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The Autograph Man
From the New York Times bestselling author of Swing Time and one of the most revered writers of her generation comes an "intelligent ... exquisitely clever [novel] about fame, mortality, and the triumph of image over reality” ( The Boston Globe ) .
Alex-Li Tandem sells autographs. His business is to hunt for names on paper, collect them, sell them, and occasionally fake them—all to give the people what they want: a little piece of Fame. But what does Alex want? Only the return of his father, the end of religion, something for his headache, three different girls, infinite grace, and the rare autograph of forties movie actress Kitty Alexander. With fries.
The Autograph Man is a deeply funny existential tour around the hollow trappings of modernity: celebrity, cinema, and the ugly triumph of symbol over experience. It offers further proof that Zadie Smith is one of the most staggeringly talented writers of her generation.
Alex-Li Tandem sells autographs. His business is to hunt for names on paper, collect them, sell them, and occasionally fake them—all to give the people what they want: a little piece of Fame. But what does Alex want? Only the return of his father, the end of religion, something for his headache, three different girls, infinite grace, and the rare autograph of forties movie actress Kitty Alexander. With fries.
The Autograph Man is a deeply funny existential tour around the hollow trappings of modernity: celebrity, cinema, and the ugly triumph of symbol over experience. It offers further proof that Zadie Smith is one of the most staggeringly talented writers of her generation.
347 pages, Paperback
First published September 12, 2002
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9,511 people want to read
About the author
Zadie Smith
110 books15.5k followersZadie Smith is an English novelist, essayist, and short-story writer. Her debut novel, White Teeth (2000), immediately became a best-seller and won a number of awards. She became a tenured professor in the Creative Writing faculty of New York University in September 2010.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 965 reviews
January 3, 2020
One of those serendipitous moments for me: looking for another of Zadie Smith's books, NW,, I chanced upon this one. What a find. It did take me a couple of pages to settle in with this story but I was hooked from then on. A novel about a young man, his friends and a few months in their lives shown deftly in the hilarious, droll, sometimes very serious but always brilliant words of Zadie Smith.
Alex-Li Tandem is half Chinese, is Jewish, has a black girlfriend, a best mate who's a Rabbi and another one who . He's writing his own book on the differences between Jewish and Goyish and he's an Autograph Man – he buys and sells autographs of famous people. His father died when he was fifteen and now at twenty-seven, it's coming up for his father's shul to be offered on his anniversary; something Alex has always failed to do so far. He has had a lifetime devotion to a famous 1940s movie-star but has never managed to acquire her autograph. Alex has always felt himself to be something of a failure but life is about to deal him some hands he never thought possible.
Loved it, loved it, loved it. The humor is sly and the descriptions have be Smith's own kind of wonderful. It is sassy and philosophical, it's warm-hearted and funny, it's wise and irreverent. I borrowed a copy from the library but I'm about to purchase one for myself. One of the best reads I've had this year. 5★
Alex-Li Tandem is half Chinese, is Jewish, has a black girlfriend, a best mate who's a Rabbi and another one who . He's writing his own book on the differences between Jewish and Goyish and he's an Autograph Man – he buys and sells autographs of famous people. His father died when he was fifteen and now at twenty-seven, it's coming up for his father's shul to be offered on his anniversary; something Alex has always failed to do so far. He has had a lifetime devotion to a famous 1940s movie-star but has never managed to acquire her autograph. Alex has always felt himself to be something of a failure but life is about to deal him some hands he never thought possible.
Loved it, loved it, loved it. The humor is sly and the descriptions have be Smith's own kind of wonderful. It is sassy and philosophical, it's warm-hearted and funny, it's wise and irreverent. I borrowed a copy from the library but I'm about to purchase one for myself. One of the best reads I've had this year. 5★
February 26, 2008
What started out as a promising read quickly turned into a...really crappy one. I know this makes me sound somewhat like a whiny seventh grader when I say this, but god, this book was booooorring. I read the entire thing hoping that at some point it'd turn the corner and pick up the pace, but no, it just basically ground itself out into a completely anti-climactic ending. But before that we got pages and pages of...I don't even know what, I disliked this book so much that I immediately purged it from my mind upon finishing it. I think there were some ramblings about Jewish mysticism, autographs, and then some more Jewish mysticism, and then more about autographs. I wanted to claw my eyes out by the end of the book.
Another thing that also dampened my reading experience was the fact that I hated the main character. I mean, I love as much as the next person the idea of the deeply-flawed-yet-still-very-sympathetic character, but I found nothing at all redeeming about Alex-Li Tandem. Instead, I found myself constantly wishing I could reach into the book and kick him in the head.
In conclusion, I recommend this book to no one.
Another thing that also dampened my reading experience was the fact that I hated the main character. I mean, I love as much as the next person the idea of the deeply-flawed-yet-still-very-sympathetic character, but I found nothing at all redeeming about Alex-Li Tandem. Instead, I found myself constantly wishing I could reach into the book and kick him in the head.
In conclusion, I recommend this book to no one.
September 30, 2011
ORIGINAL REVIEW:
James Wood in his thesis review covers all the thoughts I had on this one (and more and more) and is the most worthwhile review of this book around. For those who aren’t that interested, let me sum up the basics: lapsed Anglo-Chinese Jew Alex-Li is an autograph hunter fixated on Kitty Alexander, fictional Hollywood starlet of the 1950s. He spends his time writing a book on Jews v. Christians, spurning his faith, squabbling with rabbis, upsetting his bald girlfriend and cavorting with fellow autograph hunters. In the latter half of the book he meets his idol and develops inner demons.
Smith’s other novels are vast multi-character epics and her towering authorial presence benefits from having numerous dummies to manipulate, rather than the one insubstantial dummy. This novel could have benefitted from a less grandiose scope for quite a thin plot and morose protagonist: a slim 250 pages over a hoggish 419. On the plus side, the prose is as comic, stylish and rhythmic as ever, though her longer meandering passages feel like failed snippets from White Teeth. Hats off for writing a radically different second book—Zadie put up with some hostility in the UK round about this time.
APPENDED MOAN FOUND IN DOCUMENTS FOLDER:
It does bug me quite how many readers think they have the right to desecrate a writer’s work on here with their off-handed dismissals and oh-so-clever putdowns, usually “steaming pile of . . . ” or “a complete waste of . . . ” What gives a casual reader the right to take such a stance about someone else’s passionate labour other than sheer spite? Where is this spite coming from? Has the book personally offended you?
OK, so you dislike the book. Fine! I can understand the plot or characters didn’t ring your bell, but honestly . . . haven’t we grown as readers enough to weigh a book on its merits? Unless a book offends on a level of stance, in terms of the author’s questionable views, the reviewer should give due weight to each element of the writer’s craft. If they still find it wanting after this, fine! But the arrogance of these people who dismiss books with witless rejoinders—“written by a sophomore student,” or—“I’ve could churned out something better in grad school.” ARE YOU ALL MAD?
This book, and Zadie Smith in particular, is a fine example of this bizarre persecution. Do you know how difficult it is to write a book like The Autograph Man? This is why the publishing desks are clotted with ream after ream of dreck: people flinging themselves into writing who haven’t the ability to appreciate an example of lyrical, witty and vital prose, what makes writer like Smith simultaneously as popular as she is cutting-edge.
