NW is one of the most diverse areas in London where first to third generation of immigrants from the neighbouring continents (and even further) make their home. It is a cultural melting pot that in many ways a quintessential feature of the modern Britain. Smith, from a mixed heritage, is probably the best person to write about this section of London, with its cultural nuances, the frictions and the grime of the place.
The first part story starts off with Leah, a white Londoner who’s too trusting, too sympathetic to the plights of anybody knocking on her door. She was cheated off her money by Shar, who feigned a mother in hospital but no money for cab emergency situation. Leah is married to Michel, a black Guadeloupean French hair stylist. As any other couples, there is tension, but being in an interracial marriage comes with problems of its own. Michel is always striving for a better life — a windfall in the stock markets, and finds that the house is getting too small for his family plans. Leah wants otherwise.
The second, a little bit removed from the first, is a story of Jamaican-British Felix, a happy-go-lucky apprentice mechanic who’s going out with an ambitious career woman, Grace. She expects better from Felix and stand up for himself. The third part of the book is a collage of memories from Jamaican-British Natalie Blake, born Keisha, who ended up being a successful lawyer and married well. This is a façade to hide her animalistic side, kinky and promiscuous.
It is difficult to summarise the plot of the book, as any Zadie Smith book, because of the many characters and the complex relationships, all who shares the spotlight. Sometimes it is difficult to figure out the background of the characters, whether they are white, brown or otherwise, and these details matter. However, these details are not obvious and we are forced to read between the lines. If we guess wrong, then we’d be stuck in a pitfall until the end of the book having misunderstood it.
Many readers have issues with the style of the prose, because some of the sentences are haphazard, clumsy and many deliberately unfinished sentences, echoing Joyce. It is hard to keep track of where the story, because psychology drives the story and the characters thoughts can be random. Call it stream of consciousness, but I think the method suits the general essence of the book in trying to deconstruct the thoughts of a multi-cultural London, and where the frictions lie.
It is also a reflection on the nature of identity. This is best portrayed in Natalie’s story, who used different names for different sides of her personality. But it does raise a larger question of nature versus nurture: how much does our upbringing affect our identity, and how much does the influence of others play in shaping who we are? In the early days, Natalie and Leah go hand in hand until their paths diverged, but this is not to say that when their paths cross that they feed off each other. We can argue that Natalie’s persona is from the influence of Leah’s more liberal and experimental personality.
Take note of the minor characters in the story who add colour to the story — the petty gangsters, the chavs, the swingers, drug addicts. Though they are in the peripheries, they make the book all the more convincing, NW all the more real with its grime, dirt and violence. I think White Teeth, Zadie Smith’s debut novel, is still her best work to date. But NW is still a strong contribution to the repertoire of literature about modern London that has become a cultural melting pot, and struggling to find its own narrative.
