"Swing Time" by Zadie Smith

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"Swing Time" by Zadie Smith is the August selection for my Childless Collective Nomo Book Club, which focuses on books where motherhood and babies are not the focus. I've heard of Zadie Smith, but haven't read anything else by her before this. 

"Swing Time" is the story of two "brown girls" (mixed race) growing up in London -- our narrator (who is never named) and her friend Tracey.  They are dance classmates, and both dream of becoming dancers. As they grow up, however, their lives go in very different directions. Tracey pursues her dancing ambitions, while our narrator winds up travelling the world as the personal assistant to Aimee, a world-famous Australian pop star, who has elaborate philanthropic plans to open a school for girls in West Africa.  The narrative jumps back & forth between past and present, London, New York and Africa.  

In many ways, this is a beautifully written book. The quality of the prose is top-notch. There were some interesting observations & themes explored -- identity, culture, celebrity, race/racism, activism, capitalism, colonialism, white saviourism, classic movie musicals... 

BUT.  I have to admit, this was kind of a slog to get through, and it took a LOT longer than I had anticipated. (I started on July 8th!! = a full month!!)  If it wasn't for the fact that it was for the book club (and that I'm one of the co-hosts, albeit this wasn't "my" month to lead the discussions), I probably would have set it aside (possibly permanently -- which I VERY rarely do!).  At 450ish pages (depending on your edition), it WAS a long one, and it didn't help that July was a busy month with a lot of distractions. But beyond that, I just didn't find the characters that interesting/sympathetic (perhaps a little more so towards the end), and it felt like it was probably at least 1/3 longer than it needed to be. The story did pick up somewhat in the final chapters (after wandering along for what seemed like forever) -- but for me, it was too little too late. 

3 stars.   

ALI notes:  The narrator and one of the secondary characters in Africa bond over the absence of children in their lives. (Part 6, Chapter 2). And there's an adoption near the end (by one of the secondary characters in the book) that's the catalyst that brings together a number of threads from throughout the book into a climactic finale. 

Also:  As children, the narrator and Tracey are fascinated by the dancers in Hollywood movie musicals. In particular, they fixate on a black woman dancer & actress named Jeni LeGon.  I began to suspect LeGon was a real person, and a quick Google confirmed that she was.  She was the first Black woman to sign a long-term contract with a major movie studio (MGM). Originally from Chicago, she moved to Vancouver in the 1960s and taught dance classes there. There are clips from her movies available to watch on YouTube. In 1999, she was also the subject of an award-winning National Film Board of Canada documentary, " Jeni LeGon: Living in a Great Big Way." 

LeGon died in Vancouver in 2012 at the age of 96. She didn't have any children. Here's her New York Times obituary (gift link),  and one from the Independent (UK). 

In the acknowledgements at the end of the book, Smith writes, "Thanks to Eleanor Wachtel, for introducing me to the matchless Jeni LeGon."  Eleanor Wachtel was the host of CBC Radio One's long-running program about books, writers and other literary matters, "Writers & Company," for 33 years before her retirement in 2023, and a quick search of the program's archives shows that she interviewed Smith many times. 

This was Book #23 read to date in 2024 (and Book #1 finished in August), bringing me to 51%  of my 2024 Goodreads Reading Challenge goal of 45 books. I am (for the moment, anyway...!) 4 books behind schedule to meet my goal. :(  You can find reviews of all my books read to date in 2024 tagged as "2024 books."