ON BEAUTY follows Smith s other highly acclaimed works and pays homage to EM Forster s Howards End. The characters are vivid and rounded, created meticulously through description, action and language, and the worlds they inhabit are richly conjured. Smit
ON BEAUTY follows Smith's other highly acclaimed works and pays homage to EM Forster's Howards End.
The characters are vivid and rounded, created meticulously through description, action and language, and the worlds they inhabit are richly conjured.
Smith is not afraid to take gambles with narrative structure, jumping forward, not quite explaining things, allowing the reader to piece together the characters' lives as we go.
Set between New England and London, the central theme is of two feuding families, the Belseys and the Kippses.
Along the way, issues of love, fidelity, marriage and racial identity are dealt with by humour and insight.
On Beauty was the winner of the Orange Prize for Fiction 2006 and it's not hard to see why. Thanks to Ottakar's of Stevenage 4/5
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