London. The second half of the 19th century. Three families inextricably tied together.
British-Bengali Samad Iqbal and Englishman Archibald "Archie" Jones meet while fighting in WWII and years after the fighting ends, find themselves still friends. While Samad marries a young Bengali woman named Alsana and has two twin boys Magid and Millat, Archie marries a young woman of Jamaican descent named Clara Bowden, and eventually has a daughter named Irie.
Magid, Millat, and Irie, childhood friends, grow apart, until, for various reasons, they are all drawn into the Chalfen family. But the Chalfen's firm belief in familial bonds and scientific fact, while appealing to Magid, Millat, and Irie, causes tension between the children and their parents.
As the children grow older and move towards extremes, their world threatens to splinter even as their paths intertwine with their parents and the seemingly inevitable.
White Teeth is a story that spans years and generations, a story about the persistence of family, culture, and blood, the past that ties, and the future that everyone fights to control.
With it's huge cast of characters, the book lends itself well to talking about a variety of large issues, from religion to immigration and cultural tradition and purity. But it doesn't seem to do so with any real urgency to make the reader question their beliefs. Nothing, essentially, felt new. Maybe this is because I've already read fiction that deals with these issues (in better ways). Maybe it's because Smith's personal style didn't jive with me, or I found her titular metaphor too forced. Whatever the reason, I sadly couldn't get into this book.
However, if you're interested in a look at London and the strong immigrant culture there, this novel will help you into that world. One thing this novel does do well is to show the rich tapestry of London streets, the multiculturalism living and breathing there, and the tension between "native" Brits and colored immigrants. Smith looks without pity or a rosy-wash on the streets she calls home.
All in all, this book was a 450-page disappointment. It promises to address topics like being biracial, multiculturalism, and the anxieties between tradition and modernity, but the novel, despite having main characters that deal daily with these issues, only nods to their existence and the struggles, without fully exploring the depth, extent, and manifestations of them in real life.
The end closed too hastily, plot lines straggled off unfinished, and, at the end, I closed the book without any resonant emotions or perceivable gained knowledge.
I give it a 6/10 (bearing in mind the mostly stellar critic reviews), but I think even that might be generous.
I apologize deeply to the man who, upon seeing me reading this, happily exclaimed, "That's my favorite book!"
6/10 📕