Alex-Li Tandem is a man who makes his living buying and selling autographs. He has a stunningly beautiful and intelligent girlfriend, Esther, and a wonderfully loyal best friend (her brother) despite being described as physically unattractive, unfaithful, and amoral. It is implied he has been deeply affected by the early death of his father, due to a brain tumour; perhaps taking refuge in a childhood hobby as a way to escape maturity and adulthood. He has an obsession - described as common within his field - with an obscure Hollywood actress from the 40s named Kitty. He smokes, takes drugs and drinks too much, yet has a morbid fear of cancer, and drinks a special Chinese  Read the complete review

Autograph Man is an interesting read, it tells the story of Alex Li Tandem who as a young boy attends a wrestling match and gets hooked into the idea of collecting his heroes autographs however there is also a sad event at the match as his father collapses and dies while Alex is rushing to meet the wrestlers. However his interest blossoms into a passion and ultimately into his career as the story jumps forward 15 years to present day Alex. This phase of the story introduces Alex the dealer in autographs who also enjoys the occasional drug fuelled weekend of debauchery. The story follows his life and those of his friends, Rubenfine the Rabbi, Adam a grass ...  Read the complete review

The story of two generations of London’s immigrants, with the consequent generational and integration conflicts. Two families, whose roots are Archie and Samad. Archie, a quite Englishman, marries the black Clara. Samad, Bengalese, cannot stand the Western society decadent attitude. This is the story of their friendship and of the friendship between their wives and sons, often full of incomprehension and conflicts, but there is much more than this in the novel. Written with verve and permeated with a subtle irony always catching its target, “White teeth” is maybe the best debut work I’ve ever read. Zadie Smith is wonderful in drawing her characters, in ...  Read the complete review

We all read and admired Zadie Smith's first novel, White Teeth, didn't we? And many of us were spurred by hype to go onto read her much awaited follow up novel, The Autograph Man. It seems like an interesting premise - a bizarre young guy in London who is obsessed with an ageing actress and who wheels and deals in the strange world of autograph trading. At first glance, a character called Alex Li Tandem would seem exotic and compelling. A mixture of Jewish and Chinese, he belongs to the multi cultural world that Zadie Smith knows and describes well. Alex is a character in a state of confusion, searching for an identity reflected in his collection ...  Read the complete review