false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1165030310m/3679.jpg 3679 33 In an author's note at the end of <i>On Beauty</i>, <i>Zadie Smith</i> writes: "My largest structural debt should be obvious to any E.M. Forster fan; suffice it to say he gave me a classy old frame, which I covered with new material as best I could." If it is true that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, Forster, perched on a cloud somewhere, should be all puffed up with pride. His disciple has taken <i>[book: Howard's End]</i>, that marvelous tale of class difference, and upped the ante by adding race, politics, and gender. The end result is a story for the 21st century, told with a perfect ear for everything: gangsta street talk; academic posturing, both British and American; down-home black Floridian straight talk; and sassy, profane kids, both black and white. Howard Belsey is a middle-class white liberal Englishman teaching abroad at Wellington, a thinly disguised version of one of the Ivies. He is a Rembrandt scholar who can't finish his book and a recent adulterer whose marriage is now on the slippery slope to disaster. His wife, Kiki, a black Floridian, is a warm, generous, competent wife, mother, and medical worker. Their children are Jerome, disgusted by his father's behavior; Zora, Wellington sophomore firebrand feminist; and Levi, eager to be taken for a "homey," complete with baggy pants, hoodies and the ever-present iPod. This family has no secrets--at least not for long. They talk about everything, appropriate to the occasion or not. And, there is plenty to talk about. The other half of the story is that of the Kipps family: Monty, stiff, wealthy ultra-conservative vocal Christian and Rembrandt scholar, whose book has been published. His wife, Carlene, is always slightly out of focus, and that's the way she wants it. She wafts over all proceedings, never really connecting with anyone. That seems to be endemic in the Kipps household. Son Michael is a bit of a Monty clone and daughter Victoria is not at all what Daddy thinks she is. Indeed, Forster's advice, "Only connect," is lost on this group. The two academics have long been rivals, detesting each other's politics and disagreeing about Rembrandt. They are thrown into further conflict when Jerome leaves Wellington to get away from the discovery of his father's affair, lands on the Kipps' doorstep, falls for Victoria and mistakes what he has going with her for love. Howard makes it worse by trying to fix it. Then, Kipps is granted a visiting professorship at Wellington and the whole family arrives in Massachusetts. From this raw material, Smith has fashioned a superb book, her best to date. She has interwoven class, race, and gender and taken everyone prisoner. Her even-handed renditions of liberal and/or conservative mouthings are insightful, often hilarious, and damning to all. She has a great time exposing everyone's clay feet. This author is a young woman cynical beyond her years, and we are all richer for it. 910752 book 2005 On Beauty total:12010|5:2158|4:4504|3:3620|2:1309|1:419| 12010 42703 16427 1724 4 10 false false Thu Dec 01 00:00:00 -0800 2005 Thu May 31 11:49:59 -0700 2007 Thu May 31 11:50:34 -0700 2007 On Beauty in the Honolulu Weekly:

Poor Zadie Smith published White Teeth at an absurdly young age to massive critical acclaim. Her second novel, The Autograph Man, bombed like Frank DeLima at a Hawaiian Studies faculty dinner. White Teeth was an incredibly intric...more...]]> 2 6 false false Sat Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Sat Oct 06 15:02:00 -0700 2007 Sat Oct 06 15:14:41 -0700 2007
I am embarrassed to...more...]]> 4 6 false false Sat Feb 23 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Fri Feb 15 12:46:05 -0800 2008 Sat Feb 23 11:59:03 -0800 2008
If such writer-jealousy plagues you often, don't pick up On Beauty. You may w...more...]]> 3 3 false false Thu May 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sat Apr 26 18:18:16 -0700 2008 Wed May 07 07:32:33 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 2 false false Sat Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Mon Sep 24 06:56:06 -0700 2007 Fri Nov 02 07:17:59 -0700 2007
in the middle of...more...]]> 5 3 false false Tue May 13 08:13:30 -0700 2008 Mon May 26 20:36:47 -0700 2008 5 1 false false Wed Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Jul 17 11:42:24 -0700 2009 Fri Aug 07 12:25:26 -0700 2009 On Beauty is brilliant. I loved the extra layer of meaning that my reading of E.M. Forster's Howards End provided -- but I don't think it's necessary to do background reading to enjoy this novel. The characters are "messy," as Zadie Smith would say -- most of them make a lot of mis...more...]]> 3 2 false false Sun Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Fri Aug 22 03:43:40 -0700 2008 Tue Sep 23 03:03:44 -0700 2008 1 On Beauty is about two families on opposing sides of the culture war: The atheist, liberal Belseys on one side and the ultra-religious, ultra-conservative Kipps' on the other. It's also about race and racial identity: black versus white and the influx of poor Haitian immigrants in...more...]]> 4 1 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Wed Jan 09 16:44:43 -0800 2008 Mon Jan 28 17:57:25 -0800 2008
I don't often feel this way about books but I felt at an inherent disadvantage reading this as a white girl. The main ideas explored have so much to do with race and racial conflicts in particular. Set primarily in Boston, it concerns a marriage between a white professor and...more...]]> 4 2 false false Sun Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2006 Wed Nov 14 18:38:22 -0800 2007 Wed Nov 14 18:39:24 -0800 2007 more...]]> 4 1 false false Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Thu Sep 27 09:57:59 -0700 2007 Thu Sep 27 10:09:10 -0700 2007 more...]]> 4 1 false false Wed Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Thu Aug 23 14:12:15 -0700 2007 Thu Aug 23 14:12:15 -0700 2007
This time, though, most of the novel is set in a Boston suburb, so we get a convincing helping of the American teenager, including the three childre...more...]]> 2 1 false false Mon Aug 06 06:26:21 -0700 2007 Fri Aug 17 07:10:09 -0700 2007 more...]]> 4 1 false false Tue Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2006 Fri Jul 06 08:33:36 -0700 2007 Fri Jul 06 08:34:54 -0700 2007 more...]]> 3 0 false false Sat Dec 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Wed Jun 25 18:01:32 -0700 2008 Wed Jun 25 18:03:19 -0700 2008 more...]]> 1 1 false false Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Sat Nov 24 10:08:48 -0800 2007 Sat Nov 24 10:08:48 -0800 2007 On Beauty is a reinterpretation of E.M. Forster's Howard's End, a classic by one of my favorite authors. Smith had a lot to overcome with that background, and, unfortunately, she couldn't do it. On Beauty is a pedestrian book. It makes a few points about race, class, art, and academia - all of which...more...]]> 3 1 false false Wed May 07 09:53:00 -0700 2008 Tue Jul 14 14:58:39 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 1 false false Fri Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Fri Jun 08 11:05:35 -0700 2007 Sat Jun 16 06:14:48 -0700 2007 more...]]> 1 1 false false Thu Mar 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Wed Jun 06 07:30:22 -0700 2007 Wed Jun 06 07:34:02 -0700 2007 more...]]> 2 2 false false Thu Aug 02 15:05:32 -0700 2007 Thu Aug 09 07:32:05 -0700 2007 more...]]> http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=3679