The Rif Raff Book Club's February book selection White Teeth by Zadie Smith was in celebration of black history month.

White Teeth: A Novel by Zadie Smith

What a great February book club selection. The author wrote beyond her years on this first novel. She seemed to have great insight into the inner workings of the human mind. Each character was well thought out to provide a true to life dimension to the story. Zadie Smith must have been collecting small stories in a notebook that she unleashed in this book because she used what seemed to be real situations to cap a characters actions. When writing the spoken word, her phonetic writing seemed natural to the character speaking. The book was funny at times and thought provoking too. The author was able to provide a glimpse into the time she was writing about with current events and global concerns. Each character provided a varied view of each topic letting the reader feel good about whatever view they had on the subject. She put it all out there and let you decide how you would feel about it. The importance of a family history and how we as people deal with that was central theme in the book. I liked the way the author wrote about how the characters came to terms with that and how she included the family histories past, present and future. The ending was climatic and had a payoff. I would read more of Zadie Smith's work when and if it becomes available.