The Fraud

by Zadie Smith

A lot of this book is about 19th century English writers like Ainsworth, Dickens, Thackeray and Forster, who appear as characters throughout. While incredibly skilled, most of the writing echoes these self-satisfied, indulged, archaic upper crust Brits and I found their society hard to digest. But that, I suspect, is the point. Being inside the head of their companion, Mrs Touchet, as she makes observations and draws conclusion about their world, is delightful, and when the other main character, Bogle, takes over the second half of the book, I was riveted. His experience of slavery is an amazing feat of telling, not showing. This book is big and ambitious—a historical novel mirroring contemporary issues like Trump and his trials, fake news and vaccines, as well as covering class, race, politics, colonialism, patriarchy, slavery and feminism. Far be it for me to be anything but in awe of Smith’s ability as a novelist, but if I were to offer an opinion, it might be that she’s tried to put together too many things, and consequently this book bulges at the seams. That said, every sentence is superb and every word wonderfully chosen.