The Autograph Man
Zadie Smith's second novel centers on Alex-Li Tandem, a London dealer in autographs who is grieving his father, negotiating his Jewish-Chinese identity, and searching for a rare signature of a reclusive film star. The book is less tidy than White Teeth and more interested in grief and celebrity culture. Smith's digressions on Kabbalah and collecting can feel like distractions, but that is partly the point: Alex is a man who has confused signatures with selves.Vintage's paperback edition presents the novel in a compact, readable format. It is a slighter book than its predecessor, which is not the same as saying it is less interesting. The ideal reader is someone who suspects that the objects we collect are mostly placeholders for the people we failed to become.
