Swing Time

Our unnamed protagonist is a bit of a cypher surrounded by three strong willed women each with a singular focus, not to mention distinct blind spots. There is a willful blindness to inconvenient truths that stand in the way of what they perceive as success.

Tracey is wonderfully brash and filled with the boastful lies we tell others to shape our own heroic narrative. The narrator's mother is fuelled by a singular self-righteous ambition that brooks no time for others. And the Aussie pop-star is surrounded by a reality distortion bubble, shored up by handlers and yes-men.

Zadie Smith is a wonderful writer but I just wasn't sure of the story she was trying to tell. Maybe I needed something more to hang onto to here. It's got a good beat, I just can't dance to it.