White Teeth - Zadie Smith (2000)
Zadie Smith's debut novel is huge. Not technically in size (though, it is fairly sizable), but in the ground that it covers. It is a post-modern epic of sorts, and its details are too many and too intricate to attempt to cover in a short review. White Teeth tells the mid-life events of two close war buddies and their dysfunctional families. Their stories are rich, complex and often times hilarious. The themes covered are many and include immigration, religion, scientific breakthrough, cultural difference and family history, to name several. Smith weaves all of the themes, characters and plot points together in such a stunning and intricate way. In spite of their flaws, each character, major and minor, is lovable in every way. Smith's descriptive language is similar to that of Jonathan Franzen, and her zaniness, immense knowledge and the way she unravels the disjointed storyline reminds me of David Foster Wallace. White Teeth is just about as close to a perfect novel as one can get, and I recommend it to everyone.
Fight Club - Chuck Palahniuk (1996)
If you haven't read Fight Club, chances are you've seen it, so I don't need to dig into the plot too much. The protagonist believes he suffers from insomnia, when his mental state is deteriorating into a split personality that basically assembles a small army of men that wreaks havoc throughout the US. It's been a long while since I've watched the film, but as far as I can tell, it seems like David Fincher and Jim Uhls faithfully adapted Chuck Palahniuk's novel. Palahniuk's style here is scatterbrained, which suits the protagonist's narration perfectly, but his language is charmingly simple. The story makes fascinating statements on anarchy, mental status, and, weirdly, togetherness. Despite already knowing how the plot plays out, I still found myself surprised in the right places, and by the end I felt as disturbed as if I had just read a Bret Easton Ellis novel. Reading Fight Club is not essential, especially if you've seen the film, but it was a quality read and feeds my interest in reading more Palahniuk novels.
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