I recently got this book and White Teeth and was disappointed in both. Descriptive passages without narrative momentum, snarky and repetitive. This author does not have much to say. I would recommend at least getting them from the library before you waste any money.

I don't always like books that are an homage to an earlier work, as On Beauty is to Howard's End. The Hours comes to mind as a completely over-hyped, forced replica of Mrs. Dalloway. But while some of the ties to Howard's End in On Beauty are, indeed, forced a bit, I was nevertheless sucked in to the characters and Zadie Smith's writing style. Smith is a truly gifted prosaist and I look forward to reading more of her works. In spite of some other minor flaws, don't believe the reviews that say this book was "dull" or uninteresting - it is anything but!

The critics gushed over this one. While it is well-written, I couldn't help wondering why it was written.

This is the story of two families, each family headed up by a strong-willed academic man. These two patriarchs are opposites and enemies (or rivals, if you want to be optimistic). The emotional center of the book revolves around Howard's struggling marriage to Kiki. This novel is satirical and comic, on the one hand, and heartbreaking and sensitive on the other. Highly recommended.

The Belsey family is about as screwed up as a family can get. The teenage/young adult children speak to their parents irreverently, the parents seem disconnected from each other, but yet, somehow, the love that they all have for each other is obvious from the start. Howard Belsey, the patriarch of the family, however, has no love for Monty Kipps, a rival college professor and someone whom he has challenged professionally for years. But Howard's son, Jerome, is interning for Monty and has fallen in love with Monty's daughter Veronica. This is only the beginning of a story that has the Belsey family intertwined with the Kipps family at every twist and turn.

The Belsey family struggles in many ways - Kiki attempting to overcome Howard's infidelity, Levi, ony 16, trying to find his way in an adult world, Jerome struggling with finding his own identity in the shadow of his parents, and Zora trying to choose between being sensual female and a true intellectual feminist. Each of the characters interacts with a whole host of other characters that bring this book alive.

Set in a conservative college town in the suburbs of Boston, the actual story line of On Beauty is not that original in and of itself. It involves professional rivalries, love won, love lost, and friendship. It deals with standard coming of age difficulties. But what makes this novel fantastic is the excellent character development. The characters simply come alive and the writing makes you feel as though these are actual people you know in a town that you have visited. The author reveals the plot in a seductive way - only a little bit at a time - letting the story cleverly unfold to keep the reader interested. But when she reveals the next piece it is without fanfare - as though you were aware that that particular piece of the puzzle was there the entire time.

A truly enjoyable character driven novel. Zadie Smith continues to craft enjoyable reads that you can really sink your teeth into.

This book is excellent. Well written, engaging and enthralling-- I couldn't put it down. Left me with many new perspectives.

I had the unfortunate obligation of reading this novel for a class. The characters feel like caricatures fumbling around each other with never the right words for the situation they find themselves in. Most of the book is composed of awkward dialogue, with the characters either being too polite or too aggressive. Yes, Smith is trying to convey how different people of different backgrounds clash yet still try to get along, but for the reader's sake, it would have been nice to have a little more flow to the book. The book should have been titled _On Social Anxiety: When People Who Are Different Interact_, because that is its major theme. The thing is, we don't need a reminder of how different we all are. We're living that every day. We don't need to read a novel to realize that.

Lastly, I don't know what all those positive newspaper reviews were reading, but this book was not funny -- at all. I didn't laugh a single time.

I first spotted this book when it was released in hardcover and was excited about it. I LOVED her novel White Teeth and was impressed by the glowing reviews of On Beauty. Once it came out in paperback, I scooped it up. My first impression was not a good one. The dialouge in the beginning was flat, boring and often times confusing. But I trudged on, hoping that it would be another Zadie Smith gem. It never got any better. The characters were dull, annoying and stereotypical. The plotline was never interesting. All in all, i was very disapointed. Zadie Smith is usually a brilliant writer and that is the only reason I forced myself to make it through the book, months later. A good book usually takes me about 3 days. If you haven't read White Teeth, get that instead. White Teeth: A Novel

"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." Zadie Smith.

