At the centre of Swing Time is a relationship between two girls who love to dance. Superficially similar in childhood, they are almost painfully close, despite the power dynamic that operates between them, but the social gulf which was always there widens as they grow up and go on to have very different life experiences.

This is a wide-ranging novel and it’s hard to pin down, both geographically and thematically. From northwest London to Africa via New York, it takes in geopolitics, technology, religion, race, class and celebrity. Social mobility and how and where we find family are important threads, but for me it’s a book about exploring different versions of womanhood. All those versions are imperfect, but they represent choices about who we want to be and, as the unnamed narrator ultimately discovers, there is a certainly choice to be made.

At certain points Swing Time is riveting and it’s undoubtedly thought-provoking, but overall I found it slightly uneven. The non-linear narrative requires some concentration and although the principle characters are vivid, the supporting cast is shadowy. Perhaps it doesn’t quite carry off its own ambition, but I loved its bold sweep and its distinctiveness.

I am conflicted: while the language is impressive and there were plenty of parts that I truly enjoyed immensely, the overall reading experience was uneven and a bit of a dissappointment for me. I was super pleased to receive an arc of this book as Zadie Smith is one of those authors whose work I have intended to get to at some point, sooner rather than later. Now I am not so sure anymore if this was the best way to start reading her.

"Swing Time" is a story told from the perspective of an unnamed mixed-race woman, both of her younger years and her intense friendship with Tracey, another of the mixed-race girls living at the estate she's growing up at and of her being in her mid-30s and working for a ficticious international pop-star with philanthropic plans of building a girls' school in West Africa. Threading through both timelines is her love for dance and her inability to find a place in the world (or even herself). As other reviewers have already noted, the parts with Aimee, the pop star, and the visits to Africa are by far not as interesting as her life before - and especially Tracey's life.

My main problem with the book was the main character. Even after spending more than 400 pages in her head, I am still not sure who she is and what she is like; however, this flatness of character might very well be intentional. The protagonist only ever defines herself in relation to other people: to Aimee, to her mother, and most of all to Tracey - that other girl so similar to her and still so different, with a trajectory so contrary to her own that there might not be a way for them to meet again. Nevertheless, that flatness bothered me and her naivity did not endear her to me - it rather proved how much her world revolved around herself and it made her a difficult protagonist to empathize with.

But at the same time, some of the secondary characters were fully fleshed out, flawed people that I would have loved to spend more time with. I enjoyed Tracey as a character and would have loved for her to be at the centre of the book (especially because the description made it sound like it). I loved the interactions the protagonist had with her mother; even though she is aggrevating as well their interaction felt real. It was in those scenes that Zadie Smith's tremendous talent shines and those are the reason why I am still overall glad to have read this book.

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I received an arc curtesy of NetGalley and Penguin Books UK in exchange for an honest review. Thanks for that!

What is this book about?

An unnamed narrator writes about her life as a pop star’s personal assistant, an old friendship and dance. The book is filled with women who are trying to make their way through life – some more successful than others – and for many of them dance has played a big part in that. But to me, Swing Time isn’t so much about what dance means, but more about how dance is integrated in many different lives in many different ways. The way we live our life is decided by the choices we make and the way we dance is a result of that.

Why is it boring?

I thought the book was quite slow at times. Smith has a very calm writing voice, which can be a little difficult to get hooked on if you’re easily annoyed with characters who enjoy slow pondering on a daily basis.

Who would you recommend it to?

Swing Time deals a lot with problems surrounding race, class and women, but I felt that the struggles and ideas in it were very universal. So don’t write this one off as a book that doesn’t concern you if you’re a rich white man who can’t shake his ass for shit, because you’ll probably enjoy it a lot as well.

Why should I read it if it’s boring?!

I thought Smith had a wonderful writing voice. This was the first book by her that I read and I love how she takes her time to tell a story and to really crawl into someone’s mind. Her descriptions of both London, Amy (the previously mentioned pop star) and the unnamed African village were all so vivid, that I feel like I lived through the story with all of the characters as well. I did think the ending was a little rushed. A lot of time is spend on the narrator and her childhood friendship with Tracey. This was set up very well, making the friendship and subsequent falling out feel entirely real. However, the actual end of our narrator’s story – which is spoiled at the exact beginning – was done with in just several pages. This made the reasons for her being fired feel a little sudden and left me feeling somewhat unsatisfied. Smith’s writing is a joy in itself though and I’m definitely going to be reading her earlier books as well.