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On Beauty
 
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On Beauty (Hardcover)

by Zadie Smith (Author)
3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Hardcover: 445 pages
  • Publisher: Hamish Hamilton Ltd (2 Sep 2005)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0241142938
  • ISBN-13: 978-0241142936
  • Product Dimensions: 23.4 x 15.6 x 4.4 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 246,543 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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    #12 in  Books > Fiction > Authors, A-Z > S > Smith, Zadie

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Product Description

Product Description

Howard Belsey, a Rembrandt scholar who doesn't like Rembrandt, is an Englishman abroad and a long-suffering Professor at Wellington College. He has been married for thirty years to Kiki, an American woman who no longer resembles the sexy activist she once was. Their three children passionately pursue their own paths, and faced with the oppressive enthusiasms of his children, Howard feels that the first two acts of his life are over and he has no clear plans for the finale. Then Jerome, Howard's oldest son, falls for Victoria, the stunning daughter of the right-wing icon Monty Kipps. Increasingly, the two families find themselves thrown together in a beautiful corner of America, enacting a cultural and personal war against the background of real wars that they barely register...


About the Author

Zadie Smith was born in north-west London in 1975 and still lives in the area. She is the author of WHITE TEETH and THE AUTOGRAPH MAN.

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Customer Reviews

22 Reviews
5 star:
 (6)
4 star:
 (6)
3 star:
 (3)
2 star:
 (2)
1 star:
 (5)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
3.3 out of 5 stars (22 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant or Dull?, 19 April 2006
By L. Hughes "cpeggotty" (England) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
Seems as though those who read it find it a wonderful, accomplished and satisfying read, or just rather dull. I am in the middle. Whilst "On Beauty" said "quality" in many ways, I could have put it down at any point and not given a second thought to the fate of any charachter.
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32 of 38 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars Disappointed, 10 Oct 2005
By Dr Sticky (Nottingham United Kingdom) - See all my reviews
I'm not trying to be controversial - maybe I just don't get it. Connect? If only. Smith has inevitably posited herself for comparison with E M Forster and, in comparison, this book falls short. Although there are some snatches of exquisite prose, I found the characters one-dimensional at best and caricatures at worst. Smith seems to be riffing on elements of her life experience - academia, youth, residence in the USA - rather than competently addressing overarching themes of race, culture, love and gender which bubble around in this melting pot of a story but don't come together to make a great novel this time. I have to say, however, I wasn't a big fan of Smith's first two works so I'm not sure how this qualifies me as a reviewer. Clearly popular opinion and Booker judges have found something else in the book so hopefully other readers will too.
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11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Flawed but very good, 26 Oct 2005
By A. Gordon "annettego" (London) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   
I haven't read her other two novels. I sort of avoided White Teeth because it was a 'trendy' read but I picked this up and found it satisfying intellectually and also a pretty good read. I cared about many of the characters in the book although didn't like them all - this may sound trite but to get something out of a novel you have to feel engaged with the characters in some way.

Also Zadie Smith has humour, something I wasn't expecting to get. The issues of race in the book were tackled with intelligence and insight and also from a variety of perspectives which was really refreshing. There was no 'woe is me' PCness to the book which was a huge relief, just a clear tackling of where each character stood or was trying to stand, in many cases imperfectly. It showed how people's politics personal and otherwise are fragile and constantly evolving.

I think it's flawed because sometimes the narrative thread and the perspectives of some of the characters slightly unravelled in places. Also I felt uncomfortable with the scenes directly lifted from Forster's Howards End, even though they were an honourable tribute, they didn't work for me, possibly because you could so clearly see where they came from.

This is an ambitious novel, well-written and well worth the time taken to read it and I would say that Zadie Smith's masterpiece is in the future but it is out there and on it's way.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Great read
Zadie Smith is a very talented young writer indeed. In 'On Beauty' she proves herself a good story teller with a superb command of language and style. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Peter V. Case

4.0 out of 5 stars Really satisfying read
I was interested in reading this book purely because of the accolades it has been afforded. I have to say I wasn't dissapointed. Read more
Published 9 months ago by Lady Louise

1.0 out of 5 stars Waste of time
The most annoying book I ever read. I struggled to go through it hoping it will get better soon. This did not happen. Worthless. Read more
Published 16 months ago by Ekaterina

4.0 out of 5 stars Campus Comedy
This is a campus novel, with the familiar trope of intelligent academics and their less-than-clever foibles and human follies. Read more
Published on 28 Sep 2007 by Mike Cormack

3.0 out of 5 stars hmm
i read an extract of white teeth and was drawn to zadie smiths style of writing. When i started reading on beauty i couldnt put the book down, however all the excitement and the... Read more
Published on 26 Dec 2006 by Farah Ahmad

4.0 out of 5 stars fascinating read
This is my 2. Zadie Smith book. I read White Teeth, which I loved and couldn't help buying On Beauty when it came out. Read more
Published on 19 Jul 2006 by freya

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent
I really really liked this book. I found White Teeth amazingly good, and this even better. I'm highly surprised at some of the very negative comments here, but to each his own I... Read more
Published on 11 Jun 2006 by AKC

5.0 out of 5 stars Just brilliant
I can't think of another writer like Zadie Smith. What other writer in their late 20s or early 30s is capable of writing such a large, complex novel, with so many ideas? Read more
Published on 28 April 2006 by K. Thomas

1.0 out of 5 stars And to think some poor tree died for this.
This book was truly over rated. It rings false and hollow. I spent too much of my time trying to force myself to believe it. Read more
Published on 27 April 2006 by Bridget C. Lee

4.0 out of 5 stars On 'On Beauty'
Having never read Zadie Smith's 'White Teeth' or 'Autograph Man' - put off by the ubiquitous trendiness of the former and ambivalent reviews for the latter - I read On Beauty... Read more
Published on 3 April 2006 by Demob Happy

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