White Teeth

I read this for a Book Club, otherwise I don't think I'd have finished it. I avoided it for a long time because of all the hype when it was first published, in case I didn't enjoy it, however I was quite surprised because initially I did enjoy it however I felt it totally lost the plot half way through with the introduction of the Chalfens and the dreadful cliche of Asian marriages.

I found the ending a dull anti climax and really started to resent how much time the book took me to read.

Another one I gave up on. There's verve in the writing, but after a while this just isn't enough. As soon as the baggy, unfocused, this-happened, then-this-happened rhythm of the book became apparent I found I was bored. For me, a succession of picturesque situations and characters doesn't make for an interesting novel. I want a writer to tell me something I don't know, have a point, an angle on the world that makes me see it anew.

I DID finish it, and thoroughly enjoyed it. I was on holiday at the time and perhaps that helped. I do think, however, that "post-911" it reads very differently. Poking fun at the latterly-politicised kids burning Rushdie novels is perhaps more distasteful now than when the novel was first published.

This starts very well. First hundred pages are great.

Awful. One-dimensional, borderline-racist characterisation. Clunky, implausible plot. I gather she plays some uinventive literary games (eg character names begining with succesive letters of the alphabet; a chapter full of Ms), but these things omly work if they're well integrated. Why the devil was this book so popular?

I thoroughly enjoyed this book but do seem to remember the latter part dragging on a bit too.

It starts well - I think the first half is one of the best things I've read over the past five years - but it falls away quite horribly.

This book was massively popular, and with good reason - it is a well written clever story. If you haven't already read it (and there can't be many who haven't) then do so now ...