This disgruntlement is part of a wider beef about our obsession with “grading” artworks on their merits—surely, with such a ruthless system of critical appraisal around books, music, cinema, TV, we’d filter what is “allowed” to get made, what people might want to see based on the endless chatter of feedback—but instead, we have a mainstream that celebrates the lowest common denominator, and an avant-garde relentlessly bitching over what gets published and deemed “cutting edge.” The line between popular and artistic is being tugged to breaking point, whereas a writer like Smith straddles this line, offering a neutral pleasure for both territories. And we moan and moan!
OK. I’m done.
James Wood in his thesis review covers all the thoughts I had on this one (and more and more) and is the most worthwhile review of this book around. For those who aren’t that interested, let me sum up the basics: lapsed Anglo-Chinese Jew Alex-Li is an autograph hunter fixated on Kitty Alexander, fictional Hollywood starlet of the 1950s. He spends his time writing a book on Jews v. Christians, spurning his faith, squabbling with rabbis, upsetting his bald girlfriend and cavorting with fellow autograph hunters. In the latter half of the book he meets his idol and develops inner demons.
Smith’s other novels are vast multi-character epics and her towering authorial presence benefits from having numerous dummies to manipulate, rather than the one insubstantial dummy. This novel could have benefitted from a less grandiose scope for quite a thin plot and morose protagonist: a slim 250 pages over a hoggish 419. On the plus side, the prose is as comic, stylish and rhythmic as ever, though her longer meandering passages feel like failed snippets from White Teeth. Hats off for writing a radically different second book—Zadie put up with some hostility in the UK round about this time.
APPENDED MOAN FOUND IN DOCUMENTS FOLDER:
It does bug me quite how many readers think they have the right to desecrate a writer’s work on here with their off-handed dismissals and oh-so-clever putdowns, usually “steaming pile of . . . ” or “a complete waste of . . . ” What gives a casual reader the right to take such a stance about someone else’s passionate labour other than sheer spite? Where is this spite coming from? Has the book personally offended you?
OK, so you dislike the book. Fine! I can understand the plot or characters didn’t ring your bell, but honestly . . . haven’t we grown as readers enough to weigh a book on its merits? Unless a book offends on a level of stance, in terms of the author’s questionable views, the reviewer should give due weight to each element of the writer’s craft. If they still find it wanting after this, fine! But the arrogance of these people who dismiss books with witless rejoinders—“written by a sophomore student,” or—“I’ve could churned out something better in grad school.” ARE YOU ALL MAD?
This book, and Zadie Smith in particular, is a fine example of this bizarre persecution. Do you know how difficult it is to write a book like The Autograph Man? This is why the publishing desks are clotted with ream after ream of dreck: people flinging themselves into writing who haven’t the ability to appreciate an example of lyrical, witty and vital prose, what makes writer like Smith simultaneously as popular as she is cutting-edge.
This disgruntlement is part of a wider beef about our obsession with “grading” artworks on their merits—surely, with such a ruthless system of critical appraisal around books, music, cinema, TV, we’d filter what is “allowed” to get made, what people might want to see based on the endless chatter of feedback—but instead, we have a mainstream that celebrates the lowest common denominator, and an avant-garde relentlessly bitching over what gets published and deemed “cutting edge.” The line between popular and artistic is being tugged to breaking point, whereas a writer like Smith straddles this line, offering a neutral pleasure for both territories. And we moan and moan!
OK. I’m done.
December 20, 2022
This book is comprised of two parts, each divided into ten chapters which do not entirely cohere until the reader begins drawing conclusions and connecting dots.
More than once, characters muse on "ten holy spheres" of Kabbalistic significance, each a facet of the universal divine spirit which does not entirely cohere until humans do some independent work to put the parts together.
Meta!
It's intriguing but it's pushy, and things don't really take off til Part 2. For anyone but Zadie Smith I'd throw around words like "clumsy" or "ham-handed" but that's not the case here—she is ever deft with her words, penning some sections of near-angelic prose that left me reeling. Still, nobody likes being being bludgeoned over the head with the "Do You Get It Yet??" stick and there's a lot of bludgeoning here.
4 stars. At least it's bludgeoning by something soft and cushiony.
More than once, characters muse on "ten holy spheres" of Kabbalistic significance, each a facet of the universal divine spirit which does not entirely cohere until humans do some independent work to put the parts together.
Meta!
It's intriguing but it's pushy, and things don't really take off til Part 2. For anyone but Zadie Smith I'd throw around words like "clumsy" or "ham-handed" but that's not the case here—she is ever deft with her words, penning some sections of near-angelic prose that left me reeling. Still, nobody likes being being bludgeoned over the head with the "Do You Get It Yet??" stick and there's a lot of bludgeoning here.
4 stars. At least it's bludgeoning by something soft and cushiony.
February 11, 2015
How can you possibly follow up White Teeth? Well you can't, but Smith gives us a very different but equally enjoyable novel. The plot of The Autograph Man is, shall we say, a bit more conventional than White Teeth. Smith's wonderful ability to capture speech in her prose is as admirable here as ever and importantly, it's funny! Sadly this novel has been relegated to the sidelines by all of her other novels but true Smith fans will read this and keep it as their dirty little secret.
June 16, 2019
Unlike seemingly everybody else, I didn't think White Teeth was wonderful. As I remember from around the early 2000s, it was okay, and maybe something was wrong with the way it ended. Very little has stuck with me. And therefore I didn't hop aboard the Zadie Smith bandwagon.
Fast forward to last year, when I asked my daughter-in-law what gift she wanted and she said she'd like the Zadie Smith books she hadn't read.
I warned her what I was reading about The Autograph Man, but never mind, she wanted it anyway.
Well, it's available on Prime now, but at that point, you could only get it used.
When I saw the book, another surprise: why the name of God and the Kabbalistic seferot (ten attributes of God)? Is Zadie Smith Jewish?
Another half year and I've read it. I like it! Off and on, I didn't know what was going on (exacerbated by the fact I started the book when I was sick), but from the beginning I knew I was in the presence of genius. Now, it's true I've occasionally taken confusion for genius, a la Donna Tartt's A Secret History, but not this time. 😁
Zadie Smith is mining the same vein as Keith Gessen in All the Sad Young Literary Men, except without the boredom. And with particulars and personalities and shocks and surprises.
One review complained that territory had already been explored and hence her book was redundant. Hey, men are different from women and I, for one, am still trying to figure that out. So let's not declare the subject finished and done with.
I really don't want to say what happens at the beginning, plot-wise, that ends up bracketing the narrative, since the shock and surprise is part of the experience. ...Although there is one thing that happens at the end that I'm not sure about, that is, I'm not sure what happened. If you've read it, I might want to ask you in a private message.
About those reviews: take them with a grain of salt. But here's a better one by Ron Charles for The Christian Science Monitor that pokes a little fun at the others: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... ("A review in last week's New York Times was so irate about Smith's fall from greatness that I expected it to end with a call for the novelist's execution.")
