Zadie Smith

A Novel

On Beauty

Struggling with a stale marriage and the misguided passions of his three adult children, long-suffering art professor Howard Belsey finds his family life thrown into turmoil by his son's engagement to the socially prominent daughter of a right-wing icon. By the author of White Teeth. Reader's Guide available. Reprint. 250,000 first printing.

ellie 💐💌⭐️

Beautiful writing exploring many themes, could’ve been a tad shorter.

if there are no howard haters left in the world i am dead

petrina

Ryan Mateyk

POPSUGAR 2020: A book written by someone in their 20s

I'm quickly becoming a big fan of Zadie Smith. Her writing style is hard to describe, but it is so unique and I can't get enough of it. I did not expect this book to be such a heavy-hitter, but it was epic in terms of it's emotional content and the breadth of themes. Everything is covered here, though all themes come together to target the main question of personal identity. Themes of race, class structure, politics, religion, relationships, art and of course, beauty... it's amazing how my girl Zadie brings everything together in this beautiful (ha!) story. 

Smith excels at is dialogue. She creates some of the most realistic conversations I've ever read. I love her attention to detail when it comes to her characters. It really makes a difference and left me with a crystal clear picture in my head when reading. I could go on and on about her and this book, but suffice it to say, I loved it!

Set in New England mainly and London partly, On Beauty concerns a pair of feuding families - the Belseys and the Kipps - and a clutch of doomed affairs. It puts low morals among high ideals and asks some searching questions about what life does to love. For the Belseys and the Kipps, the confusions - both personal and political - of our uncertain age are about to be brought close to home: right to the heart of family.

Lila R E

hi hello this is officially a zadie smith fan account <3

i love so many things about this book and her writing in general but what makes it a great 5 star read is the sheer humanity of smith’s characters. stagnant, unrealistic dialogue? not here, thanks. reading this book made me feel like i knew the people on its pages so intimately and it’s so rare (at least in my experience) to have that feeling. even better, every single character is so brilliantly developed that it’s actually a huge amount of fun getting to know each of them individually. if you’re all about people and all of their intricacies, i could not recommend this book enough!

Witty dialogue, flawed but relatable characters, academic setting. Really loved this one.

Sarah Erle

Anna Brunner

4.5. Masterful writing- it’s clear that zadie smith understands human nature in a way we can all only hope to come close to in our lives

Zadie Smith just knows exactly how to write a novel

Shelby Doherty

** spoiler alert **
           Likes:
- Enjoyed the beginning when Jerome was in the UK and emailing his dad with life updates, was excited where the story would go
- Enjoyed the ending (the fight at the party, the stolen item being discovered) but did not like how these huge events were resolved.

Dislikes:
- Too many characters in focus and I felt like I did not get to know any of them particularly well. I also felt that I did not get a good understanding of the family dynamic either and why Kiki and Howard were still trying to work things out.
- None of these characters are particularly likeable
- The story feels rather inconsequential. While many things happened throughout the story none of them really made me feel much or worry about how the story will advance.
- I feel that the academic setting may be a draw for some but this didn't really do anything for me.
- Way too long of a book, slogged my way through it and never really felt motivated to pick it up.
- Lots of social/societal critique in this but I don't feel that it is particularly insightful or novel. Maybe this can do with when this was published and the current general public being more invested in social issues today.
- Cannot understand why Howard is the way he is and then why Kiki is willing to put up with it for so long. There is rarely insight into how the household operates or what Kiki/Howard wants and feels.

Lindsay Cronk

I didn't like Howard's End much, either, and inasmuch as the novel is a homage, it bothered me. I don't really enjoy this style of humor, which I tend to think of as British parlor room. 

So, in closing, meh.

Katie Cheng

I like this book. I haven't read another book like it, so I don't know how to place it. It made me think about a lot of things that I've never had to think about before. But now that I consider it, many elements of the story have a lot to do with my life.

For example (and I won't go too far down any one of these roads):
- what does it mean to be a minority? a model minority? 
- what's the end goal? integration with the majority? complete rejection of it?
- how are we what we are because society is the way it is?
- why do different people respond to societal pressures in different ways?
- how do family values, economic status, and personality all play a part?
- how is it that people who superficially have so much in common harbor such deep-seated differences?
- and on the flip side, how is it that people who are at first blush so different find themselves to be kindred souls?

This book has layers and layers and layers that I didn't initially anticipate. It comes across to me as a very personal struggle of the author's, for various reasons...that I don't quite know how to voice.

Thanks Coll for the recommendation!

When Howard Belsey's oldest son Jerome falls for Victoria, the stunning daughter of the right-wing Monty Kipps, both families find themselves thrown together, enacting a cultural and personal war against each other.

Shreerag Plakazhi

Zadie has such an impressive grasp on humanity. Her characters are supremely believable, and entirely three-dimensional. She nails the deceptions, the interpretations of looks, the reactions, down to the last person. Her writing style is almost Hemingway-esque in how she gives us barely more than a telling outline of her characters, allowing us to fill up the rest with our imaginations; it's effective because the characters on display are so real, you will probably find them near you.

This book is beautiful.

Linn 

the book was written super well but at the same time it dragged on at times 

(3.5/5)

Arie P

Stephanie 

On Beauty (Courtney Novels)

Anna Concannon 

Rebecca Bream

Sandra Bartos

Inês Pinto

WINNER OF THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION SHORTLISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE SUNDAY TIMES TOP TEN BESTSELLER From the acclaimed author of Swing Time, White Teeth and Grand Union, discover a brilliantly funny and deeply moving story about love and family Why do we fall in love with the people we do? Why do we visit our mistakes on our children? What makes life truly beautiful? Set between New England and London, On Beauty concerns a pair of feuding families - the Belseys and the Kipps - and a clutch of doomed affairs. It puts low morals among high ideals and asks some searching questions about what life does to love. For the Belseys and the Kipps, the confusions - both personal and political - of our uncertain age are about to be brought close to home: right to the heart of family. 'I didn't want to finish, I was enjoying it so much' Evening Standard 'Thrums with intellectual sass and know-how' Literary Review 'Filled with humour, generosity and contemporary sparkle' Daily Telegraph 'Satirical, wise and sexy' Washington Post

On Beauty A Novel

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