"[Smith's] slim collection of essays captures this peculiar moment
with startling clarity. . . . The personal and political intermingle for
a powerful indictment of America's social systems." --TIME, The 100
Must-Read Books of 2020
"While quarantined amid the Covid-19 pandemic, Smith penned six
dazzling, trenchant essays burrowing deep into our contemporary culture
of disease and upheaval and reflecting on what was 'once necessary' that
now 'appears inessential . . .'" --O, The Oprah Magazine, Best Books
of 2020
"Smith does more than illuminate what we're going through right now. She
offers a model of how to think ourselves through a fraught historical
moment without getting hysterical or sanctimonious, without losing our
compassion or our appreciation for what's good in other people. She
teaches us how to be better at being human." --John Powers, Fresh
Air
A New York Times Bestseller
Deeply personal and powerfully moving, a short and timely series of
reflective essays by one of the most clear-sighted and essential writers
of our time.
Written during the early months of lockdown, Intimations explores
ideas and questions prompted by an unprecedented situation. What does it
mean to submit to a new reality--or to resist it? How do we compare
relative sufferings? What is the relationship between time and work? In
our isolation, what do other people mean to us? How do we think about
them? What is the ratio of contempt to compassion in a crisis? When an
unfamiliar world arrives, what does it reveal about the world that came
before it?
Suffused with a profound intimacy and tenderness in response to these
extraordinary times, Intimations is a slim, suggestive volume with a
wide scope, in which Zadie Smith clears a generous space for thought,
open enough for each reader to reflect on what has happened--and what
should come next.
The author will donate her royalties from the sale of Intimations to
charity.
