A Book A Week: Zadie Smith - On Beauty
By Alina Popescu on Jun 30, 2008 in A Book a Week, Book Reviews, Reading Tips
Remeber yesterday’s challenge? Well, this is the first review I’m publishing, with high hopes of turning this intro a weekly habit.
“On Beauty” is the type of book that you start reading, just to get a feel of it, and wake up 100 pages later. It intrigues you, it saddens you to tears, it makes you smile, it makes you laugh, it makes you angry. The states characters are in are described in such detail their imaginary feelings are passed on to you.
It’s a story of a half white, half black family and the world they live in, a small town built around a university - Wellington. The personal tragedies of each member of the family are interlinked with those of their friends, enemies and of plain strangers.
Political debates, family problems, art, culture, drugs, sordid affairs, theft and love, all are part of this book’s world. And everything seems to be treated in pairs of opposites: the intellectuals and those less interested in academic debate; those entitled to an education, but who lack talent, and those who have the talent but lack the right or means to an education; the beautiful and the less good looking, the wifes and the mistresses; the popular and the hated.
Zadie Smith’s book will take you from the cultural issues of a US small town, to the political hassles of Haiti, and to the poor neighborhoods of London. It will make you think of the human condition, of what big messes we can make at times, of how easy it is to hurt people or to make them happy, of how fragile lies and lives are.
Some passages of the book are so common, they are predictable, but they are described in a way that does not bore you. It all seems so natural, so human, a part of our souls that we cannot reject.
My favorite character is Kiki Belsey, the black wife of a university professor forced to live in a world where the only black people are those she hires to clean her house, mother of three, each child with their difficult problems. An extremely strong woman, with an incredible will and sense for what’s right. An amazing friends that we’d all want around.
If anyone has read the book, I’d appreciate your thoughts on it. If you haven’t, consider this on your list of book recommendations.
Thank you and see you all next week,
Alina
Popularity: 22% [?]
It’s true that this book completely draws you in. I love Zadie Smith, I’d re-read her books endlessly!
What I found strange about this book, however, is that sometimes Smith falls into the stereotypes of black people in America. Carl, for exmaple is very handsome and talented but is poor, like in the movies. Victoria is a bitch… I can already imagine her with long painted nails answering back to everything she does not agree with (like in the movies!). Kiki is a fat Black woman who’s nonetheless very strong and has a lot of love to share with other people. Do you think that she is cleverly playing with these stereotypes or is it a flaw in the novel?
I must admit that despite what I’ve just written, I really liked the novel and I couldn’t put it down. I was laughing out loud or getting angry with the characters.
Stefania | Aug 21, 2008 | Reply
I don’t know if it’s a fault or if she plays with the characters. But I think Victoria acts the way she does because she’s not happy with herself, not because of a stereotype. I get the feeling there’s nothing random in the book, so i would incline to say it’s not a flaw.
Alina Popescu | Aug 21, 2008 | Reply