White teeth : a novel

Summary:

On New Year's morning, 1975, Archie Jones sits in his car on a London road and waits for the exhaust fumes to fill his Cavalier Musketeer station wagon. Archie--working-class, ordinary, a failed marriage under his belt--is calling it quits, the deciding factor being the flip of a 20-pence coin. When the owner of a nearby halal butcher shop (annoyed that Archie's car is blocking his delivery area) comes out and bangs on the window, he gives Archie another chance at life and sets in motion this richly imagined, uproariously funny novel. Set in post-war London, this novel of the racial, political, and social upheaval of the last half-century follows two families--the Joneses and the Iqbals, both outsiders from within the former British empire--as they make their way in modern England.

Record details

ISBN: 0965031004
ISBN: 9780965031004
ISBN: 0375501851
ISBN: 9780375501852
ISBN: 0375703861
ISBN: 9780375703867
ISBN: 037550561X
ISBN: 9780375505614
Physical Description: 448 pages ; 24 cm
Edition: First U.S. edition.
Publisher: New York : Random House, [2000]
Copyright: ©2000

Content descriptions

Formatted Contents Note:

[I.] Archie 1974, 1945. The peculiar second marriage of Archie Jones ; Teething trouble ; Two families ; Three coming ; The root canals of Alfred Archibald Jones and Samad Miah Iqbal -- [II.] Samad 1984, 1857. The temptation of Samad Iqbal ; Molars ; Mitosis ; Mutiny! ; The root canals of Mangal Pande -- [III.] Irie 1990, 1907. The miseducation of Irie Jones ; Canines: the ripping teeth ; The root canals of Hortense Bowden ; More English than the English ; Chalfenism versus Bowdenism -- [IV.] Magid, Millat, and Marcus 1992, 1999. The return of Magid Mahfooz Murshed Mubtasim Iqbal ; Crisis talks and eleventh-hour tactics ; The end of history versus the last man ; The final space ; Of mice and memory.

Awards Note:

Guardian First Book Award, 2000

James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction, 2000

Whitbread Award, 2000