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Liked It2 of 2 members found this review helpful “With her signature hysterical realism Zadie takes on the 'culture wars' in that bastion of all folks aesthete (equally those who revel in the glistening dewdrop adorning a painter's flower or those who delight in identifying its configuration as the reification of market forces), the university. ...” see full review » see other reviews » |
Didn’t Like It1 of 2 members found this review helpful “smith has some moments of real beauty in this book; however, they feel too few and far between to redeem it. the plot, is barely interesting and bland - preaching the doom of intellectualism - and the characters are so utterly stupid and frustrating, it's hard to really like them or this book. ...” see full review » see other reviews » |
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“ In an author's note at the end of On Beauty, Zadie Smith 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 Howards End, 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.
North Shore Country Day School English-10 wrote this review 11 days ago. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
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. --Valerie Ryan
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“Beschrijving
Janneke H wrote this review 2 weeks ago. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
De Engelsman Howard Belsey is hoogleraar aan een Amerikaanse universiteit. Nadat hij een desastreuze affaire heeft gehad met een collega, vertrekt zijn oudste zoon naar Engeland om te gaan werken bij Belseys aanzienlijk succesvollere aartsrivaal Monty Kipps. De situatie wordt ondraaglijk wanneer Belseys vrouw zijn overspel ontdekt en zijn zoon verliefd wordt op Kipps' dochter. Over schoonheid is een vlotte en bij vlagen zeer humoristisch geschreven roman over het moderne gezinsleven.
Bekroond met de Orange Prize for Fiction 2006
Als de linkse Engelse Rembrandt-kenner Howard Belsey, hoogleraar kunstgeschiedenis aan een Amerikaanse universiteit, hoort dat zijn oudste zoon Jerome, werkend voor zijn rivaal, de veel succesvollere, rechtse hoogleraar Kipps, wil trouwen met diens dochter Victoria, vertrekt hij naar Londen om dit te voorkomen. Gelukkig blijkt Jerome al aan de dijk gezet, maar negen maanden later komt Kipps een jaar aan Howards faculteit doceren en worden de families tot zijn ongenoegen vaak met elkaar geconfronteerd. Als uitkomt dat Howard, die al eerder een affaire had, vrijde met Victoria, wil zijn vrouw scheiden. Maar tijdens een desastreuze lezing lijkt verzoening mogelijk.”
“Took awhile to get into but by the middle, I was hooked. Zadie seems to be a brilliant writer. Can't wait to read "White Teeth"”
suga wrote this review 2 weeks ago. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“opposing views of two families with realistic feelings and disjointed conversations.”
tan c wrote this review 3 weeks ago. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“After having read 2 of her novels, I am counting young author Zadie Smith as one of my favorite writers, if only because she deftly brings together 2 elements I would love to also write about someday: family and ethnicity. In White Teeth, Smith throws together an Englishman with a Jamaican wife and daughter, a Bangladeshi with twin sons, and a Jewish-Catholic married couple all living in England. In On Beauty, she puts a white Englishman with an African-American wife and their 3 kids in a college town in America, where their already complicated internal conflicts are worsened and/or worsen external issues involving white intellectuals, black "brothers", Haitian immigrants, and a Trinidadian family from England who become entangled with the protagonists in an almost Romeo and Juliet way. Indeed, there is something almost Shakespearean in the way things unfold for the Belseys, and something tragic about each character, from the father's failings to the mother's heartaches to the children's personal odysseys of self-discovery.
Ailee wrote this review Saturday, November 28 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
The dynamics and drama of a mixed race family seem to be Smith's specialty, and she captures all the nuances perfectly. What I especially liked about On Beauty was how it trained the spotlight on every member of the family, showing 5 different points of view and revealing the thoughts and emotions of each. I also enjoyed the subplot highlighting the battle between liberals and conservatives in an academic setting, which provided a tension that was both thought-provoking and entertaining, as well as an apt backdrop against which the characters' differences were set. Smith truly is a remarkable writer, and I appreciated On Beauty so much, after I was done reading it I immediately picked up a copy of her Autograph Man.”
“ I found White Teeth unreadable but On Beauty redeems Smith as a writer of depth and great emotional breadth.”
Mary C wrote this review Sunday, November 22 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Long book about families, race & the meaning of beauty”
Jane H wrote this review Friday, October 30 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“did not like it very much. I did not finish it”
JEN L wrote this review Monday, October 26 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Lovely.”
Paul H wrote this review Thursday, October 22 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Set in a fictitious New England college. Issues of class, race and fidelity are explored. Howard Belsey and his family are not sympathetic characters. Yet it is a compelling read with much to discuss.”
Linda G wrote this review Monday, October 19 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
