Changes

|title=NW

|author=Zadie Smith

|borrow=Yes

|isbn=9780241144145

|pages=304

|publisher=Hamish Hamilton

|date=September 2012

|summary=Zadie Smith has made us wait a long time for her next book in which she returns to the issues of urban multi-culturalism that she addressed in her brilliant debut. Four people brought up on a poor council estate in NW London try to make their way in the world - can they overcome their backgrounds or will is always drag them back down?

}}

Fans of Zadie Smith have had a seven year wait since her last book ''On Beauty''. In ''NW'', Smith returns to more of the issues addressed in her brilliant debut novel [[White Teeth by Zadie Smith|White Teeth]]. Set in parts of London that should be obvious from the title, the book takes the lives of four people who grew up on a rough estate and looks at how they have moved on - or not. All four still live nearby the estate where they grew up. There's multi-cultural tension and the have and have nots of power and money and Smith looks at how much individuals are in control of their destiny and ability to rise out of their upbringing, and how chance encounters can bring you back to your past with a bump.

Any self-respecting Londoner will tell you that North and South London are very different places. So read this in conjunction with [[Capital by John Lanchester]] to get the full picture. Having lived in both parts, the differences in the books reflect well on the differences in the locations too.

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