Reviews - On Beauty by Zadie Smith

2.32k reviews for:

On Beauty by Zadie Smith

Zadie Smith, Zadie Smith

3.83 AVERAGE

mayahouser's review against another edition

4.0

challenging emotional funny reflective tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

bookmarc_nl's review against another edition

4.0

Took me way too long to get into this one (granted that could also be a me-problem) but once this one hit it hit real hard.
One of the biggest current authors taking inspiration from one of my favorite authors of the past was promising and did not disappoint.

This may have been my first but it will not be my last Zadie Smith novel!

Finished June 11, 2025

calmchowder's review against another edition

3.0

It wasn't perfect... a lot of the characters fell a little flat for me. No real development and a bit too stereotypical, in my opinion. I also found some of the dialogue to be a bit forced, written more like a mediocre movie script. A lot of things in the plot were just too convenient, so at times it didn't feel very realistic.

That being said, I really liked the incorporation of so many different social themes. Levi's obsession with Haiti and being from the ghetto (though he isn't) was particularly fun for me. A lot of the characters just didn't seem to know where they belonged and I thought the ending tied that up nicely.

The plot pushes on without dragging its feet, which made my complaints about the book seem a lot more tolerable. It was anything but boring and I think that was redeeming.