NW

I hadn‰ЫЄt been particularly looking forward to this book‰ЫЄs release this September but picked it up on a whim in the bookstore because I‰ЫЄve enjoyed her previous novels and am (or have pretensions of being) interested in famous contemporary female novelists, etc. etc. I was also intrigued by the nonsensical vibe of the first chapter – I usually don‰ЫЄt like that kind of thing but from Zadie Smith I thought I could handle it. It was easier to read than I expected. I really liked how the friendship between Leah and Natalie slowly became clear over the course of the novel, and how closely we became caught up in their concerns, in growing into women and becoming different from those around them. The section on Felix seemed to pull too far away from the central Leah-Natalie story. But I felt like we spent too much time with Natalie by the end of the book and would‰ЫЄve liked to know more about Leah to sort of come full circle with their friendship. And that‰ЫЄs me critiquing Zadie Smith for how she structured her novel, ha ha! Slinking back to my mudhole.