Feel Free: Essays

Dazzlingly insightful, explosively funny and ever-timely, Zadie Smith's second essay collection is unmissable No subject is too fringe or too mainstream for Zadie Smith's insatiable curiosity. From social media to the environment, Tarantino to Jay-Z to Knausgaard, she has endless fascination and the boundless wit, insight and wisdom to match. In Feel Free, pop culture, high culture, social change and political debate all get the Zadie Smith treatment- dissected with razor-sharp intellect, set brilliantly against the context of the utterly contemporary, and considered with a deep humanity and compassion. This electrifying new collection showcases its author as a true literary powerhouse, demonstrating once again her credentials as an essential voice of her generation.

About the Author :
Zadie Smith is the author of the novels White Teeth, The Autograph Man, On Beauty, NW, Swing Time and The Fraud; as well as a novella, The Embassy of Cambodia; four collections of essays, Changing My Mind, Feel Free, Intimations and Dead and Alive; a collection of short stories, Grand Union; and the play, The Wife of Willesden, adapted from Chaucer. She is also the editor of The Book of Other People. Zadie Smith was born in north-west London, where she still lives.

Review :
A writer so insistent on the possibility of imaginative connection, so generous and curious with regard to her readers Brilliant...[Smith's] new book is lively, intelligent and frequently hilarious, and proves that she's one of the brightest minds in English literature today Refreshingly insightful on any number of topics, from Martin Buber to Justin Bieber...Reviewing a book by her countryman Geoff Dyer, [Smith] writes that she is most struck by 'his tone. Its simplicity, its classlessness, its accessibility and yet its erudition-the combination is a trick few British writers ever pull off.' Without question, Smith is one of them Brims with a wide-ranging enthusiasm...[Smith's] open-mindedness gives the whole of Feel Free a lively, game-for-anything spirit...Enchanting Fascinating stuff! Charmingly digressive...Smith sets an unpretentious tone...As the pages pass, there's a palpable absence of self-certainty. In its place are ample reserves of curiosity and empathy The joy of this collection is Smith's straightforward phrasing, often summing up her thesis with a single thoughtful sentence. Her words are not overwritten; they do not distract from her purpose, nor are they a barrier to her argument; they are welcoming. I found myself re-reading the brightest of these sentences over and again, marveling at her humor and her brevity The strongest essays showcase Smith's skills as an art, literary and cultural critic...One of the pleasures of reading Feel Free is in savoring Smith's joy when she writes about formative cultural experiences. As with any book of opinions, Feel Free makes claims one might dispute...But a collection of essays that doesn't prompt disagreements would be a dull book, and Feel Free is anything but dull Getting In and Out' is the kind of essay that sheds light on a whole career, and it would justify this collection even if Feel Free didn't include a handful of more perfectly crafted pieces of prose For years, [Smith] has been one of the most important literary journalists we have. This is why