English novelist Zadie Smith's third novel, On Beauty, was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize following its 2005 publication. The novel takes its title from an essay by Elaine Scarry ("On Beauty and Being Just"), and is loosely based on Forster's Howards End, and tells the story of two families and their intertwined lives. Gradually these two very different families become linked. Howard and Kiki Belsey are an academic, mixed-race, middle-class, British-American family living in the university town of Wellington (near Boston) with their children Jerome, Zora (a feminist) and Levi (a gangsta wanabe in his baggy pants). Howard is a Rembrandt scholar; Kiki is an engaged mother and medical worker. The Belsey family is liberal and atheist. Monty Kipps, a Trinidadian, and his wife Carlene live in Britain with their children Victoria and Michael. Monty is also a Rembrandt scholar; Carlene is a disconnect wife and mother. The Kipps family is ultra-conservative and Christian. After an affair with Victoria Kipps, Jerome becomes a born-again Christian, creating tension between the families, whose lives intersect in Wellington, when Monty Kipps takes employment as a visiting professor at the university. Carlene and Kiki become friends, while Howard ends an affair with a colleague, Claire. Zora and Levi become friends with an African-American, Carl. On Beauty will appeal to any fan of E.M. Forster's Howard's End (or of Jane Austen), inasmuch as both novels confront issues of class head on, with On Beauty also taking on issues of race, politics, and gender. Both books are ultimately about the ability of humans to connect despit their differincess. Smith demonstrates a real talent for dialogue, which is perhaps reason enough to experience On Beauty--a superb novel, to be sure. Keats recognized in his "Ode on a Grecian Urn" that "Beauty is truth, truth beauty, that is all Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know." When it comes to Beauty and Truth, Zadie Smith reveals here she is wise beyond her years. My only regret is that I waited three years to read this highly-recommended novel.

G. Merritt

Not only did this book come faster than I thought, but it was in perfect condition and it turned out to be a wonderful read. I recommend it all!

The ladies of my book club loved "On Beauty" and were amazed that the author who was born in 1975 was so able to get into the minds of characters in their 50s. She sets up two academic families, one in England and one in Massachusetts. The English family is black and conservative while the American one is mixed race and liberal. There is professional competition and hard feelings between the two patriarchs; and when the English professor comes to teach at his competitor's college, the men take opposing stands with regard to academic politics. In the small town environment their families also develop interesting relationships.

The juxtaposition of liberal and conservative attitudes is interesting and I kept watching to see which the author was going to prefer. However, she revealed no bias and showed both liberals and conservatives as a mix of good and bad traits with a touch of hypocrisy and a little infidelity here and there.

This novel condenses a variety of philosophies (and warnings) about how our culture values beauty, and considers what we are willing to trade to be close to it. I really enjoyed this novel -- the characters are complicated and interesting, and it was easy to be sympathetic too, yet disappointed in the characters. I thought the writing was impressive, as well.

So, this is one of the greatest works of contemporary fiction I've read (listened to) in a while. The only reason I considered it at all (being a strict devotee of the cannon)was because it won the Orange Prize for Fiction in 2006 which is the UK's award given to the best original full-length novel written by a woman in the English language.

My complaint with this set, therefore, lies not with the story, but rather with the quality. I noticed that there were many "blips" or "skips" in the CD - not sure if it's just my copy or all of them. I suppose I could have sent it back, but by the time I noticed it was a recurring problem, I was already too involved in the story to let it go.
Peter Francis James gives an excellent oral reading of this work.

Zadie Smith's "On Beauty" is a sweeping novel chronicling the lives of two disparate academic families - the liberal-leaning Belseys and the staunchly conservative Kipps. Howard Belsey is a white professor, and Monty Kipps is a black professor; both study art and hail from the U.K. They also both married black women, but that's where the similarities end. Specifically, Howard and Monty have been waging an academic vendetta across the Atlantic. These two families start to intertwine in unexpected ways - or at least unexpected to the characters in the novel. When Monty comes to the U.S. and joins the faculty at Howard's tony liberal arts college (the fictional Wellington), sparks fly.

"On Beauty" has a bit of a hook - it's an homage to E.M. Forster's "Howards End," which is a book I really love. Primarily, the similarity between these two books rests on common motifs and a few shared plot points. Specifically, both novels explore the potentially negative consequences that can occur when well-meaning progressives become overly involved in the lives of the "less fortunate." In this case, Howard's daughter, Zora, attempts to help a talented street poet she meets. However, her munificence may be more about wanting to remold Carl in her own intellectual image rather than help him on his own terms; plus, she kind of has a crush on Carl and hopes he'll reciprocate. In addition, both novels concern class struggles, with "On Beauty" focusing especially on race.

"On Beauty" is a sprawling, messy book crammed with interesting ideas and details; unfortunately, many of its themes are not fully developed. In addition, the characters sometimes ring a bit false, and the elements relevant to "Howards End" feel a tad forced. As a result, some readers may view this book as more of an experiment than a truly great novel; I know I did at times. However, even when it falls short, it does so in an interesting way. Overall, I recommend this book, although less enthusiastically to readers who dislike books that are more than a bit self-conscious or pretentious.

Zadie Smith's "On Beauty" is a sweeping novel chronicling the lives of two disparate academic families - the liberal-leaning Belseys and the staunchly conservative Kipps. Howard Belsey is a white professor, and Monty Kipps is a black professor; both study art and hail from the U.K. They also both married black women, but that's where the similarities end. Specifically, Howard and Monty have been waging an academic vendetta across the Atlantic. These two families start to intertwine in unexpected ways - or at least unexpected to the characters in the novel. When Monty comes to the U.S. and joins the faculty at Howard's tony liberal arts college (the fictional Wellington), sparks fly.

