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Feel Free (Smith book)

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Feel Free: Essays
Cover of first edition
AuthorZadie Smith
Audio read byNikki Amuka-Bird[1]
LanguageEnglish
GenreEssay collection
PublisherHamish Hamilton
Publication date
8 February 2018[2]
Publication placeUnited Kingdom
Media typePrint (Hardcover)
Pages464
Awards2018 National Book Critics Circle Award for Criticism
ISBN978-0241146897

Feel Free: Essays is a 2018 book of essays by Zadie Smith. It was published on 8 February 2018 by Hamish Hamilton, an imprint of Penguin Books. It has been described as "thoroughly resplendent" by Maria Popova, who writes: "Smith applies her formidable mind in language to subjects as varied as music, the connection between dancing and writing, climate change, Brexit, the nature of joy, and the confusions of personhood in the age of social media."[3]

Smith borrowed the title from Nick Laird, her husband, who has also published a collection of poems by the same name.[4][5]

Reception

Feel Free was generally well-received among critics.[6] According to Book Marks, the book received "rave" reviews based on thirty-seven critic reviews with twenty-four being "rave" and eleven being "positive" and two being "mixed".[7] On Bookmarks May/June 2018 issue, a magazine that aggregates critic reviews of books, the book received a (4.0 out of 5) based on critic reviews with a critical summary saying, "With the exception of an essay trying to link Justin Bieber and Martin Buber based on their last names, the critics were wowed by Smiths "coolly appraising, connoisseurial, discerning" output (Guardian)".[8][9]

Feel Free won the 2018 National Book Critics Circle Award for criticism.[10] The Times named it among 2018's best literary nonfiction.[11]

References

  1. ^ "Feel Free". Penguin Books UK. February 8, 2018.
  2. ^ "Feel Free". Penguin Books UK. March 7, 2019.
  3. ^ Popova, Maria, "Zadie Smith on Optimism and Despair", BrainPickings.
  4. ^ Kellaway, Kate (August 7, 2018). "Feel Free by Nick Laird review – glimpses of elsewhere". The Observer. ISSN 0029-7712.
  5. ^ Bryant, Miranda (February 12, 2018). "Zadie Smith: 'I asked to use my husband's book title. Feel free, he said'". Evening Standard. Retrieved December 24, 2018.
  6. ^ "Feel Free". BookBrowse. Retrieved October 4, 2023.
  7. ^ "Feel Free". Book Marks. Retrieved January 16, 2024.
  8. ^ "Feel Free". Bookmarks. Retrieved January 14, 2023.
  9. ^ "Feel Free". Bookmarks. Retrieved January 14, 2023.
  10. ^ Hillel Italie (March 14, 2018). "Zadie Smith, Anna Burns among winners of critics prizes". The Washington Post. The Associated Press. Archived from the original on March 15, 2019. Retrieved March 15, 2019.
  11. ^ "Books of the year 2018: literary nonfiction". The Times. Archived from the original on March 14, 2023. Retrieved January 14, 2023.

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