James Wood! After five or six years I had begun to forgive him for his cluelessness about The Finkler Question. Then, this one! James Wood, your work supports the hypothesis that reason exists, not to find truth, but to win arguments. You don't understand/like a book and then you become a reason-generating machine, ejecting reasons like a machine-gun ejects bullets. You should be barred from saying anything about any book touching on Judaism. Better yet, stick to reviewing books written by members of your own culture, narrowly interpreted. (Not entirely fair, I know; this isn't a case of your degenerating further, given that you reviewed The Autograph Man eight or nine years before you took on The Finkler Question.
The plot thickens; although James Wood proclaimed that the characters' preoccupation with what's Jewish outs Zadie Smith as goyish, the book won the Jewish Quarterly Wingate prize "for fiction with a Jewish theme."
But the Jewish literary world was also divided, with some proclaiming the book "Madonna-ish."
https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-en...
Read it anyway. It feels real. How she does that, I don't know, but I think her research involved real people. Am changing back to five stars, my original response.
Mikey, make that Jan, likes it.
Fast forward to last year, when I asked my daughter-in-law what gift she wanted and she said she'd like the Zadie Smith books she hadn't read.
I warned her what I was reading about The Autograph Man, but never mind, she wanted it anyway.
Well, it's available on Prime now, but at that point, you could only get it used.
When I saw the book, another surprise: why the name of God and the Kabbalistic seferot (ten attributes of God)? Is Zadie Smith Jewish?
Another half year and I've read it. I like it! Off and on, I didn't know what was going on (exacerbated by the fact I started the book when I was sick), but from the beginning I knew I was in the presence of genius. Now, it's true I've occasionally taken confusion for genius, a la Donna Tartt's A Secret History, but not this time. 😁
Zadie Smith is mining the same vein as Keith Gessen in All the Sad Young Literary Men, except without the boredom. And with particulars and personalities and shocks and surprises.
One review complained that territory had already been explored and hence her book was redundant. Hey, men are different from women and I, for one, am still trying to figure that out. So let's not declare the subject finished and done with.
I really don't want to say what happens at the beginning, plot-wise, that ends up bracketing the narrative, since the shock and surprise is part of the experience. ...Although there is one thing that happens at the end that I'm not sure about, that is, I'm not sure what happened. If you've read it, I might want to ask you in a private message.
About those reviews: take them with a grain of salt. But here's a better one by Ron Charles for The Christian Science Monitor that pokes a little fun at the others: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... ("A review in last week's New York Times was so irate about Smith's fall from greatness that I expected it to end with a call for the novelist's execution.")
James Wood! After five or six years I had begun to forgive him for his cluelessness about The Finkler Question. Then, this one! James Wood, your work supports the hypothesis that reason exists, not to find truth, but to win arguments. You don't understand/like a book and then you become a reason-generating machine, ejecting reasons like a machine-gun ejects bullets. You should be barred from saying anything about any book touching on Judaism. Better yet, stick to reviewing books written by members of your own culture, narrowly interpreted. (Not entirely fair, I know; this isn't a case of your degenerating further, given that you reviewed The Autograph Man eight or nine years before you took on The Finkler Question.
The plot thickens; although James Wood proclaimed that the characters' preoccupation with what's Jewish outs Zadie Smith as goyish, the book won the Jewish Quarterly Wingate prize "for fiction with a Jewish theme."
But the Jewish literary world was also divided, with some proclaiming the book "Madonna-ish."
https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-en...
Read it anyway. It feels real. How she does that, I don't know, but I think her research involved real people. Am changing back to five stars, my original response.
October 29, 2014
This book gives the international gesture of 1 finger down your throat.
Appalling, I deserve a medal or an insanity check for finishing this.
Appalling, I deserve a medal or an insanity check for finishing this.
May 22, 2024
I don’t really know how to review this one. This was my second attempt to read Zadie Smith and it was incredibly boring, yet there was something that kept me hooked. It got both better and worse as I keep reading and I’m not even sure what rating to give it, part of me wants to give it 2 stars and the other one wants to give it 4 stars, so I’m going for 3.
The Autograph Man follows Alex-Li Tandem, a guy who collects and sells autographs, after a crazy night. While high, he’d ruined his relationship with Esther and he had somehow produced, out of nowhere, Kitty Alexander’s autograph. Everyone tells him it is forged, but is it? Why would he do that while high? And, to make matters worse, he’s got to perform Kaddish for his father’s death anniversary. Everything is a mess.
That ‘something’ that kept me hooked for the first chunk was the narrator, mostly. I was 5 minutes into the audiobook and I kept wondering ‘why does the narrator sound like Ben Barnes?’ Well, because it is Ben Barnes (aka Prince Caspian). So I think the whole bit about hearing goody two-shoes Ben Barnes talk about manboobs and halitosis or making mooing sounds was sort of funny to me? I think I stuck to the first 30% because of that, but then I was kind of curious to know what would happen to Alex, if he’d fix things with Esther and find out what’s up with the stupid maybe-forged autograph. (I also really, really liked Kitty.)
Content-wise, this book was quite heavy on the autograph world which was honestly really cool but also very meh. I think I had high expectations, but the cast of characters is honestly not interesting at all. I think Zadie Smith is really good at writing dialogue, but not at character-building? She assigns certain characteristics to the characters and runs with that, but I never seem to care for anyone, they don’t have much depth (IMO). The other focus was on Judaism which is something I don’t know much about so everything flew over my head, religion isn’t really my thing. But overall, what I was really into was the drama. Alex had messy relationships with everyone and honestly, it was all so chaotic lol
My biggest ick with the book was how many times Zadie Smith would define something as the “international gesture of…” I loaned the ebook just to check this, she writes it 29 times. I don’t think I’ve seen it used this many times ever.
Another thing that bothered me was Alex himself. I didn’t get him. He overreacted (in my opinion) to everything that happened with Kitty’s letters and he massively underreacted to what Esther has to go through (and let’s not talk about Honey because what the fudge Alex) (speaking of which, am I the only person who disliked Honey?). I just couldn’t quite make sense of him. I don’t think he’s unlikable, but he does things that I’d throw him out of the window for.
Here’s the one quote I liked:
“Look, you have your work, Joseph, yes? And Rubinfine has his family. And Adam has his God. And this is what I have. My little obsessions. You used to have them too, but you grew out of them. Lucky you. But I didn’t, all right? Do you understand? This is what is between me and my grave. This is what I have.”
The Autograph Man follows Alex-Li Tandem, a guy who collects and sells autographs, after a crazy night. While high, he’d ruined his relationship with Esther and he had somehow produced, out of nowhere, Kitty Alexander’s autograph. Everyone tells him it is forged, but is it? Why would he do that while high? And, to make matters worse, he’s got to perform Kaddish for his father’s death anniversary. Everything is a mess.
That ‘something’ that kept me hooked for the first chunk was the narrator, mostly. I was 5 minutes into the audiobook and I kept wondering ‘why does the narrator sound like Ben Barnes?’ Well, because it is Ben Barnes (aka Prince Caspian). So I think the whole bit about hearing goody two-shoes Ben Barnes talk about manboobs and halitosis or making mooing sounds was sort of funny to me? I think I stuck to the first 30% because of that, but then I was kind of curious to know what would happen to Alex, if he’d fix things with Esther and find out what’s up with the stupid maybe-forged autograph. (I also really, really liked Kitty.)
