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A review by tarrowood
On Beauty by Zadie Smith
3.0
I’ll be honest and say I was disappointed in this book. Zadie Smith is one of my favorite contemporary authors, but On Beauty didn’t live up to my expectation. Smith leads you on with characters that you continue to think you will like, or that will have a breakthrough, but they remain ironically hedonistic and static throughout. Perhaps that is the point? How people, even when forced to change, are begrudged to the idea of actually changing?
The two good things from this book were the images of art (paintings, poems, rap, etc.) and Smith’s prose. On Beauty looks to use words and images of art to transcend the literal story (which is an amazing concept, but was a bit confounding at times). And Smith truly draws her readers into her words (although On Beauty didn’t quite do it as much as NW or White Teeth).
The two good things from this book were the images of art (paintings, poems, rap, etc.) and Smith’s prose. On Beauty looks to use words and images of art to transcend the literal story (which is an amazing concept, but was a bit confounding at times). And Smith truly draws her readers into her words (although On Beauty didn’t quite do it as much as NW or White Teeth).