Zadie Smith set an ambitious design for herself with On Beauty. It’s an academic novel,
a domestic comedy, a tale of racial and intercultural tensions, and a
sexual farce. It echoes the plot of E. M. Forster’s Howards End and the style of
Smith’s successful 2000 debut, White
Teeth.
On Beauty revolves around two
families whose art historian husbands/fathers are academic enemies.
Most of the action takes place at fictional Wellington University, a
quintessentially Boston-area elite institution. British-born Howard
Belsey is married to an African-American hospital administrator and has
made his career in the States. Haitian Monty Kipps teaches in the UK
but has been invited to guest lecture at Wellington. The interactions
of their two families produce havoc enough, but more conflict arises
from relations with less privileged outsiders, including a black rapper
and the Haitian immigrant community.
With adroit storytelling and a gift for dialogue, Smith weaves the
complex threads of her story into a thought-provoking read about the
discordant state of individuals and society in the early 21st century.
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