#308 ~ On Beauty

On Beauty by Zadie Smith

Published by: Penguin

Published on: September 2005

Page Count: 464

Genre: Fiction/Literature

My Reading Format: audioboook rented from my local library

Audiobook Publisher: Penguin Audio

Audiobook Narrator: Peter Francis James

Audiobook Length: 10 hours

Available Formats: Hardcover, paperback, eBook, audiobook

I picked the audio copy of On Beauty on the suggestion of some wonderful Twitter buddies who answered my call for multi-cultural books with themes similar to Jonathon Franzen’s Freedom (which I’ll be starting in January). I’ve not read Zadie Smith before, which made this novel even more perfect to compare against Freedom. I’m a Franzen virgin as well. When I’ve finished them both, I’ll be writing a more in depth comparison of them both. I will still be reviewing them separately. The comparison has more to do with my #readingfreude than it does the novels themselves.

On Beauty, although primarily about the racially mixed Belsey family, is the tale of two black, educated, university families. The Belsey family is made up of white Englishman Howard, African American Kiki, and their three children, Jerome, Zora, and Levi. The Kipps family is made up of Monty, Carlene, and their children, Michael and Victoria. While the Belseys are politically and culturally very liberal and irreligious, the Kipps family are politically, culturally and religiously conservative. Both Howard and Monty teach and write about art. Even in the world of art they are diametrically opposed. In fact, Howard sees Monty as his arch nemesis. Despite every one’s intentions, it proved impossible to keep the families apart, even when they were separated by the Atlantic.

This is a difficult novel to pin down in just a few paragraphs. It’s dense and cerebral. I’ve spent months trying to write this review in my head and I’ve not been very successful. Instead of covering everything, I’ve decided to focus on the role of the wife in this novel. While outsiders might think Kiki’s lot in life was more free and appealing, she was locked down just as much as Carlene appeared to be in Monty’s home. The truth is that the women had more in common than anyone would have suspected. Carlene may outwardly hold up Monty’s ideals, her mind is her own. She doesn’t keep herself tied to an ideology at all costs. In the same way, Kiki finds that life is never as simple as black and white. The adult lives her son Jerome and daughter Zora start living mirrors how complex her own life has become. While the men in their lives fail to appreciate how their lives and view points can compliment each other, their wives are drawn to each other. They alone know how much their husbands are really alike.

Of all the characters, I related to and loved Kike the most. Kiki roared “I am woman!” in all her glory. She believed in herself and her culture when she was young and when she is middle aged, when she was fine and when she was fat. She grew more than any character in the book, finding that change does not equate to losing your essence. Her son, Levi, while less confident in who he was, was most like her. They both never tried to forget the importance of living in the here and now.