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? Written during the early months of lockdown, Intimations explores ideas and questions prompted by an unprecedented situation. She teaches us how to be better at being human.” -John Powers, Fresh Airĭeeply 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. 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.

“Smith does more than illuminate what we're going through right now. ’” -O, The Oprah Magazine, Best 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. The personal and political intermingle for a powerful indictment of America’s social systems.” -TIME, The 100 Must-Read Books of 2020

“ slim collection of essays captures this peculiar moment with startling clarity.

Zadie smith intimations summary