Content-wise, this book was quite heavy on the autograph world which was honestly really cool but also very meh. I think I had high expectations, but the cast of characters is honestly not interesting at all. I think Zadie Smith is really good at writing dialogue, but not at character-building? She assigns certain characteristics to the characters and runs with that, but I never seem to care for anyone, they don’t have much depth (IMO). The other focus was on Judaism which is something I don’t know much about so everything flew over my head, religion isn’t really my thing. But overall, what I was really into was the drama. Alex had messy relationships with everyone and honestly, it was all so chaotic lol
My biggest ick with the book was how many times Zadie Smith would define something as the “international gesture of…” I loaned the ebook just to check this, she writes it 29 times. I don’t think I’ve seen it used this many times ever.
Another thing that bothered me was Alex himself. I didn’t get him. He overreacted (in my opinion) to everything that happened with Kitty’s letters and he massively underreacted to what Esther has to go through (and let’s not talk about Honey because what the fudge Alex) (speaking of which, am I the only person who disliked Honey?). I just couldn’t quite make sense of him. I don’t think he’s unlikable, but he does things that I’d throw him out of the window for.
Here’s the one quote I liked:
“Look, you have your work, Joseph, yes? And Rubinfine has his family. And Adam has his God. And this is what I have. My little obsessions. You used to have them too, but you grew out of them. Lucky you. But I didn’t, all right? Do you understand? This is what is between me and my grave. This is what I have.”
November 12, 2010
One of the single most memorable books I've ever read and totally underappreciated. It's so good. It's about a young man totally at a loss in his life and he has to do a lot of stupid things to realize he actually has it all pretty good. She chooses a very funny little adventure and a very special character to help him get his head sorted.
It's hard for me to say why this book is so great. I think Smith just has a lot of talent but is often constrained by others expectations of her talent. I think she knew that everyone expects the sophomore effort to suck, so she planned for it to suck, didn't worry about it and wrote a book so unbelievably effing good that I can't imagine she'll ever manage this sort of achievement again.
And I'm sure pretty much no one agrees with me on this one, but there it is. This book is one of my all time favorites. Definitely. I don't re-read many books, but I've read this twice and I have no doubt I will reading it again.
It's hard for me to say why this book is so great. I think Smith just has a lot of talent but is often constrained by others expectations of her talent. I think she knew that everyone expects the sophomore effort to suck, so she planned for it to suck, didn't worry about it and wrote a book so unbelievably effing good that I can't imagine she'll ever manage this sort of achievement again.
And I'm sure pretty much no one agrees with me on this one, but there it is. This book is one of my all time favorites. Definitely. I don't re-read many books, but I've read this twice and I have no doubt I will reading it again.
October 25, 2018
Every Zadie Smith novel I've read (all of them) have been good, mostly great actually, but I think this one is the hardest to crack. The way her brain works is incredible: how she settled on a story about a Chinese-Jewish autograph connoisseur is mind boggling, but it made for a story that was at times funny, tender, and introspective.
I feel like this novel starts to scratch the surface of the techniques that were on brilliant display in NW, which is my favorite of hers. It's not a straightforward, linear story, but it absolutely works.
I feel like this novel starts to scratch the surface of the techniques that were on brilliant display in NW, which is my favorite of hers. It's not a straightforward, linear story, but it absolutely works.
September 28, 2017
Not Zadie Smith at her finest - but nonetheless a very accomplished, intriguing and of course brilliantly written novel as well as an interesting insight into the bizarre world of celebrity obsession and autograph trading.
November 30, 2018
If you’re looking to read some Zadie Smith then I’d recommend you steer clear of this one... It pains me to say it, as Smith’s other four novels are all absolute delights, but unfortunately I found this one very tedious - But you can all rest assured that I recommend White Teeth, Swing Time, On Beauty and NW heartily!
.
Usually Smith’s novels are bursting with life and vibrancy, there’s a great sprawling cast of characters and she turns her sharp eye to dissecting society... in The Autograph Man, there’s a man. Who trades and sells autographs. It’s very much centred on Alex-Li’s life, without any further exploration of wider society which Smith does so well.
.
I’m often all for novels that are character-driven, even if the main character is unlikeable, that’s fine by me as long as they’re interesting. Unfortunately, again, Alex-Li is neither likeable nor very interesting. It feels like blasphemy writing this review, as I count Zadie Smith among my favourite authors, but this just did not do it for me at all!
.
A slight saving grace were the supporting characters, who very much were just there to provide some background to Alex-Li, if there’d been more focus on them it would have made for a slightly better story.
.
Usually Smith’s novels are bursting with life and vibrancy, there’s a great sprawling cast of characters and she turns her sharp eye to dissecting society... in The Autograph Man, there’s a man. Who trades and sells autographs. It’s very much centred on Alex-Li’s life, without any further exploration of wider society which Smith does so well.
.
I’m often all for novels that are character-driven, even if the main character is unlikeable, that’s fine by me as long as they’re interesting. Unfortunately, again, Alex-Li is neither likeable nor very interesting. It feels like blasphemy writing this review, as I count Zadie Smith among my favourite authors, but this just did not do it for me at all!
.
A slight saving grace were the supporting characters, who very much were just there to provide some background to Alex-Li, if there’d been more focus on them it would have made for a slightly better story.
November 10, 2012
I'd delayed reading this book for many years because of the mediocre reviews but there it was: a lone English novel, in a Spanish book shop, so I decided to take the plunge. Plus I had just finished rereading On Beauty, which is enjoyable and insightful, and works so well as an updated Howard's End.
Unfortunately the reviews were right. This feels like it was difficult to write; you can sense the sections where Smith must have thrown up her hands in despair. It makes several clunky attempts to offer insight into the vapid nature of celebrity but it feels painfully forced - a reference to a bird singing the first notes of a popular show tune made me blush - and the Jewish/Goyish thing, although amusing at first, quickly becomes infuriating.
I always despair of reviews that complain of the lack of 'likeable characters', but you know a novel is in trouble when you could quite happily punch the noses of those with whom the author intends you to sympathise. Alex is meant to be irksome (I presume) but Adam is just a massive pain in the arse. (Is suspicion of the over earnest a Goyish thing?)
By some coincidence I started rereading London Fields halfway through (out of despair and necessity) and the similarities between Smith and Amis and their approach to tales of the city are striking, but Amis wrote about young lust, when he was in his precocious phase, and Smith has attempted to tackle something that Amis wisely left alone for a few years. I have NW on my bookshelf and I am afraid.
Unfortunately the reviews were right. This feels like it was difficult to write; you can sense the sections where Smith must have thrown up her hands in despair. It makes several clunky attempts to offer insight into the vapid nature of celebrity but it feels painfully forced - a reference to a bird singing the first notes of a popular show tune made me blush - and the Jewish/Goyish thing, although amusing at first, quickly becomes infuriating.
