On Beauty is Zadie Smith's third novel, after White Teeth and The Autograph Man. I listened to this on CD, read by Adjoa Andoh, who really brought to life all of the characters.

 The first thing to say is – buy a talking book! They are great for many reasons.

1. You don't have to read it yourself
2. You can read in the car
3. You can paint your nails / dye your hair / paint your living room whilst reading

It is also a totally different way of experiencing a book, in terms of the characters, because someone else has visualised them, and literally given them a voice.

Anyway, back to the book. On Beauty is set in Boston and London, and the plot revolves around two middle class families, the Belseys and the Kippses. Both patriarchs, Howard and Montague, are professors at the universities, and harbour a dislike for one another. Their wives, Kiki and Carleen, have a short but emotional friendship, allowing Kiki in particular, to reassess her life and marriage.

 The relationships between the children of the families are equally intertwined. In particular, the character of Levi interested me, because of his rejection of his middle class upbringing in favour of joining a semi-criminal group of Haitian boys, after becoming aware of the political struggle in their country. Levi's anarchic attempt to redistribute wealth affects the two families, and links to the friendship of Kiki and Carleen.

Zora is a self-conscious but assertive woman, whose attraction to a young rapper / poet brings to life the issues of class and race. Her jealousy of the vain and shallow Victoria, or 'V', is a poignant reminder of how it felt to be a teenager in love.

An interesting portrayal of American university life, but I have to say that, as a shortlisted title for the Orange Prize for Fiction, it's not as good as the wonderful The Night Watch by Sarah Waters, which, admittedly, is the only other one I have read.

If you have a fierce aversion to wishy-washy endings, maybe avoid, but otherwise, a great read.

EDIT:

Congratualtion to Zadie Smith on winning the Orange Prize!