It snagged the cover of The New York Times Book Review, a full page feature in the Village Voice, and its bone white cover laced with silver lettering is displayed in countless bookstore windows. Generating more buzz than a sadistic dentist and his drill, if you have not heard of Zadie Smith’s debut novel, White Teeth, by now, one might correctly assume that you live under a rock. In fact, the book has received such overwhelming positive acclaim that I am reminded of Chris Rock’s commentary about the white response to Colin Powell; an incredulous: he speaks so well. Similarly, there are several folks exclaiming the very same about Zadie Smith: she writes so well. And she does.

Set in London, White Teeth centers around the friendship and families of Archie Jones and Samad Iqbal. Plagued by an existence of ships gone by and opportunities missed, Archie is your average middle-aged white guy. The novel opens just as Archie decides to bring his failed life to a close-- the final straw being a divorce settlement that grants him ownership of a hoopty Hoover and little else. But Archie’s knack for failure is for once a success and instead of death, he is granted a new lease on life. And in this way, it so happens that Archie comes to marry a beautiful Jamaican woman with a childhood steeped in the Jehovah’s Witness faith and an entire missing row of front teeth named Clara.

"Sam Ick-ball" is a Muslim Bengali immigrant who befriends Archie in the war. In a traditional wedding arranged even before the bride-to-be’s birth, he marries Aslana and together they raise twin boys Millat and Magid who become fast friends with Archie and Clara’s daughter, Irie. Add a wealthy liberal white family imbued with good intentions and the entire cast is in place. With satire and grace, White Teeth follows this contingent of the London population as it maneuvers through minefields of religion, class and race.

Verging on the irreverent, White Teeth stands on the solid ground of telling it like it is. Zadie Smith writes the hell out of her characters, deftly creating each so thoroughly that you do not feel betrayed by their flaws. White Teeth provides an uninhibited examination of race, class, politics and religion without invoking the fatigue often induced by so many potential "isms", not to mention the fact that its quite funny. Tongue in cheek to the very end, Smith’s novel is a writing height to ascend and a reading pleasure.

And for those who doubt that sistergirl is truly a sistergirl, what with her writing about white and Bengali folk like she has walked marathons in their shoes, there is an oh-so-familiar hair story nestled in these pages that will cause your scalp to tingle with memories of your first encounter with a hot comb, relaxer, or fine tooth comb. Simply put, the book lives up to the hype. And did I mention that Zadie Smith writes really well?