"On Beauty" has a bit of a hook - it's an homage to E.M. Forster's "Howards End," which is a book I really love. Primarily, the similarity between these two books rests on common motifs and a few shared plot points. Specifically, both novels explore the potentially negative consequences that can occur when well-meaning progressives become overly involved in the lives of the "less fortunate." In this case, Howard's daughter, Zora, attempts to help a talented street poet she meets. However, her munificence may be more about wanting to remold Carl in her own intellectual image rather than help him on his own terms; plus, she kind of has a crush on Carl and hopes he'll reciprocate. In addition, both novels concern class struggles, with "On Beauty" focusing especially on race.

"On Beauty" is a sprawling, messy book crammed with interesting ideas and details; unfortunately, many of its themes are not fully developed. In addition, the characters sometimes ring a bit false, and the elements relevant to "Howards End" feel a tad forced. As a result, some readers may view this book as more of an experiment than a truly great novel; I know I did at times. However, even when it falls short, it does so in an interesting way. Overall, I recommend this book, although less enthusiastically to readers who dislike books that are more than a bit self-conscious or pretentious.

I'd heard lots of hype about Zadie Smith, and I was not disappointed with On Beauty. The book's unconventional opening line had me hooked: "One may as well begin with Jerome's e-mails to his father:"

The son is saving his virginity for marriage because of a new-found Christian faith, and his liberal, British father, a professor, is unamused - particularly when Jerome falls in love with the daughter of his arch-nemesis, a black, right-wing conservative who is anti-affirmative action, homosexuality, women's rights...and then we're off.

Smith dexterously explores issues of race, class and culture through the lens of a family, name-dropping from Rembrandt to Tupac. This is a book that will set the benchmark for future "modern classics."

Here's an example of her writing chops:

"From here she could see the strangely melancholic format of Jerome's text, italics and ellipses everywhere. Slanted sails blowing about on perforated seas."

Wow!

DID I JUST READ THAT?
Is what I kept saying to myself while reading this absolutely deliciously written book by Zadie Smith. Her characters are all bold and probably a little larger than life. Her dialogue is so witty and gritty. Her plot emerges slowly through these peoples' lives but it nevertheless moves. A terrific story about quirky people living in our time. A great read.

Zadie Smith takes the English language and weaves a tapestry of prose to be marveled at. This is one of the most down to earth, insightful and just plain entertaining books I have read in many years.

Some books are best read during a specific season or time in your life. this is an anytime read. You won't be disappointed.

One of my favorite novels ever. It's wonderful to find a contemporary author who writes with the beauty and depth that you often think lies only in the "classics".

Zadie Smith knows little about life in a small liberal arts school in Massachusetts. After all, she is not even American and it appears that she has done little research on this subject matter. Characters did not seem realistic or believable. It seemed to me that she or her publisher wanted to market the book to an American audience so she made the book take place in the US, but that subject is not her expertise.

I understand that this book was nominated for the Booker - I am starting to lose respect for the prize. It is not even well written. There is much better fiction out there - skip this one!

Smith's OB is a fine novel. Not great. Not particularly memorable (at least I don't suppose that it will leave a lasting impression on me; I doubt I'll find myself quoting from it days, weeks, or years from now). But solid: well written, well styled, balanced, strong on character development, well researched. This last point bears underscoring. OB is a perfect evocation of university life, in certain quarters of certain universities. I'm not familiar with the details of Smith's own biography, but I assume she herself was, once upon a time, enrolled in a school similar to the eponymous one at the center of this novel. OB evinces the kind of offhand familiarity with academia that experience (and, I imagine, only rarely research) brings. Kudos to Smith for successfully toeing the very fine line between characterization and stereotyping. The protagonists of this novel, their strengths and their foibles, the storylines, the setting -- in short, everything about OB -- seem genuine. That said, OB gets 4 stars from this reader for the following reason: that which is genuine is not always compelling. In the end, OB felt over-long to me and a little less substantial than it might have been. The classics to which it has been compared, and on which it was consciously modeled, all have something this one lacks. For all the reasons I can imagine reading Howard's End again and again, at different stages of my life, I doubt I'll ever crack the pages of OB again. Smith is a fine writer, to be sure. I look forward to reading more of her in future. OB is a fine novel. It's no masterpiece, though.

I initially enjoyed this book and the characters but as I got further into the story, I started to feel like it wasn't going anywhere. The story seemed to run out of steam for me after Carlene discovered the truth about Howard's affair. I found myself wandering and losing interest after that point and then I finally gave up without finishing the book.

Chekov would've hated this novel. Why? By the end of the novel, there are a dozen guns on the mantle, not one of them fired.

Every character had potential. Every story thread had potential.
But non of them go anywhere!

I read the whole novel WAITING and nothing ever really happened.

There is an affair which has no real meaning in the book but to supposedly add weight. There are friendships which never go anyhwere.
The supposed main plot never even really happens.

