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Swing Time - Initial Impressions, No Spoilers (April 2017)
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Suzy
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Apr 02, 2017 12:38PM
Hi all - since there are 7 parts to this book, with many chapters each, I thought I'd just create two discussion threads. This first is for your initial impressions of the book. I will set up another thread for the book as a whole. In this thread, please tell us what you think about the writing, how you were/weren't drawn in to the story, where you think this might go, your initial thoughts about Smith's intent in Swing Time and any other initial thoughts and impressions you want to share.
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Since our unnamed narrator brings in the dance number from Swing Time right at the beginning of the book, I thought to share it here. I love Fred Astaire and popular dance in general, which contributed to my enjoyment of this book. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-A6h1...I just started listening to the audio this morning and one thing that struck me this time was that she JUST realized that Astaire was in black face after having watched this possibly hundreds of times as a child. She is having many revelations about herself in this opening set piece and I'm wondering if seeing the white man in black face is symbolic of her own mixed race heritage. Just a thought that hadn't occurred to me when reading ST the first time.
Thanks for the link to the Swing Time clip. The blackface wasn't obvious until the end of the clip. Of course then I watched a number of videos after. I thought the one comparing Michael Jackson and Fred Astaire - "The Master and his Teacher" - was good and it reminded me of the book when it is mentioned that Astaire asked Jackson to show him how to "moonwalk."
Suzy wrote: "Since our unnamed narrator brings in the dance number from Swing Time right at the beginning of the book, I thought to share it here. I love Fred Astaire and popular dance in general, which contrib..."Thank you for the clip and insight!
LindaJ^ wrote: "Thanks for the link to the Swing Time clip. The blackface wasn't obvious until the end of the clip. Of course then I watched a number of videos after. I thought the one comparing Michael Jackson an..."Ooh, I'll have to look at that one too. I knew YouTube rolled into a bunch of videos, but I had to run off to an appointment, so thanks for mentioning it! I loved the parts early on in the book that brought Michael Jackson into the picture.
I'm not too far along (maybe 25ish%) but I was immediately drawn into the story of the two girls especially the narrator. I wonder if she stays unnamed and what the reason for that is. I feel like both the writing and the story are flowing really well at this point and I can't wait to read more.
I know this book isn't totally about dance, but it factors so much in the beginning that I thought I'd share "The Master and His Teacher" video Linda talked about. There's a Michael Jackson quote "Study the best and be greater." It occurred to me that in a way that's what Tracy and our Narrator are doing in their love for Fred Astaire, The Nicholas Brothers and Michael Jackson l . . studying the best. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0GWC...And I love the passage on page 56 where she talks about watching over and over Cheek-to-Cheek from the movie Top Hat; how Tracey watched to catch all the details and how she saw that Astaire was really giving Ginger Rogers a master class in dance, just like she was getting a master class in dance from the videos. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fq0oO...
I'm about halfway and I really liked the parts about the girls childhood and friendship as they grow up but I'm finding the parts about Aimee to be less cohesive and less interesting.
Amanda wrote: "I'm about halfway and I really liked the parts about the girls childhood and friendship as they grow up but I'm finding the parts about Aimee to be less cohesive and less interesting."I loved the entire book when I read it in November. Now, listening to it, I agree with you about the Aimee parts, but I still had a good feeling about the book after finishing it for the second time.
This is my first Zadie Smith book, although she's been on my TBR list for years. I was slightly daunted by her apparent disregard for paragraphs, but I've found it very engaging, fairly swift reading. She built suspense with that prologue, and Tracey's bold, yet somewhat enslaved character is intriguing. I feel quite sad reading it, though. Does anyone else find that? I'm about two-thirds through, maybe a bit more. I really feel sorry for this unnamed narrator, who's been simultaneously dominated and disregarded by people all her life--her mother, Aimee, that Rakim fellow--and yet those same people are so hard on her. It's no wonder the narrator makes some socially awkward decisions, and can't manage to take a stand for the right things. Smith is courageous to use this somewhat detached character, when writers are constantly told to make protagonists more engaging and likeable. I sort of admire her for this, and I wouldn't say I find this difficult reading at all--it just makes me sad. What do other people think about this detachment?