I always despair of reviews that complain of the lack of 'likeable characters', but you know a novel is in trouble when you could quite happily punch the noses of those with whom the author intends you to sympathise. Alex is meant to be irksome (I presume) but Adam is just a massive pain in the arse. (Is suspicion of the over earnest a Goyish thing?)
By some coincidence I started rereading London Fields halfway through (out of despair and necessity) and the similarities between Smith and Amis and their approach to tales of the city are striking, but Amis wrote about young lust, when he was in his precocious phase, and Smith has attempted to tackle something that Amis wisely left alone for a few years. I have NW on my bookshelf and I am afraid.
May 7, 2014
My first acquaintance with Zadie Smith's work, The Autograph Man has left me convinced of her far-reaching talent. While this book has plenty of flaws, Ms. Smith's story-telling exuberance (for me) wins out and makes my beefs with it seem picayune by comparison.
We follow Alex-Li Tandem, Chinese/English/confused Jew/young alkie/stoner/titular "Autograph Man" as he tries (mostly unsuccessfully) to get past the death of his father thirteen years prior. He's pretty much stuck in Schlub-land, getting stoned and drunk all the time, ignoring his girlfriend working in a go-nowhere profession as an autograph dealer. His life takes a fortuitous turn as he pursues the autograph of his childhood idol, Kitty Alexander, an actress from the 1950's long removed from the public eye.
While I don't agree with most of the criticisms of this book (The Autograph Man is, with a 3.1-star cume Goodreads average, the lowest-rated of Ms. Smith's four novels), she does leave herself open for critical attack. Alex is quite unlikable, the story rambles on quite a bit, the ending is, well...not exactly satisfying. Ms. Smith, though, surrounds our protagonist with three childhood friends; their banter is at times hilarious and make up for Alex's unsympathetic character flaws. The story is consistently engaging and clever.
If you're even casually interested in Judaica, old movies, or schlubby characters in search of themselves, I recommend this book to you. Don't let the low GR rating dissuade you (as it almost did me.)
September 7, 2007
I hated the main character and didn't understand his choices. I found it really hard to concentrate on what was going on (admittedly I was listening to the book over one drive and in short chunks) and found I didn't care, which can't be good. Towards the latter half of the book, I kept wanting it to speed up and end already! There is one brief section I did like towards the beginning of the novel, narrated from the point of view of the Alex's father. But it's a very short section in comparison to the whole novel.
June 21, 2017
A thoroughly modern fable that seems to be about the over-identification with symbols, from the marks of Kabbalah to the titular autographs. It's brisker and more playful than White Teeth (which was plenty playful) but also lacks its human scope. It also suffers from a frequent Zadie Smith problem I have; she seems decidedly more capable of sympathy for her characters than I am. Note to self: reading about alcoholics is annoying if you want to care about their decisions at all.
Read
March 3, 2013I let this book's bad reviews sway me and didn't read it until now. I thought it was great and I'm ashamed of myself.
May 26, 2011
She hopes for nothing except fine weather and a resolution. She wants to end properly, like a good sentence.
Zadie Smith has been on my list of authors to read for several years, but I'd only heard of her more well-known novels, White Teeth and On Beauty. I found The Autograph Man on a bookshelf in the teacher's lounge at my school and immediately picked it up.
The story was difficult to get into at first, as the main character, Alex Li-Tandem, didn't start off being too sympathetic or relatable. Alex is half-Chinese and half-Jewish, but it's the half-Jewish part that gets the most attention in the book. Alex has Jewish friends who smoke pot and spend their days pondering Jewish mysticism, and he has a black Jewish girlfriend. All in all, this book is incredibly diverse without overtly advertising that fact.
Alex is an autograph man, he collects signatures from celebrities (a habit he picks up from a childhood friend) and sells them on to fans and other collectors. He has collected autographs from hundreds of celebrities, but he's missing the pièce de résistance of his collection, the signature of Kitty Alexander. After a drunken night out, he inexplicably finds a copy that she has sent to him, and that discovery sets him on a journey, to find the elusive 40's star.
There's not too much to be said about the plot here, nothing particularly of note happens. However, what I loved about the novel was Smith's use of language and power of description. I found myself thinking of sentences and phrases hours after reading them. Though much of Smith's discussion of Jewish mysticism passed over my head, I was nonetheless intrigued and eager to read.
Zadie Smith has been on my list of authors to read for several years, but I'd only heard of her more well-known novels, White Teeth and On Beauty. I found The Autograph Man on a bookshelf in the teacher's lounge at my school and immediately picked it up.
The story was difficult to get into at first, as the main character, Alex Li-Tandem, didn't start off being too sympathetic or relatable. Alex is half-Chinese and half-Jewish, but it's the half-Jewish part that gets the most attention in the book. Alex has Jewish friends who smoke pot and spend their days pondering Jewish mysticism, and he has a black Jewish girlfriend. All in all, this book is incredibly diverse without overtly advertising that fact.
Alex is an autograph man, he collects signatures from celebrities (a habit he picks up from a childhood friend) and sells them on to fans and other collectors. He has collected autographs from hundreds of celebrities, but he's missing the pièce de résistance of his collection, the signature of Kitty Alexander. After a drunken night out, he inexplicably finds a copy that she has sent to him, and that discovery sets him on a journey, to find the elusive 40's star.
There's not too much to be said about the plot here, nothing particularly of note happens. However, what I loved about the novel was Smith's use of language and power of description. I found myself thinking of sentences and phrases hours after reading them. Though much of Smith's discussion of Jewish mysticism passed over my head, I was nonetheless intrigued and eager to read.
March 2, 2012
I am so glad that this is the second zadie smith book that I have read, for rest assured, if it had been the first it would have been the only.
This is appalling and I am not sure what kept me going through its 410 pages.
Its starts Ok with a prelogue that reads as though it has been tagged on. Three kids and a father go to a wrestling match between Big Daddy and Haystacks and the one child gets an autograph. Only by reading reviews of the book did I realise that the father died during the scramble to get the autograph. This is even after revisiting the section!
Incredible.
Then the stort meanders on as the kids are in their mid twenties. Alex Li Tandem is half chinese, half jewish and all dull. He lives a slacker life trading autographs, eventually travelling to America to a collection fayre where he tracks down the elusive Kitty and collect artifacts that make him money.
Whereas On Beauty was full of excellent charaterisation - this was bland beyond belief. Chapter headings tried to tie in with Kabbalism, whcih I know nothing about and the whole story (for what there was) lurched from nothingness to nothingness with no drama or interest.
As you would expect, there were some smart observations and turns of phrase but the end (especially the end) was dull beyond belief and a relief to finish.
I will try White Teeth to see which part of the spectrum that appears at.
This is appalling and I am not sure what kept me going through its 410 pages.
Its starts Ok with a prelogue that reads as though it has been tagged on. Three kids and a father go to a wrestling match between Big Daddy and Haystacks and the one child gets an autograph. Only by reading reviews of the book did I realise that the father died during the scramble to get the autograph. This is even after revisiting the section!
Incredible.
