On Beauty
This book about an interracial family living in a Massachusetts university town is by turns funny, snide, and pointedly observant. The family has a cast of characters who couldn't be more different--especially the parents, who are experiencing crisis in their marriage. The arrival of another family on the opposite end of the political spectrum furthers the disarray. The academic setting invites philosophical and political discussions backdropped by petty maneuverings, ego-driven outrages, and divergent cultural aspirations of the various characters.
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Having hit bestseller lists from the New York Times to the San Francisco Chronicle, this wise, hilarious novel reminds us why Zadie Smith has rocketed to literary stardom. On Beauty is the story of an interracial family living in the university town of Wellington, Massachusetts, whose misadventures in the culture wars-on both sides of the Atlantic-serve to skewer everything from family life to political correctness to the combustive collision between the personal and the political. Full of dead-on wit and relentlessly funny, this tour de force confirms Zadie Smith’s reputation as a major literary talent.