Zadie Smith: Swing Time

Another wonderful and wise work. It deals with a persons life and their relationships with those important to her. As the title suggests dance is a central idea/theme and it is the shared live of dance between the narrator and her best friend Tracey that is the thread that links it together.

The narrative moves interestingly between different aspects of the narrators life; her growing up in London with her remarkably passionate and driven mother, her time as assistant to a Madonna -style pop icon and her self absorbed charity work in Africa...opening a school adopting children etc etc. This aspect slightly irritated me as although important in story the close connection to reality was oddly jarring.

Finally though it came back to her relationship with Tracey and their shared live of dance and Bird called the Years line ‘ how can we separate the dancer from the dance’ and this idea is the central one in the novel...that we are defined in our lives passions and relationships BY our passions...if that makes sense.

Not sure have made sense in this but would welcome comments from those who have also read this.