NW

By: Zadie Smith

Narrated by: Don Gilet, Karen Bryson

From the MAN BOOKER PRIZE- and WOMEN'S PRIZE-SHORTLISTED author of Swing Time, White Teeth and On Beauty - a masterful and intimate novel of modern London life

'A triumph. Every sentence sings' Guardian

'Intensely funny, richly varied, always unexpected. A joyous, optimistic, angry masterpiece' Daily Telegraph

'Smith's most satisfying novel. Funny, sexy, weird, full of acute social comedy. She's up there with the best around' Evening Standard

Zadie Smith's brilliant tragicomic NW follows four Londoners - Leah, Natalie, Felix and Nathan - after they've left their childhood council estate, grown up and moved on to different lives. From private houses to public parks, at work and at play, their city is brutal, beautiful and complicated. Yet 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. Funny, poignant and vividly contemporary, NW is as brimming with vitality as the city itself.

Critic reviews

Praise for On Beauty:

Smith is an author of sublime gifts

Wittily inventive . . . Smith is the most naturally gifted young novelist around - with a fastidious ear for differentiated dialogue and a lethally quiet comic touch. Above all, she can move us (Craig Raine)

Delightfully entertaining . . . Filled with humour, generosity and contemporary sparkle

Praise for The Autograph Man:

Wonderfully funny. A pleasure from the first page to the last

Intellectually agile . . . Ecstatic inventiveness

Praise for White Teeth:

The outstanding debut of the new millenium

Quirky, sassy and wise . . . An instinctive storytelling talent

Feels like three unfinished books.

While a lot of the insight and small passages are quite good, with sharp writing and fine observations, the stories felt a bit long and never quite closed in on anything or resolved the three stories, two of which overlapped, one which was only minimally related.

no story

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

Nothing, it just was not for me.

What could Zadie Smith have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

her other books have had more straight forward story lines.

How could the performance have been better?

My thinking about The performance was coloured by my lack of interest in the story.

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

disappointment and despair