The Fraud. Zadie Smith

This is a superb and thought-provoking novel. As many of the remarks, particularly the early ones, were made during the reading rather than after completion, they may seem uncertain – or even misguided in some cases but I feel it can be interesting t get ‘instant’ reactions in the course of a reading as the work unfolds. Later and at the end, of course, the remarks will be more summative in nature.

From the outset, I was intrigued by the use of very many, often very short chapters it was puzzling at the start. However, as the story unfolded and we travelled back and forward in time and location, it began to be more effective and understandable as well as being dramatically appropriate and helping to move the story along in an efficient but not rushed way.

From the start there are many smart funny perceptive little sentences scattered throughout e.g. 41/44/48/51/54/58 etc. etc. etc. This is an enormously enjoyable feature of the novel and as well as providing a leavening of perceptive humor, it also, particularly in the case of the central character, very effectively allows her to comment sharply and very perceptively on what she sees and hears.

Once the  Tichborne Case kicked in and became the central focus, it was fascinating to see that the range of responses to what was happening very closely matched similar responses in social media today viz;

·         Very strong feelings on all sides, matched by the supreme confidence of the holders.

·         Unwillingness to change ones view

·         Conspiracy elements – group X  is responsible for this, group Y for that

Once we reached the 2nd part and Bogle came to the fore, I initially felt we had  started a different story but it did not take me long to realize that this was unjustified and that both Bogle and Eliza T. were outsiders, viewing what was going on around them. They were both underestimated by those around them, were as good as the people they observed and as much as anyone else, have their stories to tell although their voices were not usually heard

Eliza Touchet’s thoughtfulness and perceptiveness increased as the trial plodded on. In terms of understanding human nature she is shown  to have  the mind of a novelist – far more so than the male authors like Thackeray and Ainsworth but of course they cannot fulfil this promise given societal, gender and social norms. This is particularly well shown  on P.426 where the point made about Eliza alwasyj asking too many questions, Ainsworth too few. Eliza  is more a novelist i.e. interested in people and what they do and why and is always  engaged with the contemporary world whereas Ainsworth is not and lives in the past and is disengaged from the present.

There is a wonderful scene that shows this (and makes other points too) where Eliza suddenly becomes aware of difference, isolation from other people when she sees young Bogle with Miss Jackson after the concert.  We feel that she both is and is not aware of similarities with her position as a woman of her nature and background in the society that she is in. But as mentioned above, this is done very subtly and cleverly with no sense of hectoring self-righteousness on the part of the author.

The final parts of the novel get better and better; Eliza is becoming more and more important and central and is so much a better person than almost all the other characters. However, she is completely unrecognized. She remains, in their mind and eyes of the ‘major’ characters, totally silent and invisible. Zadie S is making superb points in doing this in such a thoughtful powerful and subtle way. It is all very political, very radically social and yet is subtly done with absolutely no sense of being harangued or preached at about ‘women’s right’ ‘justice’ ‘equality’.

And throughout there continue to be marvelous points expressed in the middle of text. A witty and perceptive sentence that really stands out, both for what it says and what it tells us about the speaker occurs on p.429 and point about euphemisms… ‘women have them for their bodies, men for business matters’. Characteristically Eliza makes this point.

The Chapter 37 summing up of Tichborne case is also true of the novel and its nature – it’s all about storytelling and who can do it well (Eliza) and who can’t (Ainsworth). The title is nicely ambiguous and all-embracing. Ostensibly and most obviously, it references the false Tichborne claimant but also most of the other male character too – in different ways and of different extents I think

Overall then a stunningly superb work.