"I don’t think of myself as the ‘other.’ I think of myself as central."

Zadie and Father

This is the best time to be Zadie Smith. The British literary writer is young, educated, talented, popular, rich, multiracial, gorgeous. This is also the worst time to be Zadie Smith. All her wondrous attributes and successes have a downside these days.

From John Marshall's article, "The cult of celebrity doesn't interest Brit-lit phenom Zadie Smith" for The Seattle Post-Intelligencer

When did being multiracial become a "wondrous attribute"? I take that back when did it become OK to speak openly about multiracialness or, in this context, increased proximity to whiteness as a "wondrous attribute"? I can't imagine the author would ever say the same for whiteness, that's a given, or blackness, that would be, in most folks eyes, ludicrous. John Marshall's obviously not alone in this opinion. Q's been saying the same thing for years.

And for the record, I relished White Teeth but couldn't quite digest Autograph Man. What I've hear of On Beauty is already tickling the literary taste buds.