#15 in Contemporary fiction
White Teeth
- 528
- Pages
- about 10 h
- Reading time
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Our view
“White Teeth” is a big, funny, restless novel about two London families, carrying more themes than most debuts would dare. Zadie Smith builds it around two wartime friends and what Britain makes of its immigrants. Some readers admire the craft without warming to the characters; others find the Bengali household less convincing than the opening chapters. Best for those who like family sagas crowded and argumentative.
The view of the BookRank editors, written from readers’ ratings and comments. It does not affect the score or the book’s place in a ranking.
About the book
White Teeth is the 2000 debut novel by British author Zadie Smith. It focuses on the later lives of two wartime friends—the Bangladeshi Samad Iqbal and the Englishman Archie Jones—and their families in London. The novel centres on Britain's relationship with immigrants from the British Commonwealth.
Where the score comes from
The sources average 7.6 across 323 ratings — not yet many, so the reader vote carries 69% of the weight and the rest pulls toward the Contemporary fiction average of 7.7. That is how 7.6 comes out.
| Source | Average | Ratings | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Library | 7.4 | 23 | 7% |
| Google Books | 7.0 | 11 | 3% |
| Hardcover | 7.6 | 289 | 90% |
Frequently asked
How long is White Teeth?
It has 528 pages — longer than 80% of the ranked books in Contemporary fiction.
In this book
Themes this book shares with others — each leads to the best books on it.
If you liked this
Same shelf — Contemporary fiction — with scores between 7.2 and 8.2, closest to this book.
