As a modern adaptation of Howards End, for which I only gave 2 stars, I surprisingly liked this a little better than the original. The plot and characters aren't exact parallels—there are feuding families here too, the Belseys and the Kippses, but the main story focuses on the interracial Belsey fam...
Before we talk about Zadie Smith, let’s talk about me first. Here is something you should know – I was a serious book-worm up until I turned 16 (more or less) at which point I lost all interest in anything that wasn’t parties, boys, alcohol, drugs or sex. There, I said it. For the next five years my...
Just like 'White Teeth' this seems to be one of those books that some people love ardently and others hate intensely. Chances are that if you enjoyed 'White Teeth' (like I did) you would probably not enjoy 'On Beauty'. 'On Beauty' is really well written and the author's display of observational writ...
On the surface, On Beauty is about two families, the Belseys and the Kips. Both are academic families with the fathers holding positions as professors - Howard Belsey at a Boston college and Monty Kip in the UK. Not only do they differ in their opinions of art, they are radically opposed on the po...
As I read the first few chapters of On Beauty, it struck me as very similar to Howard's End, a book I had only just finished. Strangely, it is in fact inspired by Howard's End, and it is intriguing how Smith brings such a British classic - which deals heavily with class, ideology, and gender in earl...
On Beauty is at times enjoyable but as it is overall inconsistent it is also at times quite dull. I found myself quickly skimming past certain sequences, character descriptions or internal meanderings, wanting to get to the two threads I did enjoy: Levi and Zora. These two characters were interestin...
Having never read Howards End I’m sure I missed most of the parallels Zadie Smith was trying to achieve with On Beauty. But I could appreciate her discerning take on personal relationships. Smith follows the dynamic of a self-conscious liberal household in an upper middle-class East Coast universi...
Important: Our sites use cookies.
We use the information stored using cookies and similar technologies for advertising and statistics purposes.
Stored data allow us to tailor the websites to individual user's interests.
Cookies may be also used by third parties cooperating with BookLikes, like advertisers, research companies and providers of multimedia applications.
You can choose how cookies are handled by your device via your browser settings.
If you choose not to receive cookies at any time, BookLikes will not function properly and certain services will not be provided.
For more information, please go to our Privacy Policy.
Log in with Facebook 
