Swing Time

by Zadie Smith

Everyone worships the superstars, the outspoken, and the bold-faced names. But what of the second bananas, or the support crew who help make the stars so super?

That’s the story of the protagonist in Zadie Smith’s “Swing Time,” who is curiously unnamed in this 2016 novel. A mixed-race child in a broken home, growing up in lower-middle-class England in the 1980s, she befriends Tracy, a similarly disadvantaged girl. Tracy however has a dancer’s body and is determined to go places in life, while the unnamed narrator (henceforward referred to as UN) seems destined to remain in her shadow.

UN’s mother, a Jamaican-born Marxist, is an outspoken activist who sees the world strictly in black-and-white terms (and that also applies to her grim assessment of Black-white race relations.) She’s so strident she drives her white postman husband away as well as her daughter.

What’s UN to do, eternally pulled between two strong women? Why, find herself in the same position 10 years later—serving as a personal assistant to Aimee, an egocentric Australian-born superstar who is a cross between Kylie Minogue, Madonna, and Angelina Jolie.  Aimee decides to take her enormous wealth and “rescue” a poor African village from poverty (but she leaves you-know-who to iron out the details.) Swell.

Smith paints a fairly engaging portrait of a woman who isn’t particularly good at anything  except serving as second banana to the greats  and near-greats.

Actually, lots of good things happen to UN,

none of which will be revealed here. I’m sure Smith has written better books, but in the meantime this one is a fine investment of your time. Even if you happen to be one of those bold-faces names.