Zadie Smith writes with a raw ferocity about the modern day clash of cultures and ideals in her first novel, "White Teeth." The overlap between the worlds is filled with tension and convolutions of common denominators. In her most recent novel, "On Beauty," Smith does not shy from friction. However, her characters are somewhat less extreme representations of their subjects, a bit less abrasive and grounded in literature in a manner that is more familiar.
Howard Belsey and Monty Kipps are both professors of art history, though the latter is quantifiably more successful. The two are rivals, and their bickering is part of the drama that plays in Wellington, the site of the fictional liberal arts university outside Boston where Howard and his family live.
These men and their ideals occupy opposite ends of the spectrum. Ideologically, they diverge in their views on affirmative action and homosexuality, but they are unified by their scholastic study of Rembrandt and connected by the web of interactions that is spun between their families.
It is often difficult to like more than one or two of the characters for an extended period of time in Smith's books. That is not to say that she writes about characters who are particularly reprehensible and crass. Rather, it is the opposite: They are fallible and most of the time they are working furiously for themselves. Smith does not spend time flattering her characters; she often presents each protagonist in a light that is harsh, pitiable, and usually incredibly human.
Smith is a master of the melting pot. She gathers characters of various races, various socioeconomic and educational backgrounds, religious views, politics, and beauty, throws them together, and spins tales of identity, crisis, and betrayal.
The combination is frantic in "White Teeth," but here it is easy to situate one's self among the affairs, the professors, and the children.
An interesting element of Smith's novel is its layout. The reader is not taken through the story day by day. Smith omits months at a time in the lives of the protagonists. The reader feels like she is dropping in casually on a friend (the narrator) who is sitting as an observer just beyond the drama and who only has the time to relate the events of utmost importance that have occurred. This quality does not make it a gossipy novel, since the characters are thoughtful, but it is the drama, the betrayals, and the appeals for love that fuel the life of the book.
Beauty manifests itself in a number of different forms in this novel. Victoria is breathtaking and knowingly beautiful, Levi is beautiful in his oblivious physical comportment, and Carl is beautiful in his talent. There are other characters whose beauty lies in their intellects, and those who create beauty with their love, those whose beauty is sexual and those who seem to have no beauty to them at all.
What Smith's characters illustrate, with their moods and their foibles, is that beauty is cruel, isolating, self-absorbed, vulnerable, and unbelievably mundane.