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Martha and Hanwell
Zadie Smith's debut novel was published by Penguin in 2000. Garnering both critical acclaim as well as a huge readership, White Teeth exemplified the kind of popular and intelligent books that Penguin founder Allen Lane sought to publish. Martha and Hanwell brings together two of Smith's recent stories - never before published in book form - offering a treat for fans of her witty, powerful and often electrifying prose.
64 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2003
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1758 people want to read
About the author
Zadie Smith
116 books16.1k followersZadie Smith is an English novelist, essayist, and short-story writer. Her debut novel, White Teeth (2000), immediately became a best-seller and won a number of awards. She became a tenured professor in the Creative Writing faculty of New York University in September 2010.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 48 reviews
July 8, 2018
Martha and Hanwell makes me wish that Zadie Smith would write more short stories. For some reason, I am not interested in her longer works of fiction at all but so far, her short stories convinced me of her skill for crafting interesting stories, albeit The Embassy of Cambodia wasn’t nearly as strong as this little collection of short stories.
Martha and Hanwell is part of the Pocket Penguins, a series that celebrated the 70th anniversary of Penguin Books, it features two short stories: “Martha, Martha” and “Hanwell in Hell”, both are engaging and feature mysterious protagonists about whom the reader wants to know more; by the end of their respective narratives, much is left in the dark as the stories only portray a very small moment in their lives.
We follow Martha for one afternoon as she is searching for a new apartment in America, having just arrived from England. We see Hanwell as he works as a dishwasher at a local pub and follow him through the night. No proper introductions, no proper endings—exactly the way I prefer my short stories. I want short stories to leave me wondering, to leave me wanting more.
In her introduction, Zadie Smith wrote that these are “close-ups, not panoramas.” She states that it took her a long time to understand that a story need not include the entire life and times of its protagonists. Not every hero needs to be Pickwick. I couldn’t agree more.
As we see Martha desperately searching for a flat, having just hired the estate agent Pam, we realise that Martha is actually quite impassive, yet sometimes unreasonably demanding, and just overall not satisfied with the situation. Pam soon feels very uncomfortable around her, as she makes everything awkward. There is no proper explanation for Martha’s behaviour. Only once does she let us glimpse behind her facade: as Martha and Pam tour the apartment of a couple who is just about to move to Morocco, Martha excuses herself and breaks down in the bathroom crying: in her hand she holds a picture of a man and a baby, at the back of the photograph is a love poem dedicated to her.
It is for the reader to decide whether Martha has left her husband and kid behind, or whether they left her, or if the picture even shows her husband/boyfriend and child, they could be other family members of hers as well. We don’t know why Martha made the big move from the UK to the US all on her own, we learn that she has recently inherited some money (twelve thousand dollars to be exact), so it might even be the case that her lover (and child?) died in a tragic accident. Zadie Smith leaves us with no answers, just the longing to know more about Martha and whether or not she will be fine.
We get to know Hanwell through a letter that Clive writes to Hanwell’s daughter, supposedly after his death. Only at the end of the story do we learn that Clive reached out to her after having read her appeal in the press. She seems to be very angry with her father, who was absent. Zadie Smith doesn’t tell us these things in a straightforward way, it’s the reader’s duty to piece the puzzle together.
Clive narrates how he met Hanwell decades earlier when he was at work and clearly miserable. Hanwell’s boss was a drunkard and criminal and even though he was technically hired as a dishwasher, he soon has to fill in as a cook as well as a waiter. This is how he got to know Clive, by serving him crêpes that he didn’t even order. Their conversation was clumsy at first, as Clive was accompanied by a beautiful woman who seemingly took interest in Hanwell.
As Clive and Hanwell realised that they both come from the same rural region in England and have both served in Paris during the war, they decided to prolong their night by drinking in Hanwell’s apartment. They felt drawn towards one another because they saw their own loneliness and wretchedness reflected in the other. At Hanwell’s apartment, Clive learns that he has recently lost his wife through suicide and hopes that his children will be allowed to live with him, as they are currently with their relatives. Judging from the fact that years later Clive writes the letter to Hanwell’s daughter we can deduce that Hanwell’s hope never came true, as he had no contact with his children afterwards.