Then the stort meanders on as the kids are in their mid twenties. Alex Li Tandem is half chinese, half jewish and all dull. He lives a slacker life trading autographs, eventually travelling to America to a collection fayre where he tracks down the elusive Kitty and collect artifacts that make him money.
Whereas On Beauty was full of excellent charaterisation - this was bland beyond belief. Chapter headings tried to tie in with Kabbalism, whcih I know nothing about and the whole story (for what there was) lurched from nothingness to nothingness with no drama or interest.
As you would expect, there were some smart observations and turns of phrase but the end (especially the end) was dull beyond belief and a relief to finish.
I will try White Teeth to see which part of the spectrum that appears at.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 9, 2017
I have struggled with Zadie Smith in the past but found that it was well worth persevering. Not in this case. The Autograph Man has been described as "wonderfully funny" and "witty". While there are certainly many attempts at humour, I did not find the usually drunken or doped meanderings of Alex Li Tandem appealing to my sense of humour. The most moving part of the book was the description of Alex's father's death, which appears to be the instigation of Alex's career as an autograph man. His obsession with Kitty Alexander is believable although strange, but then Alex is a rather odd character. Then there is the Jewishness, which permeates the small band of friends - Alex, Adam and Rubinfine. Smith appears much less at ease here than with the Bangladeshis in White Teeth. Something is lost with the lack of any generational span. Alex's quest to find Kitty in New York with the notorious Honey did revive my interest in the story but the return to London and concluding events failed to sustain it.
February 2, 2017
Ο συλλέκτης αυτογράφων είναι ένα βιβλίο που τελειώνοντάς το, μου άφησε μια αίσθηση γλυκύτητας. Έχει μια ιδιαίτερα φρέσκια και ενδιαφέρουσα αφηγηματική απόδοση της ιστορίας με πολύ ζωντανούς και καθημερινούς διαλόγους. Με γραφή που υμνεί την φιλοδοξία, την επιμονή, το πέρασμα στην πρακτική ενηλικίωση (παρά την διατήρηση του έφηβου ήρωα μέσα στο ενήλικο σώμα του) μα κυρίως το θεωρώ ένα βιβλίο αφιερωμένο στην φιλία. Απέφυγε έντεχνα τις ύβρεις που συναντώνται στους καθημερινούς διαλόγους, ξεδιπλώνοντας ταυτόχρονα ένα ωραιότατο λεξιλόγιο που εξυπηρετεί την ιστορία της, καθόλου πομπώδες ή επιτηδευμένο.
Ίσως να έδινα και μισό αστεράκι ακόμη αν η - κατά τα άλλα - ταλαντούχα Smith εμβάθυνε λίγο περισσότερο στους χαρακτήρες της που σε σημεία μοιάζουν λίγο επιφανειακοί. Σίγουρα θα αναζητήσω κι άλλα δείγματα γραφής της.
Ίσως να έδινα και μισό αστεράκι ακόμη αν η - κατά τα άλλα - ταλαντούχα Smith εμβάθυνε λίγο περισσότερο στους χαρακτήρες της που σε σημεία μοιάζουν λίγο επιφανειακοί. Σίγουρα θα αναζητήσω κι άλλα δείγματα γραφής της.
March 10, 2008
Zadie Smith certainly has a way with characters and dialogue. Her characters live. (The only character I found a bit underdeveloped was Esther, but this may have been intentional as we only see her through Alex's thoughts and what others say to him for most of the book.)
The plot is inventive and, despite one early section, kept my interest throughout. I will certainly forgive the only one or two quirky areas where I thought some editing might've been good in order to have the exuberant, deliberately busy and 'messy' style of this novel. There's a lot of depth here, a lot to think about, but what most impresses is the way this abundance is whittled down to a quiet, almost casual, beautiful insight near the end.
The plot is inventive and, despite one early section, kept my interest throughout. I will certainly forgive the only one or two quirky areas where I thought some editing might've been good in order to have the exuberant, deliberately busy and 'messy' style of this novel. There's a lot of depth here, a lot to think about, but what most impresses is the way this abundance is whittled down to a quiet, almost casual, beautiful insight near the end.
August 27, 2020
Occasionally I read books that I am enjoying more-or-less until there is some shift in the narrative that either destroys my enjoyment of the book or ratchets it up wildly, but its rare that I read something where that happens at least a dozen times. The Autograph Man was that rare book where I went from loving to loathing to loving over and over, sometimes within a single chapter.
I did not check reviews before reading this, but I could not help noticing the VERY low average rating - a 3.16. Low ratings don't bother me, I find on the whole I am more likely to like a book rated 3.2 than one rated 4.2, but it surprised me for this book. This is not a literary book likely to be picked up by those who like page turners or who like their tragedy to come with tear-jerky wallowing rather than wry observation. Though this was Zadie Smith's second novel she was already a known quantity appealing to a particular type of reader who liked White Teeth, and those readers I figured probably shared my tastes to some degree. Still I dove in.
I started reading the preface, and thought "what is wrong with people, this is genius." And that rather lengthy preface does not falter. Its so good! Sadly, the book does not deliver on the preface's promise. There are parts of the book I might have liked more if I had not been set up by the preface to expect a wonderful rollicking read. In fact the part of the book I liked least was the 50 or so pages immediately following the preface. The story crashes to earth immediately after the preface. I sorta kinda hated that section where we spend time with Alex before he leaves London for NYC. I almost abandoned the book, and if that section had gone on another 10 pages I likely would have done. The book though does pick up in the NYC section, regardless of how improbable the story becomes. I loved the book's end, which made absolute sense though there is no resolution, just the merest whiff of growth and change which given the protagonist's stuntedness is a seismic shift.
Smith takes on some big themes here, themes I would think were very present for her as a young writer who achieved literary It Girl status with her first book. The emptiness of celebrity, and its utter disconnection from craft or art is overarching. I liked that she did not simply dismiss celebrity as silly and shallow, or ignore what appears to be a real human need for iconography. People need things like heroes and faith, which remain unchanged and unchangeable when things and people around us change and disappear at the moments we most need constancy. Smith was much less successful examining the distinctions between faith and tribal identification. I understand why she chose Jewish characters for this meditation, I don't think there are any other major religions or sects where that distinction between faith and tribe is more troubling and profound. Alex's relationship (or lack) to Judaism and to Jews and to Jewish culture is a great set up for that discussion, but I don't think Smith pulls it off.
I know non-Jewish writers who write great Jewish characters, but most don't, and Smith falls into the latter group. Alex-Li and his freinds did not resonate with me, they did not feel familiar or recognizable in any way. They really felt like constructs to illustrate things about what it means to be Jewish. And maybe that was the problem, their Jewishness was so central to everything they did, and that really felt off. And that clunky characterization was not limited to the Jews. I think the weakest most poorly written character in the book is a black buddhist woman, which is how Zadie Smith identifies. So much here is tone deaf which is not usually something I say about Zadie Smith.
