Comments on: A Book A Week: Zadie Smith – On Beauty

By: Joss Pentoscope

Joss Pentoscope — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 21:38:49 +0000

For a more detailed analisis of Zadie Smith’s novel On Beauty, read Jerome Poinsot’s article about the Haitian beauty of its baroque writing…

By: Alina Popescu

Alina Popescu — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 07:56:52 +0000

Marabelle, I would never have thought of calling this book boring…But then again, if you need a summary for the English presentation, you don’t get the whole deal about reading the book anyway. By the way, after seeing quite a few movies made after books, I can tell you some are really good movies, but never as good as the book. Take the Dune series, the movies leaves out such interesting parts, it hurts!

By: Marabelle

Marabelle — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 00:07:23 +0000

Extremely boring and long story
If only things were summarized and if there was a video, things would really help me with my english presentation..gawd

By: Alina Popescu

Alina Popescu — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 10:41:17 +0000

Tatoutheangel, thanks for stopping by! Sounds like a really interesting research! You are right, the explanations for those characters’ actions is not really convincing!

By: tatoutheangel

tatoutheangel — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 08:58:49 +0000

I am writing my M.A research about this novel. I really like it even if there are parts that are boring. Zadie Smith transcends the universal notion of Beauty and sees beauty everywhere. Inner beauty is therefore foregrounded making the reader appreciate more characters such as Kiki who is an African American obese woman or Carlene the dying woman. Claire Malcolm or Victoria Kipps who are physically beautiful characters are morally ill. There is an attempt by Smith to explain their sinful acts by inner identity troubles but the reader is not convinced.

By: Alina Popescu

Alina Popescu — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 07:41:25 +0000

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.

By: Stefania

Stefania — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 21:47:45 +0000

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.