That evening, however, he was still full of hope, he even asked Clive to help him paint the room for his daughters yellow; being colourblind, Hanwell falsely bought red paint. It doesn’t matter. Both men paint through the night and spent one of their happiest days together. It is this feeling of happiness that makes Clive remember Hanwell as he reads the newspaper decades later and decides to write to his children, taking a little bit of their anger away, letting them know that “Hanwell had a beautiful way of hoping. Not many men can hope red yellow.”
Zadie Smith’s short stories were such a treat to read and I can wholeheartedly recommend them. You can read “Hanwell in Hell” here: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/20... and “Martha, Martha” here: https://granta.com/martha-martha/
Martha and Hanwell is part of the Pocket Penguins, a series that celebrated the 70th anniversary of Penguin Books, it features two short stories: “Martha, Martha” and “Hanwell in Hell”, both are engaging and feature mysterious protagonists about whom the reader wants to know more; by the end of their respective narratives, much is left in the dark as the stories only portray a very small moment in their lives.
We follow Martha for one afternoon as she is searching for a new apartment in America, having just arrived from England. We see Hanwell as he works as a dishwasher at a local pub and follow him through the night. No proper introductions, no proper endings—exactly the way I prefer my short stories. I want short stories to leave me wondering, to leave me wanting more.
In her introduction, Zadie Smith wrote that these are “close-ups, not panoramas.” She states that it took her a long time to understand that a story need not include the entire life and times of its protagonists. Not every hero needs to be Pickwick. I couldn’t agree more.
As we see Martha desperately searching for a flat, having just hired the estate agent Pam, we realise that Martha is actually quite impassive, yet sometimes unreasonably demanding, and just overall not satisfied with the situation. Pam soon feels very uncomfortable around her, as she makes everything awkward. There is no proper explanation for Martha’s behaviour. Only once does she let us glimpse behind her facade: as Martha and Pam tour the apartment of a couple who is just about to move to Morocco, Martha excuses herself and breaks down in the bathroom crying: in her hand she holds a picture of a man and a baby, at the back of the photograph is a love poem dedicated to her.
It is for the reader to decide whether Martha has left her husband and kid behind, or whether they left her, or if the picture even shows her husband/boyfriend and child, they could be other family members of hers as well. We don’t know why Martha made the big move from the UK to the US all on her own, we learn that she has recently inherited some money (twelve thousand dollars to be exact), so it might even be the case that her lover (and child?) died in a tragic accident. Zadie Smith leaves us with no answers, just the longing to know more about Martha and whether or not she will be fine.
We get to know Hanwell through a letter that Clive writes to Hanwell’s daughter, supposedly after his death. Only at the end of the story do we learn that Clive reached out to her after having read her appeal in the press. She seems to be very angry with her father, who was absent. Zadie Smith doesn’t tell us these things in a straightforward way, it’s the reader’s duty to piece the puzzle together.
Clive narrates how he met Hanwell decades earlier when he was at work and clearly miserable. Hanwell’s boss was a drunkard and criminal and even though he was technically hired as a dishwasher, he soon has to fill in as a cook as well as a waiter. This is how he got to know Clive, by serving him crêpes that he didn’t even order. Their conversation was clumsy at first, as Clive was accompanied by a beautiful woman who seemingly took interest in Hanwell.
As Clive and Hanwell realised that they both come from the same rural region in England and have both served in Paris during the war, they decided to prolong their night by drinking in Hanwell’s apartment. They felt drawn towards one another because they saw their own loneliness and wretchedness reflected in the other. At Hanwell’s apartment, Clive learns that he has recently lost his wife through suicide and hopes that his children will be allowed to live with him, as they are currently with their relatives. Judging from the fact that years later Clive writes the letter to Hanwell’s daughter we can deduce that Hanwell’s hope never came true, as he had no contact with his children afterwards.
