Nicholas Laughlin's blog etc.

Am reading Zadie Smith's new book, The Autograph Man. The reviews I've read have been lukewarm, some even tending to the chilly (ouch, Michiko Kakutani), but it's a fun read so far—not as dizzyingly brilliant as White Teeth, but more purposeful, more thoughtful, & displaying that unmistakeable Smithian verve. Halfway through, I feel I have something personally at stake in the spiritual quest of the lead, Alex-Li Tandem (an autograph collector, a man whose identity is defined by other people's names on little bits of paper). He thinks he's in search of an obscure, elderly Hollywood actress he's idolised since boyhood; I'm hoping & suspecting he'll find something rather greater in the end. Threads of meaning from Jewish Kabbalah are woven through Alex-Li's story; I'm intrigued by the pattern that seems to be emerging.