A review by shelby1994
On Beauty by Zadie Smith

adventurous funny informative reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

 

“They were all going to stay put and suffer. It would be played out very slowly over years.” 

My first read of 2023 AND my first Zadie Smith, and what better way to bring in the new year than 445 pages on the endless disappointment and disillusionment that is men in academia? 

Loosely following the same train of thought that E.M. Forester started in “Howards End” in 1910, Smith dumps in race, trans-Atlantic culture clashes, and always, always, class-status, and bakes us a delectable cake of a book. 

This is a book that could be read a dozen different times, through a dozen different lenses. It’s a dissertation on the endless silent negotiations and truces and games of emotional chicken that govern a marriage.  It’s a love letter to English weather. It’s an homage to Jane Austen’s skewering of family dynamics. 

Most of all, it’s a story of what happens when we become convinced that the most important knowledge is knowledge of self.  We lose ourselves within the mirrored walls of our own minds. We forget how to relate to the outside world, and retreat into an endless conversation with ourselves. 

The only thing that held this back from **perfection** for me, is how Smith dealt with the character of Victoria, and her decisions in the last quarter of the book. Felt a little gross. 

Read If:

– You’re a little tired of the dark-academia genre hype 

– Children exhaust you. 

– You look back on how you always sided with one parent over another as a teenager and cringe