In the end there were a lot of poorly drawn characters, a weird conflation of defining oneself and defining one's faith (I know faith is a part of how we define ourselves, but trust me that it would not have been this big a part for Alex, who identifies pretty comfortably as Atheist and who already acknowledges and accepts his tribal connection.), a lot of digressions, and serious structural problems. Still there were swaths of genius that gave me real pleasure and so I am calling the whole a 3. Its easier to afford the optimistic 3 rather than the disappointed 2 when I am reading back-catalogue. When dealing with a new writer I never know if a first brilliant book might have been an aberration. A lot of writers never deliver on the promise of a great first novel so I remain cautious, but I know Zadie Smith gave the world a great next novel (not to mention some spectacular essays) so I can see the way in which this not great novel made later great work possible.
I did not check reviews before reading this, but I could not help noticing the VERY low average rating - a 3.16. Low ratings don't bother me, I find on the whole I am more likely to like a book rated 3.2 than one rated 4.2, but it surprised me for this book. This is not a literary book likely to be picked up by those who like page turners or who like their tragedy to come with tear-jerky wallowing rather than wry observation. Though this was Zadie Smith's second novel she was already a known quantity appealing to a particular type of reader who liked White Teeth, and those readers I figured probably shared my tastes to some degree. Still I dove in.
I started reading the preface, and thought "what is wrong with people, this is genius." And that rather lengthy preface does not falter. Its so good! Sadly, the book does not deliver on the preface's promise. There are parts of the book I might have liked more if I had not been set up by the preface to expect a wonderful rollicking read. In fact the part of the book I liked least was the 50 or so pages immediately following the preface. The story crashes to earth immediately after the preface. I sorta kinda hated that section where we spend time with Alex before he leaves London for NYC. I almost abandoned the book, and if that section had gone on another 10 pages I likely would have done. The book though does pick up in the NYC section, regardless of how improbable the story becomes. I loved the book's end, which made absolute sense though there is no resolution, just the merest whiff of growth and change which given the protagonist's stuntedness is a seismic shift.
Smith takes on some big themes here, themes I would think were very present for her as a young writer who achieved literary It Girl status with her first book. The emptiness of celebrity, and its utter disconnection from craft or art is overarching. I liked that she did not simply dismiss celebrity as silly and shallow, or ignore what appears to be a real human need for iconography. People need things like heroes and faith, which remain unchanged and unchangeable when things and people around us change and disappear at the moments we most need constancy. Smith was much less successful examining the distinctions between faith and tribal identification. I understand why she chose Jewish characters for this meditation, I don't think there are any other major religions or sects where that distinction between faith and tribe is more troubling and profound. Alex's relationship (or lack) to Judaism and to Jews and to Jewish culture is a great set up for that discussion, but I don't think Smith pulls it off.
I know non-Jewish writers who write great Jewish characters, but most don't, and Smith falls into the latter group. Alex-Li and his freinds did not resonate with me, they did not feel familiar or recognizable in any way. They really felt like constructs to illustrate things about what it means to be Jewish. And maybe that was the problem, their Jewishness was so central to everything they did, and that really felt off. And that clunky characterization was not limited to the Jews. I think the weakest most poorly written character in the book is a black buddhist woman, which is how Zadie Smith identifies. So much here is tone deaf which is not usually something I say about Zadie Smith.
In the end there were a lot of poorly drawn characters, a weird conflation of defining oneself and defining one's faith (I know faith is a part of how we define ourselves, but trust me that it would not have been this big a part for Alex, who identifies pretty comfortably as Atheist and who already acknowledges and accepts his tribal connection.), a lot of digressions, and serious structural problems. Still there were swaths of genius that gave me real pleasure and so I am calling the whole a 3. Its easier to afford the optimistic 3 rather than the disappointed 2 when I am reading back-catalogue. When dealing with a new writer I never know if a first brilliant book might have been an aberration. A lot of writers never deliver on the promise of a great first novel so I remain cautious, but I know Zadie Smith gave the world a great next novel (not to mention some spectacular essays) so I can see the way in which this not great novel made later great work possible.
May 13, 2018
4.0 out of 5 stars
All Things considered, I Liked the Story
By Sherrie Miranda on April 13, 2018
Format: Paperback
As a reader of Black & Latino authors, I bought Zadie Smith's book in part because she is a black Brit. I thought I would learn something about life as a black, British female in London. The main character is a Chinese Jew and there are several other characters in the story, but the one black Brit is talked about a few times & gets about two minutes in an actual scene. There is even a black American prostitute in the story. She is not realistic at all, but none of the characters are.
That said, once I accepted that the novel was NOT about a character like Zadie, I did finally begin to enjoy the story. Alex Li Tandem and his friends are fascinating and unusual characters. And the story is like nothing I've ever read. I always thought people who collected autographs were rather silly people, but I now see that it is also a business and some collectors will do almost anything to get an autograph, including going halfway around the world, as well as forging a signature if they are desperate or delirious enough.
All things considered, I liked the story, but I do imagine I will like some of her other novels more.
Sherrie Miranda's historically based, coming of age, Adventure novel “Secrets & Lies in El Salvador” will be out en Español soon. It's about an American girl in war-torn El Salvador:
http://tinyurl.com/klxbt4y
Her husband made a video for her novel. He wrote the song too:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P11Ch...
All Things considered, I Liked the Story
By Sherrie Miranda on April 13, 2018
Format: Paperback
As a reader of Black & Latino authors, I bought Zadie Smith's book in part because she is a black Brit. I thought I would learn something about life as a black, British female in London. The main character is a Chinese Jew and there are several other characters in the story, but the one black Brit is talked about a few times & gets about two minutes in an actual scene. There is even a black American prostitute in the story. She is not realistic at all, but none of the characters are.
That said, once I accepted that the novel was NOT about a character like Zadie, I did finally begin to enjoy the story. Alex Li Tandem and his friends are fascinating and unusual characters. And the story is like nothing I've ever read. I always thought people who collected autographs were rather silly people, but I now see that it is also a business and some collectors will do almost anything to get an autograph, including going halfway around the world, as well as forging a signature if they are desperate or delirious enough.
All things considered, I liked the story, but I do imagine I will like some of her other novels more.
Sherrie Miranda's historically based, coming of age, Adventure novel “Secrets & Lies in El Salvador” will be out en Español soon. It's about an American girl in war-torn El Salvador:
http://tinyurl.com/klxbt4y
Her husband made a video for her novel. He wrote the song too:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P11Ch...
February 5, 2018
Ei Zadie Smithin Nimikirjoitusmiehelle voi antaa tähtiä. Välillä on nollaa ja välillä kaikkea ykkösestä vitoseen ja ylikin. Päädyin samaan epätaajuuteen kuin Swing Timeä lukiessa.
Smith on kielensä kanssa uskomattoman taitava. Taitaisin jäädä kakkoseksi, jos joutuisin (tai pääsisin) mukaan Alex-Li Tandemin ja kavereiden dialogeihin.
Nimikirjoitusmies on ihan reaaliaikaista kerrontaa ja vauhtia piisaa. Kun päähenkilöitäkin on vain yksi, kiinalais-juutalainen Alex-Li Tandem, tulee herra nimikirjoitusmieheen pakosti luotua jonkinlainen kiintymyssuhde.
Vaikka en lainkaan ymmärtänyt häntä lapsena - ehkä hän ei sellainen koskaan ollutkaan.
