Review of THE FRAUD

A great, blisteringly funny confusion of a book where nothing and nobody, including the reader, stands on firm ground.

The cover is an eye catcher. It caught my eye in Barnes & Noble and nagged me for a couple weeks. I failed in my previous attempts to jump on the Zadie Smith wagon. White Teeth felt too snarky and I quit early with On Beauty. This is Zadie’s first venture into the now fashionable historical fiction genre and that was the catch that drew me in. It proved to be a conversion experience of sorts. On Beauty now occupies the on-deck circle on my desk.

The Fraud is not an easy book. It is disjointed at every level - intentionally so. Filled with thematic cross currents, shifting time periods and points of view, this book must be read in as close to one seating as possible. Just following the names throughout this book’s 19th century true story context demands serious attention. All the sweat is worth it.

Zadie Smith in The Fraud reminds me of a more clarified and humorous Toni Morrison. This book is very funny. Everything shimmers with different degrees of irony. It has been a long time since confusion felt so exhilarating … so much sparkles. But once you get used to the literary pyrotechnics, it is hard not to ask what this book is all about. Thematic material pops up throughout like fireflies, brightly lit but temporary and blinking. S

lavery lurks in the background. It is the typeset of the book. Smith’s genius is to make it so without the slightest finger point. I suspect Zadie is asking to what extent does participation in the slave trade, no matter how indirect, make all of us a fraud. The title IS the story. Everything and everyone are compromised. Self-awareness is absent. Nobody is spared. Smith skews her own profession’s pretentiousness. The parallels to the frauds of our world from Boris to Donald are irresistible, disturbing, and hilarious. Smith’s loyalty to place and time makes those parallels all the more compelling - if, in fact, that is what she is doing! It is a tricky act of reading. The reader has to pay close attention but let go at the same time and, like your narrator, you will get lightening like glimpses into the “void” of not only this utterly original piece of historical fiction, but into the mind of Zadie Smith. I do not know why I have avoided her up to now. I suspect The Fraud provided me with my answer. 

The Fraud

Zadie Smith

2023 464 (pretty fast) pages