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On Beauty Paperback – 6 July 2006

by Zadie Smith (Author)

4.1 2,405 ratings

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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

Print length

464 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Penguin
Publication date

6 July 2006
Dimensions

12.8 x 2.8 x 19.8 cm
ISBN-10

014101945X
ISBN-13

978-0141019451
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Product description

Review

The tale of a mixed-race British American family in conflict with another family of opposing sensibilities. As with all Smith's work, it's smart, funny and a masterclass in the complexities of identity -- Luan Goldie ― Guardian

About the Author

Zadie Smith is the author of the novels White Teeth, The Autograph Man, On Beauty, NW and Swing Time; as well as a novella, The Embassy of Cambodia; three collections of essays, Changing My Mind, Feel Free and Intimations; a collection of short stories, Grand Union; and the play, The Wife of Willesden, adapted from Chaucer. She is also the editor of The Book of Other People. Zadie Smith was born in north-west London, where she still lives. The Fraud is her first historical novel.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Penguin; 1st Penguin Edition (6 July 2006)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 464 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 014101945X
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0141019451
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 12.8 x 2.8 x 19.8 cm

Best Sellers Rank: 16,750 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- 819 in Women's Literary Fiction (Books)
- 3,424 in Literary Fiction (Books)
- 5,058 in Contemporary Fiction (Books)

Customer reviews:
4.1 2,405 ratings

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Zadie Smith

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Zadie Smith is the author of the novels White Teeth, The Autograph Man, On Beauty, NW and Swing Time, as well as three collections of essays, Changing My Mind, Feel Free and Intimations, and a collection of short stories, Grand Union.

White Teeth won multiple awards, including the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, the Whitbread First Novel Award and the Guardian First Book Award. On Beauty was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize and won the Orange Prize for Fiction, and NW was shortlisted for the Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction.

Zadie Smith is currently a tenured professor of fiction at New York University and a Member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. She is a regular contributor to the New Yorker and the New York Review of Books.

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4.1 out of 5

2,405 global ratings

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Amazon Customer

I love Zadie Smith!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 24 August 2023

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I love reading Zadie Smith's books, she is one of the BEST! . Found it hard to put the book down. Was really excited picking it up the following day. Would read it on the train to and from work. Had me in hysterics. or in deep deep thoughts about the particular character. This book comes HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. I can see myself reading it again in a few years time

One person found this helpful

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Jim Bowen

I don't get it.... but it's well written

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 15 October 2011

Verified Purchase

This book is about one family, the liberal atheistic Belseys (Howard, Kiki and their three biracial childrem Jerome, Zora and Levi), and their relationship with the more "religious right" Kipps family (Monty, Carlene and Victoria). Howard and Monty are lecturers who dislike each other, often being used as spokesmen for opposite side of an argument. Howard, despite being English, works in a university near Boston. Monty, a West Indian, gets a job there while the book develops, leading to some bickering between the two. Their disagreement isn't racial (Howard is white, but married to a black woman), it's just their belief systems are diametrically opposed to one another. The book focuses on Howard's dual relationships between Monty and Kiki (largely).

To be honest, I'm not sure what to think of this book. It's well written. I can see good writing when I read it, and this is really good writing, it's just not much happens here. If this is about the "US Culture Wars", I can see what she was aiming for. It's just I think that could be told better as a factual book. Both Howard, and Monty feel like cardboard cut-outs of either side of an argument. I don't know many atheists who ban Christmas for their kids, for example. If it's about something else, I can't see it. So if you want a well written fictional account of the US Culture Wars, read this book. If you just want a well written family drama (with some humour involved), you'll like this book too. If you want something else maybe you won't like it so much.

10 people found this helpful

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The Reader

Wonderful

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 4 November 2019

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I must admit I am a fan of Zadie Smith. I've read and loved NW and Swing Time and cant wait to read the new book of short stories.
On Beauty is a book where the characters feel real and stay with you once you put the book down. You feel something for so many characters: fondness, envy, hate. And to top it all off, the book says so much about so many topics in a way only good fiction does .. subtly

3 people found this helpful

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Lin Davies

A campus novel

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 21 November 2020

Verified Purchase

This is a fairly typical campus novel, set in the USA and England, very much in the tradition of David Lodge but not nearly as entertaining. Although it had its comic moments I found it wordy and overlong, being left with the feeling that it might have been improved by a good editor. After a fairly short time little remains of the novel in my memory.

4 people found this helpful

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Kindle Customer

In a strange land

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 2 January 2017

Verified Purchase

It's clear in the opening chapters which characters Zadie Smith sympathizes with, though as the plot thickens she seems to warm to her less sympathetic ones. The text is ostensibly 'about' their relationships but there is a steady , strong undercurrent of not belonging which comes to a suitably damp climax when Howard, a central character visits his old man. The language, as one has come to expect of this author, is delightful, full of beautiful observations whether from narrator or imputed to characters. This becomes apparent in an entertaining account of an academic's party and continues accruing till the breathtaking description of Hampstead heath, finding the eternal and extraordinary in what some may class the mundane. For liveliness and indeed some elusive quality such as accuracy, for ideas you may have been waiting for someone to get in print, this is a masterpiece of social commentary and again a thoroughly enjoyable read

5 people found this helpful

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Heather

Gripping

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 24 January 2022

Verified Purchase

I really enjoyed this novel. The dialogue is exceptionally. The novel moves along without explanation through the skilful use of interaction and dialogue between the various protagonists. Admirably executed.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 15 July 2018

Verified Purchase

Zadie Smith seems to capture and portray North London in a way very few writers can, it's a real pleasure to be contemporary with her. This contains additional depths due to the Atlantic connection, as I have an American parent. I purchased this on behalf of a woman who i thought would benefit from it, she seems appreciative.

2 people found this helpful

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mazza

A surprisingly good read!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 7 October 2013

Verified Purchase

Having read 'White Teeth' by the same author, I wasn't at all sure I'd like this book. The book was hard to get into, starting with a series of emails. At times the author tended to be rather wordy and it took a while to understand the different characters and how they all interrelated. However, it was worth persevering with as the characters developed and showed themselves to be all too human despite their reputation and intellect. Set in and around university life, the most honest of the characters turned out to be the 2 least 'intellectual'.

2 people found this helpful

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Zadie Smith

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