The Fraud

The Fraud by Zadie Smith is an engaging historical novel. Her first in the genre, the story tells of multiple, real-life "frauds" that lived in her neighborhood of Willesden, in north-west London, in the nineteenth century. The chapters are short and brisk--it's a quick read. The characters' concerns range from the banal (literary celebrity) to the devastating (slavery in Jamaica). Holding these in tension, the overlapping storylines and perspectives are rooted in real events, and the connections are complicated and often surprising. The Fraud is a labor of love for Smith, fascinated as she is by her London roots and its history. Just like White Teeth, just like NW, just like Swing Time, this novel mines multicultural London for true glimpses into its humanity.

Smith is one of our great writers, and this novel was often funny, often troubling, and always absorbing. It never broke pace, sometimes to a fault. Her short chapters kept me turning the page, but some of the more difficult subjects--relating to slavery and colonialism--felt underdeveloped. The chapters set in Jamaica were too hurried. In my final judgement, the tremendous scope of The Fraud kept it from feeling as balanced as Swing Time or NW, Smith's excellent two previous novels, set as they are on smaller stages. Still, I admire good old Zadie Smith for her rare willingness to write across genres, and across time periods, and maintain terrific characterization, wit, and empathy.