The Autograph Man |
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Zadie Smith
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Pages: 432 (Paperback)
ISBN: 0140276343
Pub: Penguin Books Ltd
Pub date: 2003-05-22
Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 26977
Editorial Review:
In her second novel, The Autograph Man, Zadie Smith has set herself the unenviable task of following up a certain segment of recent literary history. Her first novel, the bestselling, award-laden and much-hyped White Teeth wore its ambitions lightly: an exuberant comic foray into the lives of three disparate families living in suburban north London, it dealt simultaneously--and deftly--with wider multicultural and political motifs.
The Autograph Man has a similar ebullience and an equally dazzling panoply of characters. Its hero Alex Li-Tandem is "one of this generation who watch themselves", a Chinese-Jewish north Londoner who is first introduced as a child accompanying his father to a wrestling match between those two larger-than-life scions of 1970s Saturday afternoon television--Big Daddy and Giant Haystacks. When Alex's father dies in the pandemonium surrounding the pursuit of Big Daddy's autograph, the twin themes of the novel are launched--one is the bereaved Alex's search for a replacement to fill the gulf, the other his obsession with tracking down, buying and selling autographs. Alex seeks one autograph in particular and seemingly in vain--that of Kitty Alexander, a fading film star. The route he follows in his search has much to say about the nature of celebrity and the privacy of souls, of fantasy and reality--all narrated in Smith's breathless prose.
The Autograph Man plays on many strands and clever observations--in particular Jewishness, goyishness and Zen Buddhism. Smith is a superbly assured writer whose images stick in the mind; for example, Alex's girlfriend Esther has "hair plaited like a puzzle". The dialogue is vivid and there is much humour but at times the convoluted plot threatens to spill over into anarchy and the humour can be self-conscious. Though this does not diminish the entertainment value of The Autograph Man, it does--frustratingly--make it appear insincere. --Catherine Taylor
Reader Reviews:
Disappointing (0/1 people found this helpful)
This book is a real disappointment. I loved On Beauty and thought that White Teeth was okay.
I kept reading to the end of the book thinking that it might get better or that Zadie Smith would live up to the promise of her later book. Sadly no improvement materialised and this was a thoroughly disappointing read from beginning to end.
Self conscious and boring (3/3 people found this helpful)
A disappointing second novel. I enjoyed 'White Teeth' (although it was not perfect), and hoped that 'The Autograph Man' would be even better. It's not. It's painfully self conscious throughout both in the style of writing and in its contrived multiculturalism. (Look! My character is half Chinese and half Jewish! Aren't I clever!) In fact, her characters are more or less utterly defined by their race and/or religion, and rather than having the individual charactersitics and personalities that would make them interesting. In fact, the main criteria for appearing in this novel seems to be as unlikely an ancestery as possible, rather than being a well rounded and entertaining character. Smith has clearly decided that multicutural identity is her main selling point and she is going to labour it throughout.
It's not that the issues around multicuturalism don't offer plenty of scope for great fiction, and it's certainly a very trendy topic. But as with any story there needs to be a good plot and engaging characters to carry the reader along. The most effective books dealing topical issues of this kind do it subtly, so the reader encounters the writer's insights conincidentally whilst enjoying a good story. Smith's writing is about as subtle as an elephant.
The main character, Alex, is irritating and uninteresting. I couldn't bring myself to care about him or his search autographs and enlightenment. This might have been bearable had he been supported by a great cast of secondary characters, but unfortunately these were mostly as bad. The story was dull and forgettable - even though I only finished it recently, I'm already struggling to remember what happened.
There are so many great modern novels dealing with clashes between cultures and identity that readers can afford to pick and choose in the genre. Unless you have a passion for collecting autographs yourself - and even if you do - I wouldn't recommend this one.
Read it in "Tandem" with something else.... (2/3 people found this helpful)
I'm reading this for my book group. I'm aware of the hype around the author. I haven't read anything else by her. This hasn't really affected my approach to the book, in fact I was encouraging others in the group to give it a go!
I'm finding the prose at certain times beautiful, poetic, well crafted and interesting, running in tandem with this it is times trite, dull, laboured and cluttered etc. I'm currently trying to skim read it as a way to get through it, trying to look for interesting bits!
The book has taken a long time to get going, give me something to sink my teeth into to, either plot or character wise, please?
I do not find the characters have 'clicked' for me, I'm not interested in them and hence struggling with the book.
I have no problem with their lifestyle choices, its not mine, but no matter. They're just not engaging enough...where does the fault lie b/c there are moments worthy of note?
I'm nearly 200 pages in, but have only stuck with it so far b/c its for my reading group and I want something substantive to report back on.
I will try and read White Teeth, it hasn't put me off Zadie Smith.
My advice? Try something else. Or give it until page 50, its like Marmite (love it or hate it!)
somewhat confusing (0/0 people found this helpful)
I love Zadie Smith and I think her writing is brilliant. With this book it's not always easy to tell that, which is a shame. The straightforward narrative, which tells the story of Alex Li Tandem, a boy obsessed by the death of his father and his own strange career as an autograph collector, is fantastic. The bits I found hard to handle were the obsession with Judaica and in particular, the Kabbalah. It would help if I knew anything about either, but my knowledge is patchy and confused, and to be honest, the parts of the novel which are dedicated to these subjects neither enlightened me nor proved a form of entertainment. The diagrams and expositions on Kabbalah in particular made no sense and I was sorely tempted to skip over them. They also seemed fairly randomly interspersed within the narrative (although to be fair it might all be part of a master plan which I was too stupid to work out) and made the book seem unbalanced and choppy in a way I found unsatisfying. It felt strangely unfinished and I found the ending of the book a disappointment, which was a real shame, as the last quarter of the book seemed the most coherent.
why is this book so hated? (5/7 people found this helpful)
i dont understand how this book is so hated? i love it, i think its great. i've read it twice. it may not be no 'white teeth' but it still is an interesting read.
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