Guns guns everywhere but not a single shot fired!

Una de esas novelas que cuando las terminás, extrañás a todos los personajes como si los hubieras conocido. Tiene buen ritmo. Lo mejor: las descripciones de las familias y susmiembros. Lo de la académica de la pintura me pareció lo más flojo del texto.

I read this book twice while in Senegal and it really got me interested in the work of Zadie Smith. I have since read White Teeth which I too thought was amazing but quite different in approach and method.

When looking to rate in some nebulous, objective manner the quality of an author's work, it may be best to look into what the author set out to accomplish in the first place. If Smith was setting out to do some sort of historical fiction or dramatized non-fiction about the American academic culture or do some scathing exposition of the dodgy world of Rembrandt criticism, she had done a bad job of it (Zadie Smith is not a documentarian in the strict sense of the word, she is, however, a great recreator of contemporary Western society). That's why I don't think it's the case that she sought to do that kind of story.

This book is about two things: middle age and social (interpersonal) politics, it is as much about the interaction between middle age and social politics as it is the way each of them affect the whole lives of the characters in the story. The story of Howard is terribly interesting because one can delight in his downfall as he realizes his agedness yet realize that the mistakes he makes along the way are at least human, if not understandable in some instances (the pridefulness of wishing to be recognized for his academic work at the expense of his nemesis). Of course, Smith doesn't stray far from her character wheelhouse of hybrids too, which always adds some pretty attractive complication to the storyline.

A great book on an interesting subject.

Like many of the other reviewers, there were times during this longish book that I wondered what the hype about it was. Interesting, yes; humorous, certainly. But I wasn't entirely sure what the direction was-until the very end. And the last 3 pages explains the entire trajectory and raison d'etre (sorry for the bad spelling) of the book. And ultimately, reading this book was a worthwhile endeavor.

This book is about how everyone sees other people through blinders and through the prism of our beliefs and ideals--nothing too startling there--but then the book goes on to examine what happens when those blinders are or are not removed. It's much easier to live a life in which one interacts with simplified 'types.' But life isn't that simple, and it is much richer when one learns acceptance of all the flaws and complexities within oneself and within others, that is, if one is developmentally ready to do so. One of the strengths of the book is the recognition that because various characters are different ages, their ability to adapt, change and accept are different. The author has a good ear for the voices (literal and figurative) of her characters at all their various life stages.

I also enjoyed this book because I am a recovering academic. In turn, perhaps because of this, in contrast to some of the other reviewers, I found the picture presented of academic life to be quite accurate. Take, for example, the Chair of the African-American Studies Dept. He is pleasant, bright, engaging, somewhat flawed in his personal life, and dispenses professional problems--including problem-people--by re-directing them in the extreme. (I'm not being specific here because to do so would ruin some parts of the book.) Having known a number of department chairs, the fictional character was far less unpleasant than the reality, but the principles rang true. Similarly, there are other academically-based characters who are variously exploitive, overwhelmingly self involved, or who have made careers of wielding a certain ideology, all of whom are well represented in universities throughout the US. I can well believe that Smith wrote this while at Harvard or any other liberal arts institution.

This book packs a great deal into 450 pages or so, and it's not all fully digested. The academic debates over the nature of beauty in art, which clearly matter to Smith (note the title of the book!) are not really integrated into the book's structure. In fact, Smith plays them for satire more than for anything else. The characters who are not part of the academic world (Kiki, Carl, for example) seem more real and more fully developed than the university types.

As this book picks up steam about one-third of the way through, however, it hits its stride. Smith does well in showing how all these imperfect characters from two generations interact with each other, across the generations and within them. Her portrayal of the Belsey marriage seems very real to me. Kiki is constantly frustrated with Howard's failings (infidelity is only one of them), but until the end, always seems to find that there is enough history between them to continue the marriage.

This book was beautifully written and flawless if you ask me. It felt so real, as though it was a simple story that could happen anywhere rather than an orchestrated plot. I really enjoyed it more than White Teeth.

On the first page of Franz Kafka's great unfinished novel Amerika, the Statue of Liberty guards New York Harbor holding upright a large sword. San Francisco is a nearby East Coast city. Kafka had never been to America, and given his difficult life, and lack of access to the internet, such errors are easily forgiven.

Zadie Smith supposedly wrote this novel while at Harvard, and there's no literary or practical reason for the sloppy writing and research. This novel just does not capture American language or culture.

Supposed Americans speak in British vernacular or in some mid-Atlantic way that corresponds to a language that is spoken nowhere. An American character asks "What will you do at [for] Christmas?" Other Americans refer to the water board [water company] and an extractor fan [exhaust fan]. Graduate students are repeatedly referred to as "graduates."

