A review by rebadee
On Beauty by Zadie Smith

5.0

I have been a fan of Zadie Smith for many years, since I read White Teeth back in early 2002. I was confident that I would love On Beauty. However, I was surprised when I struggled to connect with the characters and story for the first 100 pages or so. I had just finished reading Louise Erdrich's Love Medicine, and had been pulled in so immediately that I was unsure whether On Beauty contained the Smith magic I had found in White Teeth and NW. And then I found myself completely immersed, dreaming about Zora, Jerome, Kiki, Howard, and Levi. Smith had thoroughly introduced and convinced me of this family's reality while I was waiting for the magic to start. I cringed at parts, wishing that the inevitable wouldn't happen. Hoping they would make better choices, but appreciating that Smith honored their truths enough to make me uncomfortable. The story was engaging without being exploitative of my concern for the Belsey family's well-being. It was hopeful without being optimistic or saccharine. While Smith's writing doesn't hold the same poetic fluidity of Erdrich's, it subtlely plants and nurtures a convincing reality that flourishes into physical and emotional landscapes tangible to the dedicated reader. I am still in awe of power held within this book, several weeks after completing it.