That evening, however, he was still full of hope, he even asked Clive to help him paint the room for his daughters yellow; being colourblind, Hanwell falsely bought red paint. It doesn’t matter. Both men paint through the night and spent one of their happiest days together. It is this feeling of happiness that makes Clive remember Hanwell as he reads the newspaper decades later and decides to write to his children, taking a little bit of their anger away, letting them know that “Hanwell had a beautiful way of hoping. Not many men can hope red yellow.”
Zadie Smith’s short stories were such a treat to read and I can wholeheartedly recommend them. You can read “Hanwell in Hell” here: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/20... and “Martha, Martha” here: https://granta.com/martha-martha/
December 2, 2016
I borrowed this from my University library, as Smith was suggested to me as an author I could write about in my PhD. (NB. I haven't much enjoyed her longer works to date, and I swiftly eschewed the inclusion of her in favour of the endlessly fascinating Jeanette Winterson). Her short work, however, provides many facets of interest.
Martha and Hanwell is a tiny, tiny book; in fact, Smith writes that she had to create an introduction to the volume because it was too small to be published otherwise. It is comprised of two short stories, 'Martha, Martha' and 'Hanwell in Hell'. The former was far more interesting to me; Martha is an absolutely fascinating and complex character. I very much enjoyed the fact that so much about her remained mysterious. Both tales here are taut and interesting, and whether you like Smith's work or not, I would highly recommend them.
Martha and Hanwell is a tiny, tiny book; in fact, Smith writes that she had to create an introduction to the volume because it was too small to be published otherwise. It is comprised of two short stories, 'Martha, Martha' and 'Hanwell in Hell'. The former was far more interesting to me; Martha is an absolutely fascinating and complex character. I very much enjoyed the fact that so much about her remained mysterious. Both tales here are taut and interesting, and whether you like Smith's work or not, I would highly recommend them.
January 31, 2023
Martha ve Hanwell’in hikayesini, Zadie Smith’in ustalığıyla gözlerim dolarak ve anlayışla başımı sallayarak okudum.
Martha’nın hayatta işi zor gibi gözüküyor; geride bıraktıklarının duygusuyla yüreği hep burkulacak…
Hanwell’se geride ismini anarken yüzü gülümseyen birisini bırakmış.
Hayat…
…
“Artık kitap almamalıyım!” tutamadığım sözlerimden bir tanesi. Zadie Smith’i görünce dayanamadım. Çalışkan, usta bir kalem ZS ve de geveze. Önsözde öykü ve öykü yazma üzerine düşüncelerini yazmış. ABD ve İngiltere’deki öyküye yaklaşımı kıyaslamış. Çok özenli yazılmış iki öykü; rastlarsanız tavsiye ediyorum.
Martha’nın hayatta işi zor gibi gözüküyor; geride bıraktıklarının duygusuyla yüreği hep burkulacak…
Hanwell’se geride ismini anarken yüzü gülümseyen birisini bırakmış.
Hayat…
…
“Artık kitap almamalıyım!” tutamadığım sözlerimden bir tanesi. Zadie Smith’i görünce dayanamadım. Çalışkan, usta bir kalem ZS ve de geveze. Önsözde öykü ve öykü yazma üzerine düşüncelerini yazmış. ABD ve İngiltere’deki öyküye yaklaşımı kıyaslamış. Çok özenli yazılmış iki öykü; rastlarsanız tavsiye ediyorum.
February 2, 2024
English below
🇹🇷 80 sayfacık ve içinde Martha Martha ve Cehennemdeki Hanwell adlı iki uzun öyküyü barındıran harika bir kitap.
Iki öyküdeki şok içeren kısımlara bayıldım. Yazarın kalemi de çok güçlü. Kesinlikle diğer kitaplarına da bakacağım.
🇺🇲 Although the book consists of only 80 pages, it has two very powerful stories: Martha Martha and Hanwell in the Hell.
I liked very much twists in both of the stories and the author has a powerful method of writing. I will definetely check out other books as well.
🇹🇷 80 sayfacık ve içinde Martha Martha ve Cehennemdeki Hanwell adlı iki uzun öyküyü barındıran harika bir kitap.
Iki öyküdeki şok içeren kısımlara bayıldım. Yazarın kalemi de çok güçlü. Kesinlikle diğer kitaplarına da bakacağım.