Culturally, the book gets the details wrong too, making the simplistic assumption that liberal and conservative mean the same things in the US and UK. (They don't; look how well Bush and Blair got along.) For a campus novel, the details of the American university system are awfully wrong. A sixteen year old considers going straight to medical school or law school without getting an undergraduate degree first. A senior academic with thirty years experience is first going up for tenure. Neither would happen in the US system.

Best of all, in Zadie Smith's Amerika, Thanksgiving is on a Friday!

After reading White Teeth on tour through Canada, I became a devotee of Zadie Smith. So, like other smitten fans I was stoked when On Beauty was published and pre-ordered a copy. The book arrives. I read the first few pages. I am disappointed. The book sits on my shelf for nearly a year.

I decided to give it another go last month. I struggled through the introductory e-mail correspondence quite a bit. However, by the second "chapter" I was fully engrossed and devoured the story in three days.

Overall, the plot of this novel is not as vibrantly paced as White Teeth or The Autograph Man, character development is...bizarre. There are no heroes in this story, just nemeses. Everyone is at war with one another (even if they are friends). If you like nice and tidy resolutions in your stories, this may not be the novel for you. The relationships between the characters are at once complex and superficial. One of the main characters, Howard, is just tragically dense and self-absorbed. At times, it's hard to have any sympathy for him.

The ending is pretty open. I read it a few times and decided that it was just incomplete. Incompleteness is a general theme of the book and my general experience while reading it.

Despite this, I give the novel 4 stars. It has these wonderful, illuminating moments that make it float.

Smith's portrait of the pitfalls and tragic politics of academic life was downright hilarious and all too familiar. The dialogue in the story is for the most part brilliant. A good example is when Belsey visits his estranged father in London. She captures the tension, frustration, and love between father and son wonderfully. She's a gifted wordsmith and has an amazing method of interweaving metaphors with literal phrases. Similar to Joanne Harris, she's sensuous and writes with all senses in mind.

On the first page of Franz Kafka's great unfinished novel Amerika, the Statue of Liberty guards New York Harbor holding upright a large sword. Kafka had never been to America, and given his difficult life, and lack of access to the internet, all is forgiven.

Zadie Smith supposedly wrote this novel while at Harvard, and there's no literary or practical reason for the sloppy writing and research. This novel just does not capture American language or culture.

Supposed Americans speak in British vernacular or in some mid-Atlantic way that corresponds to a language that is spoken nowhere. An American character asks "What will you do at [for] Christmas?" Other Americans refer to the water board [water company] and an extractor fan [exhaust fan]. Graduate students are repeatedly referred to as "graduates."

Culturally, the book gets the details wrong too, making the simplistic assumption that liberal and conservative mean the same things in the US and UK. (They don't; look how well Bush and Blair got along.) For a campus novel, the details of the American university system are awfully wrong. A sixteen year old considers going straight to medical school or law school without getting an undergraduate degree first. A senior academic with thirty years experience is first going up for tenure. Neither would happen in the US system.

Best of all, in Zadie Smith's Amerika, Thanksgiving is on a Friday!

Zadie Smith is a wonder. I love this woman's writing. I only wish she would have written the story entirely through Howard's point of view. Still in all, quite remarkable.

This was the first book I read by Zadie Smith. The hype around this young author and the mixed feelings reflected and expressed by most reviewers triggered my curiosity. So I started reading it with a sense of anticipation, however I was disappointed almost immediately. I think the story and all the characters in it are poorly developed. I always finish a book that I've started, even when I don't like it much, but I must admit that this is the first time ever that I really struggled to get to the end, it was so boring it often became soporific. It was a relief to turn the last page.

On a more positive note, I do believe that the prose was very good and the style original. That's the only reason why I gave it 1 star. And that's also the reason why I'm going to give this author a second chance and shall read White Teeth soon.

It was a little slow to pick up, but once it did, I had a hard time putting this book down. I even got sunburned today trying to finish it at the beach. Smith tackles a lot here: race relations, infidelity, religion, hypocrisy, and inter-generational misunderstandings. With some exceptions, I think she is largely successful. I found each of the characters interesting and sympathetic (or just plain pathetic) in their own ways, but I was rooting for them regardless. Some aspects of the story were a little far-fetched, but Smith is able to get the reader to buy-in enough, that it doesn't matter. This would make a really interesting movie, done right of course. In the meantime, a great summer read, with substance. Pick it up!

I have read Zadie Smith's novel "White Teeth" and I enjoyed it very much, so when my copy "On Beauty" arrived I was expecting another story with memorable characters, a great plot and a super ending. But, alas I was disappointed. I didn't feel it was a terrible book, nor a super book, but rather a good, interesting read. In other words, I'd like to think I got my monies worth, but I'm not sure. Maybe I'll read it again.

