Synopsis
Set in New England mainly and London partly, "On Beauty" concerns a pair of feuding families - the Belseys and the Kipps - and a clutch of doomed affairs. It puts low morals among high ideals and asks some searching questions about what life does to love. For the Belseys and the Kipps, the confusions - both personal and political - of our uncertain age are about to be brought close to home: right to the heart of family. (blurb from the back cover)

This novel has three main sections: i) kipps and Belsey ii) the anatomy lesson and iii) on beauty and being wrong. Each section is divided into short chapters of only a few pages each. This makes it easier to read.

Starting this today (at long last!)

I read a few chapters - it's not at all what I expected and to be honest I'm not sure if I like it or not. At p 56 now so it's passed the 50 page test but still ...

Edited (March 6th)
now half way through. This is ok - but not a great book IMHO. Wondering what all the hype about Beauty or Zadie Smith is all about to be honest.

A few interesting quotes though

p 197

This was why Kiki had dreaded having girls: she knew she wouldn't be able to protect them from self-disgust. To that end she tried banning television in the early years, and never had a lipstick or a woman's magazine crossed the threshold of teh Besley home to Kiki's knowledge. It was in the air, or so it seemed to Kiki, this hatred of women and their bodies - it seeped in with every draught in the house; people brought it home on their shoes, they breathed it in off their newspapers. They was no way to control it.

As a mother who isn't interested in fashion, make-up etc - but with a teenage daughter who is - I could really identify with Kiki in this.

This really wasn't quite my cup of tea and I shalln't be reading another Zadie Smith in a hurry. Sorry.

IMHO the ending was trite, and there was far too much unnecessary graphically-described sex for my liking (do we really need to know all the details? I think not!) and while the characters were portrayed well and did come to life, all the time the whole book felt too much like a political statement to be really enjoyable. The character I liked best was Kiki - and I was disappointed that Carlene was really a minor character, though an important one for the plot. Zora (Zoor) became more important as the book developed.

Many of the critics say that this book is wonderfully funny (Observer) Satirical, wise and sexy (Literary Review) - what's more this was short listed for the Man Booker Prize 2005 - but it really didn't meet my expectations and I just didn't get the humour :(

BC grade 5 - I expect someone else will like this, but I didn't. (Actually I think many others will like it, but it just wasn't the book for me!)

RESERVED for the 1001 BC library.

To request this book you must have donated at least one book to the library yourself.

Thanks so much for your donation seethroughfaith!

This book is now part of the 1001-library. If you want to take this book from the library but don't know how to proceed, please refer to the library bookshelf.

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

It's time to let this 1001-library book go to its next port of call. Italy!

I love reading where books end up -and what other readers thought of the book (good and bad!) - so do please take time to make a journal entry if you possibly can. Appreciate that!

Thank you very much for sending me this book, arrived quick&in great conditions, in spite of Finnish Post... :)
I'll start reading it after finishing the two that lay on my table.
Thanks again!