I enjoyed this book from a multicultural aspect and the characters were realistic going through their journey of life. I did not find closure with the ending and would not recommend this book.

I did not enjoy this book, and had to make myself finish it. It was about three cultures and three families over three generations. The characters were irritating, the language was too repetitive and drawn out, and the ending was incomplete and irrelevant to all the information presented in the book. I would not recommend it to anyone.

Excellent book. Extremely well written. Debut novel. Characters diverse and extraordinarily well crafted. Definitely worth reading.

A fantastic story that is wonderfully constructed and written. The story looks at ties (family, religion, culture, country) and the author manages to look at them from all sides without judgement. At times I was wondering where the story was headed as threads seemed to be left dangling but the author never let go of any of them. Superb. One of the best books I've read for quite a while.

Richly complex novel touching on themes of familial bonds and their legacies through a kaleidoscope of imperfect characters.

Having read this book, I ended up reading everything I could find about its author, Zadie Smith. I wanted to know more about someone who has such an amazing linguistic talent and a great sense of British humour while describing serious matters. For the first time those raving reviews on its back cover didn't disappoint.

What a superb debut (2000) novel! I want to call it hilarious, but it delivers no knee-slapping guffaws, just sustained satirical irony lampooning everything, East and West, from war and religion to the use of language, both academic (e.g. those “strange French men who think truth is a function of language”) and every-day (e.g. the ridiculous PC and bureaucratic manipulators of language: “Mr. De Winter, a Polish night watchman--that’s what he calls himself—his job title is Asset Security Coordinator)” to recombinant DNA technology. The story involves three families, often going back generations but focusing on the nuclear families that split apart like bombarded atoms: a middle-aged man of virtually no ability whatsoever who marries a 20-something, otherwise beautiful, half-breed Jamaican with no upper teeth; his best friend, a one-armed Pakistani waiter, his stupid shrew of a wife, and their twin sons who are as different as a London street thug turned religious zealot and a brilliant, Oxbridge-like, polite and charming would-be lawyer; and a “perfect” neo-hippy family of superior intellect, sophistication, and hospitality, the father being the gene manipulator and the mother a self-proclaimed, world-class gardener. As an example of her self-awareness and family insight, I quote: Mother: “But everybody loves [the obnoxious one of the twins], don’t they Oscar (her 5 y/o son)! It’s so hard not to, isn’t it, Oscar? We love him, don’t we, Oscar?” Oscar: “I hate him.” Mother: “Oh, Oscar, don’t say silly things.” That captures the relationship of these two family members as well as illustrating the mother’s blithe way of interacting with the world as she wants it to be, however false to reality. Still, we can’t help loving (most) of these idiots as they stumble through each others’ lives and laughing (or at least chuckling) all the way to an unfortunately unsatisfying conclusion. But how could the farcical story of such a weird mélange of boobs ever be concluded and remain within the scope of its satire? The book just simply has to stop, which is pretty much what it does, but we know that their story just keeps going . . . on . . . and on . . . and on.

An extraordinary multicultural romp through the lives of three families living in London, England during the postwar years. Their intermingling is charged with humour, frustration, love, anger -- the complete panoply of human emotions. Smith, who has a Jamaican mother and an English father, lives in the very district of which she writes. May she continue to write with all the vibrant energy that she has brought to her debut.

While Zadie Smite writes well and her world is full of vibrant details, the chapters are short and the POV shifts quickly between characters lending the novel a fragmented feel. I find her essays much more compelling.

I really enjoyed this initially- for the first 150 pages or so and then became a little bored with it and it felt like it was overly long and focused on the trivial. It was funny, quirky and highlighted real life cultural issues in a sharp edged parody - but ultimately not enough to sustain my interest.