The Autograph Man

much of the book was a genius evisceration of celebrity culture: the characters were all fully-fledged and interesting and played against a madcap and genuinely funny plot. however, at times it felt that smith did not trust the reader enough to keep track of her themes and so absolutely beat us over the head with certain motifs. ("the world is broken"/things being broken comes to mind - though i've come away from the autograph man with a deeper appreciation of kabbalah, i think that was solidified by about the second instance of "the world is broken".) conversely, some themes were underdeveloped - i was always expecting male friendship to come to a more satisfying conclusion, even if it only were to explore the homoeroticism of it, show more which was always bubbling around in the novel. if it weren't for this uneven pressure applied to the themes and motifs, this would definitely be a 5/5 read. show less

Occasionally I read books that I am enjoying more-or-less until there is some shift in the narrative that either destroys my enjoyment of the book or ratchets it up wildly, but its rare that I read something where that happens at least a dozen times. The Autograph Man was that rare book where I went from loving to loathing to loving over and over, sometimes within a single chapter.

I did not check reviews before reading this, but I could not help noticing the VERY low average rating - a 3.16. Low ratings don't bother me, I find on the whole I am more likely to like a book rated 3.2 than one rated 4.2, but it surprised me for this book. This is not a literary book likely to be picked up by those who like page turners or who like their show more tragedy to come with tear-jerky wallowing rather than wry observation. Though this was Zadie Smith's second novel she was already a known quantity appealing to a particular type of reader who liked White Teeth, and those readers I figured probably shared my tastes to some degree. Still I dove in.

I started reading the preface, and thought "what is wrong with people, this is genius." And that rather lengthy preface does not falter. Its so good! Sadly, the book does not deliver on the preface's promise. There are parts of the book I might have liked more if I had not been set up by the preface to expect a wonderful rollicking read. In fact the part of the book I liked least was the 50 or so pages immediately following the preface. The story crashes to earth immediately after the preface. I sorta kinda hated that section where we spend time with Alex before he leaves London for NYC. I almost abandoned the book, and if that section had gone on another 10 pages I likely would have done. The book though does pick up in the NYC section, regardless of how improbable the story becomes. I loved the book's end, which made absolute sense though there is no resolution, just the merest whiff of growth and change which given the protagonist's stuntedness is a seismic shift.

Smith takes on some big themes here, themes I would think were very present for her as a young writer who achieved literary It Girl status with her first book. The emptiness of celebrity, and its utter disconnection from craft or art is overarching. I liked that she did not simply dismiss celebrity as silly and shallow, or ignore what appears to be a real human need for iconography. People need things like heroes and faith, which remain unchanged and unchangeable when things and people around us change and disappear at the moments we most need constancy. Smith was much less successful examining the distinctions between faith and tribal identification. I understand why she chose Jewish characters for this meditation, I don't think there are any other major religions or sects where that distinction between faith and tribe is more troubling and profound. Alex's relationship (or lack) to Judaism and to Jews and to Jewish culture is a great set up for that discussion, but I don't think Smith pulls it off.

I know non-Jewish writers who write great Jewish characters, but most don't, and Smith falls into the latter group. Alex-Li and his freinds did not resonate with me, they did not feel familiar or recognizable in any way. They really felt like constructs to illustrate things about what it means to be Jewish. And maybe that was the problem, their Jewishness was so central to everything they did, and that really felt off. And that clunky characterization was not limited to the Jews. I think the weakest most poorly written character in the book is a black buddhist woman, which is how Zadie Smith identifies (well secular buddhist-y). So much here is tone deaf which is not usually something I say about Zadie Smith.

In the end there were a lot of poorly drawn characters, a weird conflation of defining oneself and defining one's faith (I know faith is a part of how we define ourselves, but trust me that it would not have been this big a part for Alex, who identifies pretty comfortably as Atheist and who already acknowledges and accepts his tribal connection.), a lot of digressions, and serious structural problems. Still there were swaths of genius that gave me real pleasure and so I am calling the whole a 3. Its easier to afford the optimistic 3 rather than the disappointed 2 when I am reading back-catalogue. When dealing with a new writer I never know if a first brilliant book might have been an aberration. A lot of writers never deliver on the promise of a great first novel so I remain cautious, but I know Zadie Smith gave the world a great next novel (not to mention some spectacular essays) so I can see the way in which this not great novel made later great work possible. show less

I enjoyed Smith's writing style far more than I enjoyed the plot (which promised some things but delivered others) or the characters (who are neatly drawn, but on paper that is very thin indeed); but even the sometimes whimsical, sometimes nervy, sometimes delightful turns of her prose weren't enough to save The Autograph Man from being something of a disappointment.

It's more mature in some ways than White Teeth, darker, and I would imagine in many ways a reflection on Smith's part on the fame which she received thanks to her first novel—certainly, I think, that was the reason behind the emphasis on fame and multiculturalism in this novel. And yet a lot of it seems ephemeral, shallow: full of aphorisms which seem fake and showy in show more her characters' mouths; reflections and obsessions on Judaism that seem like they could only have come from someone who isn't Jewish; signs and symbols which mean nothing, an empty kind of moralism. Disappointing. show less

This is the tale of Alex-Li Tandem, an English Chinese Jew who makes a living trading autographs. He's in search of one famously elusive star's signature, and also in search of what it means to be himself. He catalogues the world as Jewish or not; he avoids dealing with his father's death and whether to say Kaddish; he gets rotten drunk and pisses off his friends; he flies to New York and meets the elusive star while his girlfriend is in hospital. He's not always easy to sympathise with...

It's a fun read, as Zadie Smith writes so beautifully about the most unlikely things. A white Jew, a black Jew and a Chinese Jew go to a wrestling match... and it's not a joke, it's a morality tale. Perhaps not quite up to the standard of White Teeth, show more but worthwhile anyway. show less

I picked up this book because I had a voucher to use up and the book shop had suggested that Zadie Smith is similar to Margaret Atwood. Well, apart from being female I'm not sure there's any connection, but I did really love this book. On glancing at other reader reviews, I wasn't sure what I was in for--many compared The Autograph Man unfavourably with White Teeth, a book which a good friend didn't like at all, but I loved this from the start. The sense of humour was very much in line with my own and Zadie Smith's observations on life/reality rarely failed to strike a chord.

This book touches on so many things that resonate with me - the loss of a parent, what it means to be Jewish, how to be an adult, how to be a friend and a lover. Smith's storytelling carried me forward with its authentic emotion and dry humor.

Tried to complete it, but, alas. Perhaps I'm not the ideal audience for this one, and so it ended up on the bottom of the book stack on my night stand.

Flashes of satisfying surprise in the writing were not enough to off-set the zero arch of the first three-fourths of the story. I got as far as page 287 and just didn't care enough to push through the last 50 .