This is the eagerly-awaited follow-up to the bestselling and prize-winning "White Teeth", which established Zadie Smith as an outstanding new writer. Alex-Li Tandem sells autographs. A small blip in a huge worldwide network of desire, it is his business to hunt for names on paper, collect them, sell them, occasionally fake them, and all to give the people what they want: a little piece of Fame. "The Autograph Man" is a deeply funny, existential tour around the hollow things of modernity - celebrity, cinema, and the ugly triumph of symbol over experience. Pushing against the tide of his generation, Alex-Li is on his way to finding enlightenment, otherwise known as some part of himself that cannot be signed, celebrated or sold.
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Editorial Reviews
Review
One feels for Zadie Smith. She's had a reasonably well publicised case of writer's block and has wearied of the media treadmill that followed the success of her first novel, White Teeth. Her experiences of fame have clearly influenced her new novel which in part deals with the twin-headed beast of celebrity and recognition. Alex-Li Tandem collects and sells autographs. Sometimes the ones he sells are fake, "all to give the people what they want - a little piece of fame". The novel sounds distinctly autobiographical. No one knows better than Smith what a hollow world 'celebrity' occupies. This novel will doubtless puncture it with the same sharpness and panache that marked her famous debut.
About the Author
Zadie Smith was born in north-west London in 1975, and still lives in the area. Her first novel, WHITE TEETH, was published by Hamish Hamilton in 2000.
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More About the Author
Zadie Smith was born in North West London in 1975 and continues to live in the area. She is currently working on a second novel.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A beautiful description of a milieu with a weird main character,
This review is from: The Autograph Man (Paperback)
By a strange coincidence in life Alex-Li is a half Asian half Caucasion of Jewish Religion. As a teenager, during the visit to a wrestling event with two other friends he meets another boy who opens to him the world of autograph collecting. Unfortunatley that same day his father days of a heart-attack.Years later Alex-Li is a professional autograph collector and carries a completely chaotic life. He is still surrounded by the same friends of that day. All three try to make their own strides in life with some regular (Call-center employee at an insurance) to uncommon jobs (rabi), as usual they know better what Alex-Li should do than himself. There is Esther, the sister of one of Alex-Li friends who whorships Alex-Li and is his unregular love. In his profession Alex-Li meets a wide range of strange people, who are colourful characters on its own. The big dream of Alex-Li is to get an autograph of an old Hollywood star named Kitty Alexander... When one day an autograph of her appears in the kitchen confusion reigns and the origin of the autograph remains a mistery. A trip to New York will become crucial to solve this mistery while paranoia increases when the celebration of the anniversary of Alex-Li's father comes closer... Zadie Smith brings us once again a complex environment where quite good developed characters have their affairs. It takes a while to get used to the rythm of the novel, and probably the novel would be better when she would not try to link so many complex relationships and digrssions and let the story and its characters flow.
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