The story revolves around two families that live in Mass. The reader will find the Belseys family with the main character Howard Belsey an Art professor and from the second family; the Kipps there is Monty Kipps. Monty arrives with his family and begins his work at the same university that Howard is employed. In summary these two characters lock horns on various social issues (family life, marriage, faithfulness, etc.) and their strong views are covered in this story that spans over a one year period. I suspect that so far this sounds boring, but the author did weave this subplot (I say subplot because there seemed to be numerous plots where I'm in the middle or I'm just starting another one) into the story to make it very interesting.

I use the word "interesting" loosely because I found it difficult to find a lot of empathy for the host of characters, although Zora with her sexual problems did stand out in my memory.

The ending was a let down for me. It left me sort of confused, as if there were more pages to the story that needed to be read. Maybe that was intentional by the author. Overall I'm not sure if I would recommend "On Beauty" to my friends. I guess I would have to be very selective if I did opt to encourage someone to buy the book. Maybe, my best bet would be to advise them to check it out at the library.

For a satisfying Women Fiction novel I wholeheartedly recommend Gathering of Cans by Robert L. Saunders. This novel that covers Zoie Baker's 40 year life as she gathers aluminum cans is incredibly well-written and enjoyable to read. In my opinion, this story will leave you with a wonderful and refreshing feeling. A great read and worthy of your time. Regards.

I enjoyed White Teeth and had heard reviews that On Beauty didn't live up to it. However, I enjoyed it thoroughly!

The story is weak and the characters meaningless. I never reached a point where I could relate to or sympathized with any of the characters. The story never really developed, it just seemed to wander without direction. Though Smith made a worthy effort to tie together multiple social issues, inter-racial relationships, contrasting classes and personal family/spousal conflict, she failed in the end. The book falls flat.

As in I FINALLY finished reading this book! It was difficult to trudge my way through a story that seemed to wander aimlessly and lacked at least somewhat of a clear direction to it. I found this story to be particularly difficult to stay with because I never really related to or developed much interest in any of the characters. Not until I was into the third section - or about 150 pages from the end of the book - did I find myself interested in what was going on with any of the characters, and that was mostly because I was curious to find out what Howard Belsey might do next to completely embarass himself and further alienate himself from his family.

The only reason I allowed for two stars is because I did find it interesting (in an anecdotal kind of way) how Smith attempted to develop a story that incorporated such concepts as mixed-race relationships and marriages, liberalism vs. conservatism and contrasting socioeconomic classes. Unfortunately, I think she tried to utilize so many different concepts that she failed to use any of them effectively. As she would start to build a thread in the story with any one character and concept she seemed to abandon it, only to have it fade back into literary oblivion.

In the end the inability to tie the characters together and develop a competent story line and plot caused this book to fall flat on its face.

My final analysis: Time might be better spent finding something else to read. Absent something else to read, finding something else to do around the house will be a better use of your time.

It has taken me over a month to get round to writing this review, as I really struggled to decide whether or not this book is worthy of recommendation. An enjoyable read, certainly, but often it seemed to me that Smith was making a point and I was simply missing it...unclear where the narrative was going, what the characters were about and actually at times what the whole point of the story was. Howard's spinelessness irritated me endlessly. A shame, since Smith's style of writing is accessible and persuasive. Will read 'White Teeth' on the basis of having read this novel though, as I am told it is superior to 'On Beauty'.

I'm surprised that nobody has excoriated this underedited, impossibly self-indulgent and above all boring book yet. I've actually found the amazingly generous online reviews of this novel more readable than the book itself. Its uneven tone (now comic! now serious! now bathetic!) is matched by a clunky, thudding exposition, exemplified by the overdescriptive narration of Jerome's affair with Victoria Kipps through emails that sound nothing like those a 19 year old boy would write. Of course, dull Jerome and ravishing Victoria (who I kept getting the hideous suspicion was supposed to be - yikes - an author surrogate) are unconvincing characters anyway - or caricatures really. I know this is supposed to be a "comic" novel, despite being extremely thin on laughs, but the characters are infuriatingly one-dimensional and stereotypical. Smith has admitted to blatantly ripping off Howards End, stripmining its themes and structure, to create this dreary tome - as if acknowleding her debt openly in any way compensates for her own failure of imagination. Save your money and buy the novel it steals from instead.

This claptrap would have never been published had the author not been black and female.

As both a modern story and a reinterpretation of Forster's "Howards End," Zadie Smith's "On Beauty" does a good job of showing the struggles of two families, both with ties in Britain and America, and their struggles personally and socially.
With Smith's unbelievably extensive knowledge of both English-speaking cultures, she adds wit, satire and irony seamlessley into her story; her usage of the characters' language and dialect also adds amusement and keeps the reader at ease with such a complex book.
If you've read "Howards End," you will understand Smith's story much better, but if not, fret not and enjoy it nonetheless.