🇺🇲 Although the book consists of only 80 pages, it has two very powerful stories: Martha Martha and Hanwell in the Hell.
I liked very much twists in both of the stories and the author has a powerful method of writing. I will definetely check out other books as well.
January 10, 2023
Kendinde öykü kumaşı olmadığını düşünen ve bu nedenle öykü yazmak için uzun uğraşlar verdiğini dile getiren Smith, bence bu işi de büyük bir başarıyla kotarmış. Martha’nın ve Hanwell’in hikâyeleri yüreğinize dokunacak. Smith’in ustalıkla ördüğü atmosferin büyüsüne kapılacaksınız.
April 3, 2016
Being a fan of Zadie Smith's long-form writing, I was intrigued by the idea of someone so verbose writing short stories. As Smith herself admits, her style of writing is hardly compact, and this little volume fits an introduction as well as two short stories into fewer than fifty pages. They say that curiosity killed the cat, but that satisfaction brought it back -- this book definitely rewarded my curiosity. It blew my mind.
With the introduction, Smith compares the state of short story writing in Britain and America and considers how she, with a foot in both camps, fits into the genre. It's illuminating and, conveniently, gives the reader a fresh appreciation of the craft before they begin the short stories.
The first story "Martha, Martha" shows an aspirational young Black woman through the eyes of a realtor. Martha searches for a new place to call home - a place that will offer a fresh start through proximity to a college, and a place just big enough to contain the people she has left behind. It deals with past and present, race and class, in a way that is greatly compelling. Something about Martha's polyester clothes and fake pearls nearly moved me to tears.
Unlike Martha, and even the narrator of "Hanwell in Hell", in the glimpse we get of Hanwell's life it becomes clear that his life is on a downward spiral. Whereas the realtor viewed Martha without compassion, Hanwell is depicted with a tender sort of nostalgia. This story devastated in a way that only a short story can.
Both stories are incredibly perceptive, capturing transient moments of human connection just perfectly. Zadie Smith is such a gifted writer that her experiment in form can only be described as a success. My only complaint is that there were only two stories, when I could happily have read a dozen more!
With the introduction, Smith compares the state of short story writing in Britain and America and considers how she, with a foot in both camps, fits into the genre. It's illuminating and, conveniently, gives the reader a fresh appreciation of the craft before they begin the short stories.
The first story "Martha, Martha" shows an aspirational young Black woman through the eyes of a realtor. Martha searches for a new place to call home - a place that will offer a fresh start through proximity to a college, and a place just big enough to contain the people she has left behind. It deals with past and present, race and class, in a way that is greatly compelling. Something about Martha's polyester clothes and fake pearls nearly moved me to tears.
Unlike Martha, and even the narrator of "Hanwell in Hell", in the glimpse we get of Hanwell's life it becomes clear that his life is on a downward spiral. Whereas the realtor viewed Martha without compassion, Hanwell is depicted with a tender sort of nostalgia. This story devastated in a way that only a short story can.
Both stories are incredibly perceptive, capturing transient moments of human connection just perfectly. Zadie Smith is such a gifted writer that her experiment in form can only be described as a success. My only complaint is that there were only two stories, when I could happily have read a dozen more!
June 5, 2018
It seems painful when you don’t really like something by one of your favorite authors, but I really thought these were just impossible to penetrate. I kept asking myself what was wrong; so many people adored them, but they just felt somewhat like extended remixed versions of canonized mid-century white male authors’ stories, rather than the nuanced plot lines and political undertones I’m used to from this author. I’m so sorry Zadie! I wish I could have come up with more but I felt like I finished this book, went diving back in to be sure, and still came back up with some seaweed and a broken conch shell. :(
January 24, 2022
Aslında öykü okumaya çok seven biriyimdir fakat bu kitap kısa olmasına rağmen bana bir o kadar bitirmesi uzun bir öykü kitabı haline geldi. Öykü anlatıcılığı güzel. Ama hep bekleriz ya da biliriz her hikaye bir sona ulaşır. Burada tamamen her şey havada kalıyor. Beklentimi karşılamadığı için bir tık üzdü.
