(ThatKidInTheCorner :: On Beauty: This Is More A Book Report Than Review)

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January 2, 2006

On Beauty: This Is More A Book Report Than Review

I did not expect to read two (2) Zadie Smith books in See Why Ought Five

So in re: previous posts where I talked some game about how I was going to try to post reports and/ or reviews of books I'm reading, I guess I've already missed some milestones. That is, I've gotten through four books since then, and haven't so much posted about any of them. Sigh. But I'm going to try. I may be a few titles behind, but I think I can catch up (or at least find a shortcut) and get these things up to date. For the record, ThatKid operates on a FIFO inventory system, so I'll have to power through a couple to get myself current with CY06.

By way of introduction, I'll say that I resisted reading White Teeth by Zadie Smith for a good long while. It just seemed like it was one of those books that sat on the shelf of every woman I knew, and which -- mysteriously -- very few of them had actually read. I just assumed it was one of these overhyped publishing-biz creations (and yes, the publishing biz DOES occasionally do a half-decent job of marketing) with a distinctive jacket design (Everything Is Illuminated, we're looking in your direction) that wasn't actually any good. I stand extremely corrected. I thought White Teeth was very good and very funny. So I was pretty fired up to read On Beauty.

And away we go:

Title:On Beauty

Author: Zadie Smith

Tags: Books About People Who Write Books, College, Satire, Haitians, Hip-Hop, Boston, Race, The Art History Department, Pornified, Infidelity, Liberal Guilt, Women Who Can Get Away With Some Serious Misogynist Callings-Out Because They Write Really Clever Novels

If someone asked you to make a slide called "Key Takeaways," it would contain the following information: Just when you think your head would explode at some awkward satire of a fictional American university, here's a writer clever enough to make some original jokes and avoid the whole "writing about the people I see every day as a writer of some stature" snafu. Also, men aren't very clever about the women they choose to be attracted to, and are easily distracted by young, pretty things. Also, being black in America is pretty tricky, especially in the context of academia and all of its pretensions and guilt-ridden paranoias.

If I Could Meet Any Of The Featured Players: You can't say Vee. You just can't. I think the right answer is supposed to be Kiki.

The Super-Interesting Passages That I'm Looking Forward To Dropping On People In Casual Conversation That I Imagine Will Make Me Sound Smart: There's this one set piece to open a chapter that describes the ritual of the college winter formal. It's just a paragraph. That's all. But it's one of those paragraphs that's so well-written (and viciously bitchy) that I had to put the book down, find an extra piece of paper, and mark the page. It's that good. I was genuinely tempted to just print the whole thing here on the site, but I don't think that's being very sporting. Still, it's going to be tough to look at women in uncomfortable formalwear (especially when it's cold out) without thinking that (a) they look like princesses and (b) what _____ must lie within. (I tried my best not to completely ruin it.) Mostly paragraphs like that remind me that for every hack novelist publishing drivel, there are a couple insanely talented people who remind you that there are still a couple truly excellent novelists out there working hard. It's reassuring.

What I Still Want To Know: I kind of wish I was more familiar with the, ahem, Work of the Dutch Masters so that I could get the art criticism jokes, but I don't really think I missed all that much (not that the jokes didn't work; more that I think I got most of the jokes without much background data). Also, I probably wish I knew Boston a little but more intimately so that I could understand all the neighborhood humor (though, again, I think I got the general vibe of things). Mostly I still want to know how Zadie Smith got to be so freaking smart. Seriously. She's smart (and observant) in a David Foster Wallace zone. It's actually quite humbling.

Are They Going To Make a Movie?: I would assume someone already has those rights bought up, but there doesn't appear to be anything written up quite yet. Still, I assume that if they can cajole a TV movie out of White Teeth, they could do something with this one.

So I Should I Read It? Absotively. Again, as of last summer I didn't think I would even remotely enjoy a Zadie Smith novel (and here is where I awkwardly look at the floor, shift back and forth, and mutter something about "not reading tons of female authors"). And now I will definitely buy her next book the week it comes out, in (GASP!) hardcover. That's right. I said it: hardcover. I might even pay close to full price!

Yup, I liked it. And I'll try to keep more up to date with the book reports.

Posted by thatkid at January 2, 2006 10:30 PM under Book Report , Stuff To Buy

January 2, 2006

On Beauty: This Is More A Book Report Than Review

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