這是一齣荒謬劇。舞台很大,角色在上面顯得渺小。台詞都像囈語或詛咒,悲傷看似很輕,笑聲很沈重。
幾個主要演員:阿奇,一個做任何事都要靠擲硬幣來決定的英國白人。伊格伯,孟加拉裔的餐館服務生,活在自己曾曾祖父是國家英雄的光環裡。他鄉愁如此濃烈,卻只能跟餐館客人和好友喃喃傾訴。他們的兒女,活在各自心靈上的異鄉:滿頭捲髮的愛瑞希望自己變身成直髮美女,米列特幻想自己是義大利電影裡的黑幫老大,馬吉德一心想要前往科技許諾的未來……
戲如人生,看時漫長,居然忽忽來到最後一幕。這是莎娣‧史密斯在她二十三歲時說的故事,關於過去與現在,關於地震、叛變、戰爭與預言,關於愛與折磨,關於東方對西方的大夢。關於一個年輕作家的幻滅,以及,憤怒裡的包容。
---擷取自中譯本《白牙》,大塊文化出版
Zadie Smith's White Teeth is a classic international bestseller and an unforgettable portrait of London, available as a Penguin Essential for the first time
One of the most talked about fictional debuts ever, 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.
'Funny, clever ... and a rollicking good read' Independent
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'Smith writes like an old hand, and, sometimes, like a dream' New Yorker
'Outstanding ... A strikingly clever and funny book with a passion for ideas, for language and for the rich tragic-comedy of life' Sunday Telegraph
'Do believe the hype' The Times
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