Intimations

Six Essays

De: Zadie Smith

Narrado por: Zadie Smith

“[Smith’s] slim collection of essays captures this peculiar moment with startling clarity.... The personal and political intermingle for a powerful indictment of America’s social systems.” (TIME, The 100 Must-Read Books of 2020)

“While quarantined amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Smith penned six dazzling, trenchant essays burrowing deep into our contemporary culture of disease and upheaval and reflecting on what was ‘once necessary’ that now ‘appears inessential.” (O, The Oprah Magazine, Best Books of 2020)

“Smith does more than illuminate what we're going through right now. She offers a model of how to think ourselves through a fraught historical moment without getting hysterical or sanctimonious, without losing our compassion or our appreciation for what's good in other people. She teaches us how to be better at being human.” (John Powers, Fresh Air)

Deeply personal and powerfully moving, a short and timely series of reflective essays by one of the most clear-sighted and essential writers of our time.

Written during the early months of lockdown, Intimations explores ideas and questions prompted by an unprecedented situation. What does it mean to submit to a new reality - or to resist it? How do we compare relative sufferings? What is the relationship between time and work? In our isolation, what do other people mean to us? How do we think about them? What is the ratio of contempt to compassion in a crisis? When an unfamiliar world arrives, what does it reveal about the world that came before it?

Suffused with a profound intimacy and tenderness in response to these extraordinary times, Intimations is a slim, suggestive volume with a wide scope, in which Zadie Smith clears a generous space for thought, open enough for each listener to reflect on what has happened - and what should come next.

The author will donate her royalties from the sale of Intimations to charity.

©2020 Zadie Smith (P)2020 Penguin Audio

Reseñas de la Crítica

"Intimations captures the uneasiness of our modern moment as Smith reflects on the COVID-19 pandemic and relates it to issues of privilege and inequity. Her urgent voice tackles everything from what becomes important during isolation to the global response to George Floyd’s killing. The author asks questions, both timely and timeless, about how we respond to crisis and suffering." (Time, Best New Books of July)

awesome jewel

this was a wonderful listen. great stories with poignant subject matter. kept me engaged

Lucid yet contemplative

The captivating prose brings out our own thoughts strewn nicely with a thread of uplifting art of reading. This is one such book which would be less stimulating without the magical renderence of the endearing voice of Zadie.

An eye-opener for me into our inequitable systems

Narrated by the author's own lovely voice, I listened to it completely in a day. The author offered an incredibly unique and insightful perspective into the issues exploding before us this very day. The issues of racism and inequality amplified many times over by the pandemic and how our country's structures have been incapable of dealing with it and in fact have exacerbated its impact and led to many unnecessary deaths. As an older white male these essays were eye-popping to me.

Listening to Zadie Smith

love that it was in the authors voice. I love that Smith acted out the dialogue.

Read this book

Beautiful, clever, thought provoking, funny, convicting, tender. Less than 2 hours of time but I know I’ll be thinking about it for weeks.

2020 seems like a lifetime ago

Smith is an incredibly smart, observant writer. I will likely need to relisten to really understand her points in this collection. That said, the initial lockdowns of 2020 seem like a strange collective experience of sacrifice very different from the 2021 that followed. Covid lockdown was for the common good and carried a common sorrow, but also it seemed like everyone was trying to be hopeful. I wrote a 50,000 word manuscript! In 2021 and this first week of 2022, we're grinding, exhausted, no longer tapping into the collective well of hope because the reserves are empty.

The P.S. essay on George Floyd was strong. needed, and did not suffer from the same rueful melancholy of the other essays. I found the last essay, Intimations, a bit confusing. I wasn't sure if I was supposed to recognize the names she was saying as influences on her life.

Read it now!

Brilliant, exhilarating, candid, self-aware, warm, gently humorous, and ultimately devastating. Read it before anything else on your list.

words to open your mind

I loved every minute of this. I think it stretched my mind, confirmed inner thoughts and gave joy to listening to an intelligent woman's observations.
I will need to find more from this writer.

Incredibly grounding and intimate quick read

Listened to it in one night. Incredibly relevant even now, years after the pandemic was at its peak.

Good Shared Thoughts

The epilogue on The Virus is Contempt is deeply profound and, well.... real? Read this.