I so wanted to enjoy this book, but I just didn't. I first read Autograph Man and fell in love with Zadie Smith. I also enjoyed White Teeth and was really anticipating this book, but it's been weeks and I'm still trying to drag my way through it. I found the characters generally unlikable and I really, really want Zadie to ask an American to read her writing before she attempts any more American dialogue (or descriptions for that matter). Should Levi really say, 'So what am I meant to do?' or SHOULD he say, 'So, NOW what am I supposed to do?' We never say 'I have done.', we say 'I have.' I could go on and on. Basically, it's an 'American' book told in a British voice when each part should be told in the voice of its narrator. The constant shift between under-developed characters makes for a confusing and interrupted read. Something would finally start to happen with one character, when boom - now you're back with some character you haven't heard from in chapters who never really did anything anyway.

I'm hoping that this one is a learning experience for Ms. Smith and I'm still awaiting her next novel. Based solely on her first two, I would read anything that she puts out there (no matter how long it may take).

Some months ago, I heard an interview with Zadie Smith on National Public Radio and, after that seed had been planted, found I had a growing curiosity about her and this acclaimed novel, On Beauty. I finally decided to buy it.

Although I found it a slow and difficult read, I gave it chance after chance - mostly because, despite the flaws in the story, I find that the writer is quite gifted.

What's evident here, is that Zadie Smith has a great talent. However, this book is indeed VERY flawed. I am left wondering about how Zadie really feels about blackness and black women when the characters she presents embody at least two of the pernicious stereotypes that black women have been battling for generations: the mammy and the hyper-sexed Jezebel. None of her black women are intellectual or appear to be very smart - with the exception of Zora, who is half white. I was nearly made sick by the constant use of racial descriptors: i.e. Kiki's black toes. What IS that? Has Zadie forgotten that her reader already knows that Kiki is African American and doesn't need to be told that her toes are black -- a biological impossibility, since they'd be brown after all? At some point, can't they just be toes while you let your readers fill in the rest?

I understand that Smith wanted to capture dialect. But, with it being a dialect that I speak and that I have grown up around, I found the so-called "ebonics" jarring, unbelievable, and ultimately it was annoying trying to decipher the spelling of the words I hear in everyday use like "Ahmmuh" (short for "I'm a-going to" which I think she spelled "Ah'mah"). The only one she got right that I can think of presently, is "Iono".

Another reviewer pointed out Kiki's lack of concern for her son when he didn't come home one night. Wow!!! That just wouldn't happen! Do we need any further evidence that this author does NOT know what African American women are about? And why does KiKi, who seems to be unhealthily obese, never even try to take measures to lose weight? Most women are very conscious of it and it can be very consuming.

As for the other characters, they're hard to like (Zora), shallow (Vee), underdeveloped (Jerome), and often stereotypical (Carl). My biggest disappointment, in fact, is Carl. Just another depiction of a young black man that just can't handle college (and I know scores who can get degrees, and even manage to maintain a dual "hip-hop" culture identity -- imagine that!).

I guess it's no wonder so many folks out here like this book. It fits comfortably into most white people's distant and ignorant concept of blackness. If you want to read a rather shallow peek into interracial marriage and blackness, then go for it. But be warned: there's very little to do about beauty, although quite a bit can be found in her overall use of language (She's good, no denying).

I did recieve this book. I did not order this book. If I did order this book it is because I clicked on the incorrect box. I have not read the book. I will keep it, however. It is just too much hasstle to return the book to you.
Arnetta Swan

I don't like to put a book down, and the only reason I didn't toss this one aside is because it was a gift. What is all the hype about? The characters were stereotypical, and worse, even after 100 pages into the book, I couldn't have cared less about what happened to any of them. The author is far too judgemental of her characters. She forced her judgement of them so much on the reader that I was almost inclined to root for the ones she didn't like. But like I said, I couldn't bring myself to care for any of them. The author inserts too much of herself and her opinions into the book, thereby beating the reader over the head with her viewpoints about race, academia, culture, and family life. A superb author can win a reader over to his/her viewpoint in such a subtle way that the reader does not even know that he/she is being pulled in a certain direction. This author clearly prefers a crass sledgehammer approach.

I recently read "On Beauty" by Zadie Smith and found it to be a very good read. The novel askes many questions that give readers much to think about: the male/female perspectives on beauty and aging; what is an "authentic" black experience; essentially 'airheaded' academics and much more.
You will get to know the Belsey family of liberal white British academic Howard, his earthy African-American wife Kiki and their children: the pious and heartsick Jerome, the single-minded yet slightly out of touch Zora, and the desperate-to-be-down Levi. It is a family that is very different from any family in most new novels and I found the racial mix, politics, and setting of the novel very refreshing. You fall in love, get infuriated, and laugh with this family. To make a pop culture comparison, they are the "Huxtables After Dark", if you will.

The only place Ms. Smith trips up is in capturing real American dialects and idioms--sometimes she comes off as a British person who gets all of her information about America via sitcoms and MTV. Also, since this book is often placed in the 'black section' of the book store, it may have a problem finding a wider audience, unfortunately stuck between books with titles like "Thug Missez" and "On Tha Down Low" ( I wish I was making this up!). But for people looking for a different sort of read from what you may usually find, this is a good one.

