Reading Order
On Beauty Reading Order
Zadie Smith's On Beauty (2005) is the Orange Prize-winning comic academic novel loosely based on E.M. Forster's Howards End, transplanted to a New England university town — two families, the liberal Anglo-American Belseys and the conservative Caribbean-American Kipps, locked in academic and personal conflict over thirty years of faculty politics, failed marriages, and children who refuse to honor their parents' beliefs. Funnier and more formally controlled than White Teeth, On Beauty is the book many critics consider Smith's most accomplished novel.
Where to start
On Beauty
Complete On Beauty Book List
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On Beauty
Zadie Smith·2005·Stand-alone — no prior Zadie Smith required, though White Teeth (2000) is her debut and most widely read novel.
On Beauty — Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need to read White Teeth before On Beauty?
No — On Beauty is a completely stand-alone novel. It is set in a different country (Massachusetts rather than North London), involves different characters, and tells its own self-contained story. Many readers actually prefer On Beauty as an introduction to Zadie Smith because it is more formally controlled and focused than White Teeth's sprawling multi-generational canvas. Both are excellent starting points.
What is On Beauty based on?
On Beauty is loosely based on E.M. Forster's Howards End (1910) — Smith transplanted its central conflict (between a liberal, cultivated family and a more conservative, commercial family) to a New England university town, with the Belseys (liberal, English-American) standing in for the Schlegels and the Kipps (conservative, Caribbean-American) standing in for the Wilcoxes. Smith has spoken openly about this debt to Forster; On Beauty is best understood as a respectful adaptation and update of Howards End to the contemporary academic world.
Is On Beauty Zadie Smith's best book?
On Beauty won the Orange Prize for Fiction in 2006, and many critics consider it her most formally accomplished novel — more focused than White Teeth, less experimental than NW, and more emotionally generous than Swing Time. Among her novels it is most often ranked alongside White Teeth as essential reading. NW (2012) is her most formally experimental; Swing Time (2016) her most self-consciously literary. Whether On Beauty is her 'best' depends on whether you prize formal control (in which case On Beauty or NW) or scope and comic energy (in which case White Teeth).
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