Smith, Zadie <br/><br/>
NW 
/ Zadie Smith 
 - New York  : Penguin Press  , 2012 
 - 401 p.  ; 24 cm 
<br/><br/> Partway through this charged onslaught of a novel, Smith's first in the seven years since On Beauty, a young tough refusing to put out a cigarette on a children's playground says, "You can't really chat to me. I'm Hackney, so," referring to the London borough. Although it gets a rise from his challenger, the comment clarifies Smith's story. Geography is destiny, and NW (North West London), with its housing projects and increasingly marginalized community, is the force shaping the narrative. Natalie Blake (nee Keisha) grew up there but has worked hard, tugged at her Afro-Caribbean roots, and become a lawyer; friend Leah, who also got a degree (as a state-school wild card) and is now "the only white girl on [Council's] Fund Distribution Team," doesn't want to move on. They circle warily, and Natalie eventually circles back, even as other characters-ambitious Felix and heartthrob Nathan, now in the gutter-wash through the you-are-there writing. 
<br/><br/><br/>English 
<br/><br/> A 2012 National Book Critics Circle Award Finalist 
<br/><br/><label>ISBN: </label>9781594203978 
<br/><br/><label>Subjects--Topical Terms: </label><br/>Planned communities---England---London----Fiction<br/>Social isolation----Fiction
<br/><br/><label>Subjects--Geographic Terms: </label><br/>London (England)----Fiction
<br/><br/><label>Dewey Class. No.: </label>FIC SMI