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White Teeth

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White Teeth

By: Zadie Smith
Narrated by: Pippa Bennett-Warner, Ray Panthaki, Lenny Henry, Sagar Arya
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About this listen

Penguin presents the audiobook edition of White Teeth by Zadie Smith, read by Lenny Henry, Sagar Arya, Pippa Bennett-Warner and Ray Panthaki.

From the MAN BOOKER PRIZE- and WOMEN'S PRIZE-SHORTLISTED author of Swing Time, On Beauty and Grand Union

'BELIEVE THE HYPE' The Times

'The almost preposterous talent was clear from the first pages' Julian Barnes, Guardian

'Street-smart and learned, sassy and philosophical all at the same time' New York Times

'Outstanding' Sunday Telegraph

The international bestseller and modern classic of multicultural Britain - an unforgettable portrait of London

One of the most talked about debut novels of all time, White Teeth is a funny, generous, big-hearted novel, adored by critics and readers alike. Dealing - among many other things - with friendship, love, war, three cultures and three families over three generations, one brown mouse, and the tricky way the past has of coming back and biting you on the ankle, it is a life-affirming, riotous must-read of a book.

 City Life Family Life Fiction Friendship Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Urban Women's Fiction Heartfelt Funny

Critic Reviews

Funny, clever ... and a rollicking good read
Do believe the hype, buy into it, curl up with it, savour every sentence, then turn around and re-read
An impressive début, not only for its vitality and verve, but mainly for the sheer audacity of its scope and vision ... an epic tale ... swooping, funny ... it has ambition, wit and is unafraid (Meera Syal)
Announces the debut of a preternaturally gifted new writer ... street-smart and learned, sassy and philosophical all at the same time
Relentlessly funny ... idiosyncratic, and deeply felt
An astonishingly assured début, funny and serious ... I was delighted (Salman Rushdie)
She is . . . a George Eliot of multi-culturalism
[Zadie Smith] is one of the prominent voices of her generation
Britain's finest young author
[Zadie Smith] packs more intelligence, humour and sheer energy into any given scene than anyone else of her generation
All stars
Most relevant
I think Zadie Smith is a great writer and inspiring individual, that being said I really didn’t enjoy this audiobook. I found the story and most of its characters quite dull and I was strained to make it through this arduous tale. Maybe it’s because I grew up and have lived in the area featured in this book and know the many people just like the characters that I found nothing fascinating in them. I also found some of the narration quite numbly delivered, although not all of it as it does have four narrators covering each quarter of the book.
I felt this story would have been best told as a comedy, yet there are very few laughs throughout the book.

Getting through this audiobook felt like a chore

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Loved the beautifully drawn characters, and interlinked stories of generations of three families in contemporary England.

Dark Tale of the Plight of Second Gen Immigrants

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I loved this book. It was well written with a compelling plot.
Sometimes I feel like I missed out on something by listening to the audiobook rather than reading it in my own voice, but this was absolutely not the case with this one. The readings were outstanding and a delight to listen to. I wouldn’t just recommend this book, I would recommend the audiobook specifically.

Wonderful story and incredible performances

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I’m left feeling unsure what to make of this book now that I’m finished. The ending was very underwhelming & at times the story was very hard to follow. In saying that though, I loved the characters and the different cultures explored in this book & found it interesting to listen to. Overall though the style wasn’t my cup of tea.

Unusual but interesting

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There was no need to have multiple narrators, particularly when they were of such variable quality. The final lost the story a star. I had to replay the final book multiple times as I couldn’t maintain focus with his reading. The story was good though.

Why 4 narrators?

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