September 10, 2021
This was very fun but I need to rate things lower than 4 stars bro... No offence zadie I love you and have like four of your books in my bedside table rn. Martha, Martha was ok but actually hanwell in hell was a solid 4 stars
January 8, 2011
Two short stories by my favorite author of the new millennium, Zadie Smith, reveal characters with more subtle feelings than I have seen her write about before. The uncanny ear for dialogue is there, as well as the sensitivity to the boundaries within multiculturalism.
The first story, Martha, is about a young British-Nigerian woman with aspirations, interacting with a young American woman real estate agent, to find an apartment in the Boston area. Despite their different backgrounds, they seem to have parallel insecurities and unspoken anxieties. There are painful human needs beneath the cosmopolitan yearnings.
The second story, Hanwell, is about two Englishmen of different class backgrounds, who are down on their luck. One of the two finds reason to admire the other because of his ability to hope for the impossible. I love the last line, which to quote would be a spoiler.
Zadie Smith herself, in an introduction, says the characters of her short stories are more real to her than the characters of her novels, because of the need to concentrate on details in a short story, rather than on a broad theme. Her characters in these stories are now permanent residents in my head, but yet I have more fun with the chaotic multiculturalism of her novels.
The first story, Martha, is about a young British-Nigerian woman with aspirations, interacting with a young American woman real estate agent, to find an apartment in the Boston area. Despite their different backgrounds, they seem to have parallel insecurities and unspoken anxieties. There are painful human needs beneath the cosmopolitan yearnings.
The second story, Hanwell, is about two Englishmen of different class backgrounds, who are down on their luck. One of the two finds reason to admire the other because of his ability to hope for the impossible. I love the last line, which to quote would be a spoiler.
Zadie Smith herself, in an introduction, says the characters of her short stories are more real to her than the characters of her novels, because of the need to concentrate on details in a short story, rather than on a broad theme. Her characters in these stories are now permanent residents in my head, but yet I have more fun with the chaotic multiculturalism of her novels.
April 9, 2014
Martha and Hanwell is a Penguin Pocket collection of two short stories by British author, Zadie Smith. Martha, Martha was previously published in Granta 81 in 2003. Pam Roberts is a realtor who is showing potential accommodation to a newcomer to town, Martha Penk, but is finding her one-day-stand difficult to satisfy. Hanwell in Hell was previously published in The New Yorker in 2004. It takes the form of a letter to Hanwell’s daughter by a man who met him by chance one night in Bristol. The stories are prefaced by an Author’s Note in which Smith explores the medium of the short story and states that she is not a natural short story writer, finding it an art for which she does not have a talent. And perhaps if this volume consisted only of Martha, Martha, the reader might agree: despite the rich imagery in both stories and the Author’s Note, this story feels unfinished. Hanwell in Hell is, however, a perfectly wonderful short story, complete in and of itself. If this volume consisted of two stories of this calibre, this would be a five star read.
December 29, 2008
Tough to find Zadie Smith; two short stories here that are readily available on the internet but it's nice to have them in (very thin) book form. Being a big Smith fan, I tracked this down on ebay for about $40. Great short stories.
October 30, 2011
This second story Hanwell is ok, but the first one Martha is fantastic. It is all about how we don't know other people and their struggles. A woman looks for an apartment. The best short stories start with a simple presence and turn it into something more.
October 19, 2015
Two short stories by Zadie Smith from 2003/2004. Not up there with the genius of White Teeth or NW but anything she writes is worth a read, with her finely created characters and talented ear for dialogue.
January 10, 2012
I can't say I like Smith's prose very much and didn't really enjoy reading these two short stories.
February 4, 2013
You would not think Zadie is a good short story writer, but she did well here. I'm a big Zadie fan, and this little piece of hers is very good.
April 18, 2015
Zadie Smith never lets me down. Two beautiful short stories.
June 15, 2025
Life is a give or take. I read a Zadie novel I disliked, then I read two stories I liked. Redemption is a good thing. These are two separate, early in the career, short stories. Each works as a character study, but also each works as a witty encapsulation of the naturally inquisitive yet empty nature of human beings, and how we approach otherness.
