Book Review: ‘White Teeth’ by Zadie Smith

White Teeth by Zadie Smith

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Zadie Smith’s “White Teeth” explores the dynamics between two families, the Jones and Iqbals, between 1970s and 1990s London, and a third family that throws the story off toward the end.

Archie Jones and Samad Iqbal meet while fighting in World War II and reunite 30 years later when Samad, originally from Bangladesh, moves to London with his new wife, Alsana, from an arranged marriage. The day Archie decides to commit suicide - but doesn’t - is when he meets his future wife, Clara, a Jamaican with awful teeth. Alsana and Clara eventually befriend each other when they’re pregnant at the same time with Alsana having twins Millat and Magid and Clara having Irie. The children grow up together, going in different directions while Archie and Samad and Alsana and Clara remain close, almost detached from helping these children grow into adults with the ambition they themselves lacked.

The characters are trying to assimilate in the West with carrying guilt about where their bloodlines will go in the new world. The Iqbals worry about their sons becoming Westernized while Clara worries about her daughter going back to her Jamaican Jehovah Witness roots and Archie not feeling a sense of family history at all. Irie, for example, goes to live with her devout Jehovah Witness grandmother taken care by Clara’s ex-boyfriend convert. Clara ran away from that life. On the other hand, Millat is popular and seen hot at school with juggling girls at all times but goes astray with an Islamic sect that worries his father who struggles with not being the most religious Muslim.

The story turns when these families meet the Chalfants. Irie and Millat get in trouble at school with classmate Joshua Chalfant and create a study group since Joshua has top grades while Irie and Millat need help. Except the Chalfants are the upper class white Jewish Londoners who must save the Iqbals and Jones in crisis. Irie and Millat love being with the Chalfants where mother Joyce is a famous botanist and Marcus a famous scientist, while their parents hate the family for taking their attention.

This is where the novel takes an interesting turn. The white family saving the South Asian and interracial families comes off as offensive, as the adult characters see it this way, but the plot becomes strange when the Chalfants enter the scene. Joyce is annoying with her obsession to save Millat and Marcus is annoying with his obsession to save Magid while Irie doesn’t get the same attention and makes questionable choices as a result. The Chalfants take it upon themselves to help the kids of color to get them on the right track. The white savior motive in stories annoy me personally, but the novel overall is beautifully written with family histories tied in to show how the characters in the present are trying to overcome the obstacles of being first-generation Westerners.


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