dream but literary nightmare.

...Having read the eulogies heaped upon Zadie Smith by the Guardian’s book reviewers, it was with considerable interest and anticipation that I began to read ‘White Teeth’. After such lavish epithets as ‘Britain’s literary saviour’, ‘Don’t be afraid of a future with this in it’ and the ultimate marketing statement, ‘She’s young, black and British’, it would have been somewhat naïve of me to expect this to confirm Smith’s status as one of our finest contemporary writers. Maybe my cynicism as a disgruntled literature reviewer of four years or the apparent dearth of overrated fiction that exists in the contemporaruy market inspired this immediate mistrust, or it could feasibly have been that my immediate awareness of the synopsis was that Zadie Smith’s publishers had accepted a Hanif Kureishi novel in error. Sadly it is with a heavy heart... Read review

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Advantages: witty and intelligent discussion of a serious issue
Disadvantages: 100 pages too long

...It would be wrong for me, first of all, not to admit that I approached this book with a certain number of preconceptions. I have never read a work of fiction that has been hyped as much as Zadie Smith’s debut: Winner of the Whitbread and Guardian awards for a first novel. Nominated for hosts of others, loved by the critics and a bestseller to boot. Add to this the fact that ‘White Teeth’ was written when the author was all of 24 years of age, and it is hard not to let a smidgeon of jealousy creep in to any review. ‘White Teeth’ is based around the lives of two families. Archie Jones and Samad Iqbar meet each other while serving in a tank squadron at the end of the Second World War. Days before peace is declared, the rest of their crew is murdered and they find themselves stranded together in a tiny... Read review

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Advantages: Reflects the dilemmas families from other ethnicities face when trying to hold on to their roots whilst trying to adapt to a new culture.
Disadvantages: A bit tedious

...Penguin ISBN 0-140-27633-5 I have not read anymore of Zadie Smiths' novels, but Winner of the Whitbread 2000 and Guardian awards for a first novel, is an excellent achievement which is well deserved. ‘White Teeth’ was written when the author was all of 24 years of age, which makes her one of my most favourite young writers like Rebecca Ray ( A Certain Age). It has taken but 2 weeks to read this - an hours journey to work and back, which has lead me to wonder why can the tube be so efficient when I can get my destination ultra quickly, when I have a good book but not at other times? A conspiracy!!! ‘White Teeth’ is based around the lives of two families. Archie Jones ( an english man living in a changing North London) and Samad Iqbar ( a Bengali who is helping to change North London) meet each other whilst fighting in the Second... Read review

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Advantages: Quirky, funny, interesting, clever
Disadvantages: Can be a bit too intelligent for it's own good!

...I'd heard that White Teeth was a good book, having won a Whitbread Prize and been turned into a TV programme, so I decided to pick it up in my local book shop for 6.99, which I think is quite a good price when compared to other books of the same size. White Teeth is Zadie Smith's first novel and it follows the stories of the Iqubal, Jones, Bowden and Chalfen families from 1857-1999. Each chapter tells the story of vraious members of these families, which all intertwine. Although at first you may be a bit confused as to how all these very different, multi-cultural lives are related to one an other, there are certain ponts in this book where you sort of go "aaah!" and understand! This book is very funny indeed, and made me laugh out loud, which is something books don't often actually make me do! The reason it's so funny is, rather... Read review

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Advantages: Very interesting
Disadvantages: Some parts slightly too long and SOME people may find the part near the end about the war confusing

...I read this book approximately two years ago. Since then it has also been reproduced on t.v. by Channel 4. So, you now have the choice whether to read the book or watch the series. This book has been subject to many awards since it has been launched, and deservedly so. "White Teeth" concentrates on today's multi- cultural/racial Britain. It is extremely representative of British society, and for me that was one of the best things about reading this book. In it a wide range of characters fuse together to produce explosive amounts of comedy. Amongst them are: Samad Iqbal- a Bengali immigrant, married to Alsana. They have two young, twin sons. As Samad gets older, he finds it increasingly difficult to 'hold on' to his Bengali culture and traditions. He finds his family becoming "more English than the English... Read review

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Advantages: A brilliant book, dark humour and quirky characters
Disadvantages: Sometimes labours the point and sometimes you get quite angry with the characters

...White Teeth by Zadie Smith pivots around the unlikely friendship of Alfred Archibald Jones and Samad Miah Iqbal who shared a tank in World War Two. The book sees the characters renewing their friendship, while both in marriages with women considerably younger than themselves, Samad has an arranged marriage with the ' the diminutive moonfaced Alsana Begum with her shrewd eyes.' (p.12) Whereas Archie stumbled across Clara Bowden who was 'magnificently tall, as black as ebony and crushed sable' (p.23) at a New Year's party. The couples then become close friends, as ‘From every minority she disliked Alsana liked to single out one specimen for spiritual forgiveness.' (p.65) White Teeth is more than a story about a couple who are viewed as 'this most unnatural unions... of cat and dog' (p.50) We meet diverse... Read review

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