Martha, Martha follows a realtor agent Pam as she shows apartments to the title character, a Nigerian woman who just came from London to an unnamed college-centered town in the East Coast (not New York) in the Winter of 2002. To me, it’s the subtlety with which the author introduces all these spatiotemporal details that configures Zadie as a dense yet economic writer: no sentence is wasteful, even if many sentences feel empty or phatic. The idea of emptiness translates to the houses—which are either empty or wanted to be–and of examining, guiding, and persuading others in the quest for their new lifestyle. The realtor, Pam, seems upset to not understand better her client, but simultaneously limited in how much she could even attempt to, regardless of how much she wants to build up a story as part of her job (too meta yet? I don’t think so!). The story has quintessential Zadie Smith hidden references—do yourself a favor and lookup the title, you’d be surprised—that reveal a new layer of literary interpretation. What I missed, even if slightly, was the authorial positioning within the story: Zadie was too much of a third person narrator in this story, and I long for her contemporary voice.
Then in Hanwell in Hell we really hear none of Zadie’s voice—and frankly that was surprisingly good. This is a first person story, written from the perspective of an Englishman who replies to a letter from a mysterious interlocutor about his night spent with Hanwell. The subtle suggestions in that phenomenal opening paragraph are plentiful: what do you mean two men spent the night together? Who is the narrator talking to? Why is this litter needed? What follows is a linear description of events, with only the occasional digression into life examination—a quote or two about how copies of copies make us feel comfortably original, and that’s all that is needed to bring the particular story to the universal realm. This story was beautiful, yet concise and plot-driven, tight in its expansive premise. The culmination is a reduced version of Zadie’s typical last act hysterical social network collapse: an improbable possibility that lends itself to a vaster metaphor yet functions as a very tangible plot point. This story was so far from the Zadie Smith I know yet so gripping.
Martha, Martha follows a realtor agent Pam as she shows apartments to the title character, a Nigerian woman who just came from London to an unnamed college-centered town in the East Coast (not New York) in the Winter of 2002. To me, it’s the subtlety with which the author introduces all these spatiotemporal details that configures Zadie as a dense yet economic writer: no sentence is wasteful, even if many sentences feel empty or phatic. The idea of emptiness translates to the houses—which are either empty or wanted to be–and of examining, guiding, and persuading others in the quest for their new lifestyle. The realtor, Pam, seems upset to not understand better her client, but simultaneously limited in how much she could even attempt to, regardless of how much she wants to build up a story as part of her job (too meta yet? I don’t think so!). The story has quintessential Zadie Smith hidden references—do yourself a favor and lookup the title, you’d be surprised—that reveal a new layer of literary interpretation. What I missed, even if slightly, was the authorial positioning within the story: Zadie was too much of a third person narrator in this story, and I long for her contemporary voice.
Then in Hanwell in Hell we really hear none of Zadie’s voice—and frankly that was surprisingly good. This is a first person story, written from the perspective of an Englishman who replies to a letter from a mysterious interlocutor about his night spent with Hanwell. The subtle suggestions in that phenomenal opening paragraph are plentiful: what do you mean two men spent the night together? Who is the narrator talking to? Why is this litter needed? What follows is a linear description of events, with only the occasional digression into life examination—a quote or two about how copies of copies make us feel comfortably original, and that’s all that is needed to bring the particular story to the universal realm. This story was beautiful, yet concise and plot-driven, tight in its expansive premise. The culmination is a reduced version of Zadie’s typical last act hysterical social network collapse: an improbable possibility that lends itself to a vaster metaphor yet functions as a very tangible plot point. This story was so far from the Zadie Smith I know yet so gripping.
March 31, 2024
I've only recently begun enjoying short stories & these two are prime examples of why I've struggled with them in the past . These snippets of somebody's life leave me rather nonplussed -I'm obviously a lass who needs a beginning, middle & end!
"Martha, Martha" sees a young black girl searching for an apartment. Were there undercurrents of racial tension & cultural differences or was I imagining it? Whatever I was supposed to understand about Martha went straight over my head, I just don't get what the author was saying. And what was the point of the builders?
