On Beauty.

* On Beauty by Zadie Smith 

The Penguin Press, September 2005 $25.95, ISBN 1-594-20063-7

The members of both the Belsey and Kipps families are stalwart theorists. Their individual and collected perceptions of things "beautiful," both aesthetically and physically, academically and morally--to some extent--are held close and expressed with convincing conviction. It's the vivacity of these characters that Zadie Smith brings to On Beauty and lends to the book's much-deserved attention.

On Beauty was short-listed for the Man Booker Prize in the United Kingdom in 2005, and as with her debut novel, White Teeth (Random House, 2000), Smith has created a modern-day tale in which the complexities that encompass the combination of race, class, faith and personal politics take center stage.

Howard Belsey, a white British professor of art history at Wellington College, and Kiki, his African American wife who works at a hospital, and their three teenage children have settled into their New England lives, but not all too comfortably. Howard and Kiki are trying to make the best of their 30-year marriage after it is discovered that Howard has had an affair. Jerome, Zora and Levi, on the other hand, are struggling to articulate their independence with their own beliefs and ideals on the religious, academic and racial fronts. These are difficult endeavors for each of them, but the intimacy and humor of the family dynamics are winning.

Montague Kipps is a dapper, conservative Trinidadian scholar from London who is invited to Wellington as a guest lecturer for a semester. He's also an old rival of Howard's; and once he arrives on campus, Monty is all set to challenge the liberal-minded Howard on the subjects of Rembrandt and affirmative action. Monty, his ailing wife, Carlene, and their two children are also outspoken. Yet the encounters between the members of the two families take different turns: Kiki and Carlene strike up a true friendship, while encounters between Howard and Monty, and those that involve the opinionated teenagers are filled with enough tension to alter room temperatures. Add a charming young rapper named Carl to the drama and the interactions become more contentious, more realistic.

Smith, 30, is a delightfully hip writer, incorporating much of today's cultural themes in her novel. She packs a lot of contemporary intellectual and moral ideals in On Beauty; and her ideas about art and poetry, goodness and human relations are engaging. Some of the subplots, though, are a bit predictable. You have a strong sense that Kiki and Carlene are going to strike up a girlfriend-to-girlfriend relationship of sorts; you know that the resolute Zora will eventually collide with Carl; and you have a slight hunch that Howard will run into Victoria, Monty Kipps's sexy daughter, at an inopportune moment. It's here that Smith shows her strength as a writer by delivering these scenarios with brilliant cleverness, especially in the characters' dialogue.

On Beauty was recently sold for a film adaptation, but reading Smith's words, and becoming familiar with her language and her world are a far better reward.