Last updated on October 6, 2020
Swing Time is the first book that I read by Zadie Smith. The story is rich and interesting. I was sometimes distracted by how the story moved through time; it wasn’t always smooth and so I missed some of the connections.
Brief Summary
The main characters, Tracey and the unnamed narrator are both mixed race children. They are the same age and grow up in the same neighborhood, in and out of each other’s lives. One grows up with her white mother and the other with her black mother. The narrator is close to her father for most of the book, while Tracey’s father makes sporadic appearances. Both aspiring dancers, only one of the two girls potentially has what it takes to dance professionally.
We follow the girls from dance class to elementary school, where they share a desk. Their paths diverge for high school. Although they still live near each other, the distance between them grows as they each pursue their own opportunities. There is also some jealousy between them. As the narrator takes on a job working with a celebrity, she moves away from the projects and into a different world.
In this new world, we travel with the narrator between London, New York, Gambia and visit other countries around the world. Everything we learn about the other characters is through her eyes, her perspective. We get glimpses of Tracey’s world through the narrator’s lens. As the story twists and turns, we see each of the two main characters try to carve out a space for themselves in the world. Even when they are distant, they remain irrevocably tied to each other. They seem to always find a way to stay connected, even in times of animosity.
Themes in Swing Time
Zadie Smith explores many themes in this book: activism, identity, race, class, wealth, influence, poverty, sex, immigration, love. In short, she explores all the different ways that one person could have power and influence over other individuals and groups of people. She also shows how paths can diverge and how people build relationships, identity, and a sense of home. The narrator goes on a long journey, and comes full circle. Where is home and how do we determine our place in the world?
Overall Assessment
Zadie Smith takes on a lot in this book and she handles both the social commentary and the story adeptly. My main issue with the book is that many of the characters appear as stereotypical archetypes in service of a greater social commentary: the misguided white philanthropist, the poor white mother on welfare, the violent philandering black man, the single mother as a daughter of a single mother, the casually racist Persian man, the corrupt African dictator, etc.
This book has so many themes and possible points for discussion. It would be a good Book Club discussion book.
I give Swing Time 4 stars. ⭐⭐⭐⭐
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