I don't know if I could ever say enough to convey how much I adore and admire Zadie Smith. I have rarely seen the level of creative genius that she seems to have effortlessly.
Smith is currently my favorite writer of fiction. I used to read Joyce Carol Oates or Margaret Atwood when I wanted an escape from memoir or other non-fiction, but now they seem dull and depressing in comparison. Smith is always fresh and clever.
The Autograph Man is the story of Alex-Li Tandem, an autograph collector. In a world obsessed with celebrity, he makes a living buying and selling autographs. It all seems straightforward at first, but Smith has a way of complicating matters and giving her stories layer after layer of fascinating drama. For example, Tandem wants to meet an older actress, Kitty Alexander. He yearns to meet her not only as a fan, but also because her signature is one of the most elusive and expensive. He has copies of every movie from the forties that she starred in and also has them memorized.
One of Smith's trademarks is the ability to paint an incredibly detailed portrait of her characters. And the details are sometimes odd, so you are not likely to forget them (his girlfriend has a pacemaker). I fell in love with these unpredictable details that have seemed so hard to come by in most of the modern fiction I have read. Another part of her charm as a writer is that her characters are quirky and sarcastic. Tandem was so vivid in my mind because of the quality of her writing that I wished he were real so that I could be friends with him.
"Did you ever think that historically we may have reached a saturation point as far as ease is concerned? So there's actually no way you could've made that breakfast any easier than it was? Unless we, like, took it intravenously." Alex-Li Tandem
I think once you read anything by Zadie Smith, you will fall for her style and wit. I only wish she would write more!
Also by Zadie Smith:
White Teeth (2000)
On Beauty (2005)
www.contemporarywriters.com
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