book forty-four: NW

We met on Sunday 28 April 2013 at Tim and Wendy's place to discuss NW, by Zadie Smith. The novel, called "NW" after the northwest corner of London, follows four Londoners - Leah, Natalie, Felix and Nathan - after they've left their childhood council estate, grown up and moved on to different lives. After a chance encounter they each find that the choices they've made, the people they once were and are now, can suddenly, rapidly unravel.

NW was chosen from Maree's shortlist (other contenders were The Shipping News is a novel by American author E. Annie Proulx, and A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving)

Mari brought the shortlist for the next book.

Scores for NW were:

Roshni: 9 - A bit of a struggle - enjoyed the story but Smith's writing style was annoying.

Nicole: 9 - only read the Leah part.  Agreed with Roshni, enjoying the story would like a resolution on the children issue.

Maree: 8 - Not quite half way through.  Not inspired after 2 glasses of wine!

James: 14 - really liked it!  Liked the modernistic approach to writing; it was evocative of a place and people.  How you grow up affects who you are.

Mari: 8 - all eight of those points are for the skilful writing... not so much for the story - it lacks conflict; there's no reason to keep reading.

Leigha: 11 - really enjohyed Keisha's section; thought it was well written and different from the rest of the book... but not enough to rescue the book.

Wendy: 10 - Enjoying it but not sure about finishing it.  Sounds like she should at least read Keisha's bit.

AVERAGE: 9.9