As to "Hanwell in Hell", well, quite frankly I found it bizarre.
Overall, reasonably entertaining yet rather frustrating sums it up for me!
"Martha, Martha" sees a young black girl searching for an apartment. Were there undercurrents of racial tension & cultural differences or was I imagining it? Whatever I was supposed to understand about Martha went straight over my head, I just don't get what the author was saying. And what was the point of the builders?
As to "Hanwell in Hell", well, quite frankly I found it bizarre.
Overall, reasonably entertaining yet rather frustrating sums it up for me!
August 22, 2021
Just a couple of exquisite short stories from Ms Smith. These both originate somewhere between her second and third novels and I couldn't be happier to be discovering them now. I've often had the sense that Smith wants to be admired more than loved and I've found that admirable. But as I have grown older with her writing, I find that I have started to kind of love it as much as I admire it. I hope she won't mind.
The first of these stories, Martha, Martha undid me utterly. The second, Hanwell in Hell was just gorgeous. Its closing line is breathtaking and I long for someone to use it to name their difficult second album, "hope red yellow".
The first of these stories, Martha, Martha undid me utterly. The second, Hanwell in Hell was just gorgeous. Its closing line is breathtaking and I long for someone to use it to name their difficult second album, "hope red yellow".
March 4, 2022
Benden pek öykücü olmaz diyen yazarın iki öyküsünü içeren bu eseri gene kahve/çay aralarımda okudum. İkinci öykü, ilki kadar sürükleyici değildi ve ilginçte bitti açıkcası. Genel olarak iki öyküde de zaman zaman karakter ve olayların derinlerine inmeye çalışmış yazar ama ben daha sade tutmasını beklerdim. Öykü olduğu için fazla detay vermek istememiş ama sanki bir yanda da anlatacak çok şeyi var gibi. Bu bakımdan benim için öyküler içindeki bazı durumlar eksik kaldı.
May 6, 2022
Zadie Smithin 2 kısa hikayesi; ‘martha martha’ ve ‘cehennemde hanwell’. Zadie Smith’in özsözü okuduğum en samimi notlardandı, ve önsözü sonrası merakla başladım. Ancak Hanwell beni ne kadar etkilediyse, Martha bir o kadar havada kaldı :/ Smith’in kendi paylaşımı da ‘Cehennemde Hanwell’ in diğer herşeyden farklı olarak, gidip bir word dosyası açarak neredeyse kelimesi kelimesine tek seferde yazdığı tek hikayesi.. Zadie Smith’le tanışmak için okumaya değer..
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September 9, 2022iki kısacık dokunaklı göçmen hikayesi.Her göçmenin sakladığı ya da saklayamadığı hikayeleri vardır.Yazar bu hikayelerden iki tane yazmış birinde başkahraman Marta diğerinde Hanwell.İkisinin de hikayesi birbirine öyle paralel ki Martha’yı Hanwell’in kızı sanabiliyoruz.İkisi de göçmen olmanın yaralarının sancısını bir şekilde çekiyorlar.iyi okumalar…
May 28, 2025
The first story, Martha, felt a little like reading a rough draft or the start of a longer novel. It just felt a little rough around the edges.
Hanwell I preferred and would give a 4/5 on it's own. Smith's words were strung together in some really lovely sentences and in only 25 pages one gets a very intimate look into the lives of two men who are in a bad space.
Hanwell I preferred and would give a 4/5 on it's own. Smith's words were strung together in some really lovely sentences and in only 25 pages one gets a very intimate look into the lives of two men who are in a bad space.
February 1, 2024
quick easy read that got me out of a reading slump. two stories, none of them got stuck to me tbh. i think what i enjoyed the most was zadie’s introduction comparing the nature of short stories vs novels
January 2, 2022
Hiç bir şey anlamadım. Bir şey ifade edebilmesi için yanlış yerdeyim.
January 26, 2022
Two marvelous short stories by my favorite living writer of fiction.
November 3, 2022
Hanwell in hell is the best short story ever.
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