Book Club Discussion Questions
For supplemental discussion material see our Beyond the Book article, and our BookBrowse Review of On Beauty.
Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!
Introduction
On Beauty, Zadie Smith's third novel, is both a tribute to and a riff on
English novelist E. M. Forster's
Howards End, updated as an exploration of the
politics of contemporary life. In a book as bold and funny as it is precise and
insightful, Smith applies her dazzling powers of description to a middle-class
family in the United States. The Belseys are based at a fictional college called
Wellington, where earthy African American Kiki, abstractand EnglishHoward, and
their three searching children seem the picture of modern liberal success. Yet
in spite of their outward harmony and privilege, all are eagerly pursuing
private agendas. Jerome, the eldest child, is alienated from his secular and
liberal family by his conversion to Christianity and attraction to conservatism.
Zora, the only daughter, aggressively follows her father's path, attending
Wellington where she adopts a veneer of sophistication and maturity that
disguises her insecure heart. The youngest, Levi, longing for an authentic
"blackness," is absorbed into a countercultural identity that belies his class
status.
The novel unfolds through a series of unexpected disruptions to the Belsey's
idyllic life. First comes the arrival in town of the Kippses, led by Monty,
Howard's bitter rival in theory and politics. Kipps and his family are, on
paper, the Belseys' opposites: the polished men epitomize a conservative ethic
while the decorative women are expected to follow traditional gender roles. Yet
the mothers, Carlene and Kiki, form a bond as wives of willful men and as lovers
of beauty, a bond that disturbs the balance of distrust between the two
families. Additional troubles add to the fray: Howard and Kiki's marriage is in
danger; Jerome falls deeply in love with Monty Kipps's daughter Victoria; an
educated young spoken-word artist enters the Wellington world and Zora's life;
recent immigrants from Haiti transform Levi; and at Wellington Monty Kipps and
Howard are on a collision course that threatens Howard's hard-won status. In
these conflicts Smith considers the impact of lies, the humiliation of
unrequited love, and the battle between the will of the mind and the desires of
the body as each member of the Belsey family questions their previous
assumptions about family, race, and morality.
On Beauty is a hilarious, scathing, and emotionally profound novel of human
aspiration and failure, an unfailingly perceptive portrait of a struggling
marriage, and an empathetic depiction of adolescent struggle. It is also an
outsider's witty look at American cultural life floundering under the weight of
political and cultural divisions. Will Howard and Kiki's marriage survive? How
will the feud between Howard and Monty be resolved? Which of the Belsey children
are poised to find a true and lasting identity, and which are teetering toward
heartbreak? Who will find their true place, and will it be found in family or
home, in nationality, abstract theory, or religion? This is Zadie Smith on
beautyexploring who possesses it and who longs for it, who embraces it and who
denies it, who exploits it and who is destroyed by itin a novel both
entertaining and wise that consolidates her position as one of the most
spellbinding writers of her generation.
Discussion Questions
- At the start of the novel, Howard's betrayal of Kiki has already set the
family reeling off its orbit. What are the effects of his infidelity on the
children? How do they react and whom do they side with? He and Kiki interpret
the meaning of his act differently? Can you understand both sides? Why do you
think Howard is tempted toward sexual betrayal? Where do you imagine their
relationship is heading at the end?
- The Belsey children are all searching for an adult identity. Jerome has
become religious, Zora is imitating her father, and Levi is in search of what he
believes will be an authentic ethnicity. What characteristics do the three
children share, and how are they like their parents? Which of their current
activities do you see as "phases" in their lives, and which do you think are
meant to suggest what they will harden into as adults? Which of them do you
identify with the most?
- The Belseys' house, beautifully evoked by Smith as the calm center around
which the whirlwind of family life turns, embodies the family's comfortable
middle class stature. What does the home represent, both practically and
emotionally, to various members of the family? Think about some of the other
living spaces in the bookthe Kippses' or Howard's father'sand compare them to
the Belseys'. What do you think a good house can provide?
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- How does the author develop themes of identity and belonging throughout the narrative?
- What role does the setting play in shaping the characters' decisions and relationships?
- Discuss how the ending reframes the events of the story. Were you surprised?
Unless otherwise stated, this discussion guide is reprinted with the permission of Penguin Books.
Any page references refer to a USA edition of the book, usually the trade paperback version, and may vary in other editions.