Synopses & Reviews
One of the
New York Times Book Review's 10 Best Books of 2012
Set in northwest London, Zadie Smith's brilliant tragicomic novel follows four locals Leah, Natalie, Fox, and Nathan as they try to make adult lives outside of Caldwell, the council estate of their childhood. In private houses and public parks, at work and at play, these Londoners inhabit a complicated place, as beautiful as it is brutal, where the thoroughfares hide the back alleys and taking the high road can sometimes lead you to a dead end. Depicting the modern urban zone familiar to city-dwellers everywhere NW is a quietly devastating novel of encounters, mercurial and vital, like the city itself.
Review
"A triumph....As Smith threads together her characters' inner and outer worlds, every sentence sings." The Guardian
Review
"Absolutely brilliant....So electrically authentic, it reads like surveillance transcripts." Lev Grossman, Time
Review
"Endlessly fascinating...remarkable....The impression of Smith's casual brilliance is what constantly surprises, the way she tosses off insights about parenting and work that you've felt in some nebulous way but never been able to articulate." Ron Charles, The Washington Post
Review
"A marvelously accomplished work, perhaps her most polished yet." Laura Miller, Salon
Review
"NW offers a nuanced, disturbing exploration of the boundaries, some porous, some impenetrable, between people living cheek by jowl in urban centers where the widening gap between haves and have-nots has created chasms into which we're all in danger of falling." NPR.org
Review
"A powerful portrait of class and identity in multicultural London." Entertainment Weekly
Review
"One of the most interesting portrayals of 30-something womanhood that I've come across in a long time. For other readers, Smith's brilliant eye and idiosyncratic ear should be ample enticement." Bloomberg News
Review
"A master class in freestyle fiction writing. Smith mashes up voices and vignettes, poetry and instant messaging, bedroom preferences and murder, and keeps it all from collapsing into incoherent mush with deft, dry wit. Smith defines characters worth reading." Newsday
Review
"Smith's masterful ability to suspend all these bits and parts in the amber which is London refracts light, history, and the humane beauty of seeing everything at once." Publishers Weekly
Review
"In NW, Smith offers a robust novel bursting with life: a timely exploration of money, morals, class and authenticity that asks if we are ever truly the sole authors of our own fate." BookPage
Synopsis
A 2012 National Book Critics Circle Award Finalist - One of
The New York Times Book Review's 10 Best Books of 2012 - One of
TIME's Top 10 Fiction Books of 2012 -
One of The Wall Street Journal's Best 10 Fiction Books of 2012 - A
New York Times and
Washington Post Notable Book of 2012
" NW] is that rare thing, a book that is radical and passionate and real." --Anne Enright, The New York Times Book Review
"A triumph . . . As Smith threads together her characters' inner and outer worlds, every sentence sings." --The Guardian
"A powerful portrait of class and identity in multicultural London." --Entertainment Weekly
Set in northwest London, Zadie Smith's brilliant tragicomic novel follows four locals--Leah, Natalie, Felix, and Nathan--as they try to make adult lives outside of Caldwell, the council estate of their childhood. In private houses and public parks, at work and at play, these Londoners inhabit a complicated place, as beautiful as it is brutal, where the thoroughfares hide the back alleys and taking the high road can sometimes lead you to a dead end. Depicting the modern urban zone--familiar to city-dwellers everywhere--NW is a quietly devastating novel of encounters, mercurial and vital, like the city itself.
About the Author
Zadie Smith was born in northwest London in 1975. She is the author of White Teeth, The Autograph Man, On Beauty, and the essay collection Changing My Mind. She lives in New York City.