This author's main asset is in her descriptions and nuances. Many of them were simply terrific.I did also detect some humour, which was pleasing. The start of the novel with Jerome's emails to his father, although not a big attention grabber, is unique.
However, for me the story was much too slow moving.There was too much detail and what I consider filler throughout the novel. Even in the midst of a very good fight between Kiki and Howard (204), the author sidetracks with the elastic of Kiki's underwear and Howard placing his hands on the sideboard,thus losing the momentum.
I disliked the clumsy way the reader is told to jump nine months forward and back across the Atlantic (42).
That weird poem "On Beauty"...what did it say? (153).
Not bad but would I recommend it? Sorry....

As I read this book, I have to wonder if the author has ever been to America. The dialects are all wrong, and have a tendency to sound like someone English trying to sound American. The descriptions of Boston and the surrounding suburbs capture no sense of place that is so vivid and true in the greatest of American regionalist writers.

Despite this lack of capturing America (we are hard to pin down for anyone not born here), the descriptions of the troubled marriages are even more difficult to buy. As someone who has been in a typical marriage for several years(read still happy, and still a very strong and good one), I felt that the author fails to capture any of the true feelings that evolve and enter into a marriage as its participants head towards middle age and inevitably old age.

As I read this, I feel like I am reading something written by someone who has very little personal experience for the trials and joys that a solid marriage will have. As for Smith really understanding how it feels to be a parent--let's face it her descriptions are pretty much limited to the child's. It's hard to sound convincing when you obviously haven't been there through every step of a child's life from birth to teen age years.

Why Smith who was born in 1975 would try to write about married people in their mid 50s with teen age children and is beyond me. Why any adult who has lived through similar experiences would expect to gain any wisdom or authentic experiences from someone who obviously doesn't have a clue is also beyond me.

Ultimately this novel is an exercise in self-indulgence by someone who might have gained popularity for politically correct, rather than aesthetic reasons.

I just finished this novel a couple of days ago. I envy Zadie Smith. She is a superior writer and novelist. The intricacies of her stories astound me.I especially enjoy the way she can switch between different characters voices as narrators' so effortlessly. Her prose is amazing. If I were to write a novel one day--which is the eventual plan--I would say that her style would be one I would want to aim for.

So of course I come to share one favorite quotes from the novel.

"This is why Kiki had dreaded having girls: she knew she wouldn't be able to protect them from self-disgust. To that end she had tried banning television in the early years, and never had lipstick or a woman's magazine crossed the threshold of the Belsey home to Kiki's knowledge, but these and other precautionary measures had made no difference. It was in the air, or so it seemed to Kiki, this hatred of women and their bodies - it seeped with every draught in the house; people brought it home on their shoes, they breathed it in off their newspapers. There was no way to control it."

I love Zadie Smith's writing. Absolutely love it. She is my new favorite. But I recognize the fact that her novels are not as accessible in terms of content to a lot of people. She makes reference to tons of authors, artists, and other "bourgie, frou-frou" culture that your every day run of the mill average joe might not be familiar with--and I can see how that might turn some people off onto reading her. Also, her novels are a bit difficult to grasp in their entirety--very intricate, detailed, multi-layered. However, I love her references to popular culture juxtaposed against the supposed "high-end' culture that she also writes about. This trend is even more evident in On Beauty than her previous novel White Teeth (which I also love).

A substantial portion of the theme and content and characterizations of On Beauty deal with the idea of academia versus such things as Hip Hop Culture. Or upper-middle "white" class versus working "ghetto/immigrant" class. She weaves these themes throughout the novel in ways not always directly evident but often just implied, glanced at, thought about quickly--that is the beauty of Zadie Smith's writing. She can make references to Rembrandt and Tupac. To Karl Marx, Mozart and "the fattest man in rap. . . a 400-pound, Bronx-born Hispanic genius" who "only 25 years old...died of coronary (I assume this to be Big Pun ).

This novel is the struggle of a mixed race family with forming an identity, of mixed economic and home country origins and mixed career and life goals. Are they "street" in touch with black/african/african american culturel like Levi wishes so vehemently to be, Florida-country super woman like Kiki, astutely academic minded like Howard and Zora or religously enlightened like Jerome.They are actually, as a family, very far from any of these characterizations, and yet, each one has an extreme influence on who they are as a whole--they would not be the same without each one. With a family full of such polar personalities you would think it was a wonder that they still manage to love through the very rough times they encounter throughout the course of the novel. But Smith makes it very simple to see that love does exist, not always, maybe not fully, but underneath it all where it matters the most.

Please read this novel sometime in your life. AND read White Teeth as well. :) Zadie Smith my new hero.

p.s. I love the hip-hop savy, savaant, character named Carl who blows the academic folks away--at least in my mind.