Ongelmia tuotti myös juutalainen nuorisokulttuuri raamatullisine nimineen, kabbaloineen ja rabbikavereineen. Sekä nimikirjoituselämä julkkislistoineen, näyttelijätärpakkomielteineen ja etenkin showpaini, josta se kaikkia alkoi. Ja hyvin paljon tapahtui erilaisten aineiden vaikutuksen alaisena ja muistikatkojen itsesäälissä rypien. Ilmankos Alex-Li Tandemilla oli "taito kuvitella itsensä pikku episodiksi muiden elämässä".
Nimikirjoitusmies oli ilkikurinen, ei mitenkään vakava - eikä siten niin vaikuttava kuin olisin toivonut. Tai sitten olen taipuvainen kolmen kirjan perusteella epäilemään, että Zadie Smithin aura on hänen kirjojaan vaikuttavampi.
Smith on kielensä kanssa uskomattoman taitava. Taitaisin jäädä kakkoseksi, jos joutuisin (tai pääsisin) mukaan Alex-Li Tandemin ja kavereiden dialogeihin.
Nimikirjoitusmies on ihan reaaliaikaista kerrontaa ja vauhtia piisaa. Kun päähenkilöitäkin on vain yksi, kiinalais-juutalainen Alex-Li Tandem, tulee herra nimikirjoitusmieheen pakosti luotua jonkinlainen kiintymyssuhde.
Vaikka en lainkaan ymmärtänyt häntä lapsena - ehkä hän ei sellainen koskaan ollutkaan.
Ongelmia tuotti myös juutalainen nuorisokulttuuri raamatullisine nimineen, kabbaloineen ja rabbikavereineen. Sekä nimikirjoituselämä julkkislistoineen, näyttelijätärpakkomielteineen ja etenkin showpaini, josta se kaikkia alkoi. Ja hyvin paljon tapahtui erilaisten aineiden vaikutuksen alaisena ja muistikatkojen itsesäälissä rypien. Ilmankos Alex-Li Tandemilla oli "taito kuvitella itsensä pikku episodiksi muiden elämässä".
Nimikirjoitusmies oli ilkikurinen, ei mitenkään vakava - eikä siten niin vaikuttava kuin olisin toivonut. Tai sitten olen taipuvainen kolmen kirjan perusteella epäilemään, että Zadie Smithin aura on hänen kirjojaan vaikuttavampi.
June 6, 2020
Bitti. Yıllar önce izlediğim bir film, içinde geçen bir cümlesiyle aklıma düştü: ‘Bir kitabı ondan bir şey okuyana kadar asla kapatmamalısın.’
Ben de öyle yaptım ama ‘ne okuduğum?’ konusunda bir SS tandemi yapmamız lazım:) Bakalım hayat bize neler gösterecek:)
....
6 Ocak 2020,
Alex Li Tandem'in yani imza toplayan adamın öyküsü bir güreş karşılaşması ile başlar. Bu bir nevi okur için de okuyacaklarının zorlu bir güreş olacağının habercisidir. Güreş izlemeyi seven benim için bile de kitap aynen öyle oldu. Kitap boyunca Alex'in en çok sevdiği gürültüyü- birinci tekil zamiri- çıkaracağını görüp onu bir okur olarak bile yalnız bırakmamam gerektiğini bilip devam ettim. Sabra ihtiyacı vardı ve ' Yaşamdan kavgaları çıkarttığın zaman, geriye sevgi, içinde kabarıp taşan bir sevgi kaldığını hayretle fark etmişti.'
Tandem psikozun sınırlarında yasını öteledikçe, çevirdiğim her sayfa ile neyse ki ' tebessümün yinelenen şafağına ' ulaştık.
Beraberce öğrendik ki; ' bahar gelince otlar kendiliğinden büyür '. Yani ' mavi dağ yerinden kımıldamaz'. Demem şu ki ' beyaz bulutlar bir o yana bir bu yana uçuşur'.
Son sayfayı okuyup kapattığım da ilk hissettiğim şey; ‘arkadaşlık iyidir’ olmuştu. Tandem ile arkadaş olmaktan çekinmeyin, okuyun isterim:)
Ben de öyle yaptım ama ‘ne okuduğum?’ konusunda bir SS tandemi yapmamız lazım:) Bakalım hayat bize neler gösterecek:)
....
6 Ocak 2020,
Alex Li Tandem'in yani imza toplayan adamın öyküsü bir güreş karşılaşması ile başlar. Bu bir nevi okur için de okuyacaklarının zorlu bir güreş olacağının habercisidir. Güreş izlemeyi seven benim için bile de kitap aynen öyle oldu. Kitap boyunca Alex'in en çok sevdiği gürültüyü- birinci tekil zamiri- çıkaracağını görüp onu bir okur olarak bile yalnız bırakmamam gerektiğini bilip devam ettim. Sabra ihtiyacı vardı ve ' Yaşamdan kavgaları çıkarttığın zaman, geriye sevgi, içinde kabarıp taşan bir sevgi kaldığını hayretle fark etmişti.'
Tandem psikozun sınırlarında yasını öteledikçe, çevirdiğim her sayfa ile neyse ki ' tebessümün yinelenen şafağına ' ulaştık.
Beraberce öğrendik ki; ' bahar gelince otlar kendiliğinden büyür '. Yani ' mavi dağ yerinden kımıldamaz'. Demem şu ki ' beyaz bulutlar bir o yana bir bu yana uçuşur'.
Son sayfayı okuyup kapattığım da ilk hissettiğim şey; ‘arkadaşlık iyidir’ olmuştu. Tandem ile arkadaş olmaktan çekinmeyin, okuyun isterim:)
March 11, 2011
One of the problems with this book, is that it will inevitably be read with 'White Teeth' in mind, and unfortunately, it really doesn't compare. While it demonstrates Smith's tongue-in-cheek humour, it is incredibly slow to start, and the characters are such superficial creations, that it is often difficult to empathise with them. I agree with another reviewer who suggests that Smith seems to have packed too many ideas in here. This results in a novel which is not as satisfyingly complete as her debut, or indeed, the follow up 'On Beauty.'
'Autograph Man' raises some interesting discussions relating to contemporary consumerism and materialism, but lacks the substance and insight perhaps expected of its author.
'Autograph Man' raises some interesting discussions relating to contemporary consumerism and materialism, but lacks the substance and insight perhaps expected of its author.
December 31, 2015
I really enjoyed White Teeth, so expectations were high for this one. But the Autograph Man is nothing like White Teeth. Sure Zadie Smith's impressive writing style is still there, thank god, but though the plot sounded interesting, I think the book still needed a bit more time to really pull it off. I much preferred the second part to the first but not enough to say that I would read it again or recommend it. It's ok, but there's better out there.
February 15, 2018
i’m going to pretend this wasn’t zadie smith and was instead some strange debut from someone i probably won’t read again
June 11, 2020
Sometimes, an overload of random losers being pointlessly pathetic just wears you out.
(Don't get me wrong: Zadie Smith is brilliant, but, boy, this is one half-assed book.)
(Don't get me wrong: Zadie Smith is brilliant, but, boy, this is one half-assed book.)
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