ON...ON BEAUTY

So beautiful. So much caffeine, so little time.

C and I were talking last night about "On Beauty" because she read it awhile ago and I just finished it two days ago and she asked me, "Did you learn anything?"

To be honest, no. I felt I was kind of being preached at the whole time in a silly enjoyable way. I did think I was going to strangle both families for having socially incompetent children, philandering husbands and isolated wives. (Why does Carlene Kipps keep her cancer a secret? Is this a symbol of strength or weakness? Perhaps we cannot accurately determine that since we know.... nothing about her.)

It's not that Zadie Smith isn't entertaining or smart or engaging. It's because she is that I expect something more ... substantial, I guess. Everyone talks about Smith like she's invented some new way of talking about race, gender & class; I don't think so. She's pretty straight forward. I mean, for Christ's sake (haha, in the book, the daughter Zora - like her father Howard - has a habit of cursing loudly in front of Christians) the two families pitted against each other are presented in academic settings with several loud, obvious dialogues about What It Means to Be Black, Why Affirmatie Action is Necessary Or Not, EtcEtcEtc.

The epilogue of "Howard's End" (which "On Beuaty" is modeled after) is "only connect" and while I never thought anyone did in the original novel, I so sorely wished that the modern retelling would some genuine potential, some real self-awareness between conservative and liberal dialogue. We end with a scene at Howard's tenure conference hearing, with his now estranged wife Kiki appearing in the corner of his eye, seated and smiling. Is this the connecting?! That's it? Why is Howard such a pathetic little man? How come we don't ever see Kiki in her workplace? What does that imply in terms of family and hierarchy and prestige? Why does "On Beauty" end in a similar fashion to "White Teeth" (only there, EVERY SINGLE CHARACTER GATHERS INTO ONE ROOM AND IT BOGGLES MY MIND HOW THAT COULD HAVE HAPPENED. I MEAN, SO MANY EVENTS FROM THE PAST, INCLUDING A MAN THAT CRIES RED TEAR DROPS, CONGREGATES IN ONE FRIGGIN ROOM). Stop it!!!! So Charles Dickens of you, Smith!

That's mainly it. There's too many characters here, and not enough charater development or alligned sympathy. So many archetypes, actually: wannabe gansta, overzealous secretly insecure type-A student, cheating husbands (2x, bonus: one of the cheating husbands is a conservative Christian. Advance to Go. Collect $200), Christian daughter turns out slutty, blah blah. Maybe why I am so confused as to the focus of the books is because while they exist in Smith's world, we don't know how they came to be the way they are -- how do we explain how a white man becomes a progressive thinking academic despite a racist or at least race-generalizing father? Or how a black man because an anti-affirmative action, very religious man? How does an adolescent raised in suburbia suddenly affect an accent? (I may have a clue about this one. Google: AZN frat boys)

You should probably just read "Howard's End" if you are looking for some interesting layers on how to discuss class issues (race isn't really a factor in the book and well, that's expected given the publishing date of 1910). It's funny because I remember thinking it was sort of embarrasing to read because E.M. Forster, part of the Bloomsbury Group (Virigina Woolf & John Meynard Keynes & Co.), was a person of wealth trying to understand how to "uplift" the blue collar class.... and it's a really over-the-top silly but genuine discussion about charity and philanthropy and at the end of it all, you're left with this feeling that WOW. Rich people are so ... ignorant (ie: of real life). And you can kind of make fun of the fact that rich people think poor people have created this this cycle of poverty for themselves, tha they are so aloof and ha ha ha aren't we the reader so much smarter than that? Or if you interpret it slightly differently, then you think yes, what kind & generous things we've done for the poor. Either way, there is a point made.

Here... not quite sure.

A room with a (translucent) view.

currently lisenting to:
Whole Lotta Shaking Goin On
Jerry Lee Lewis

-t