Beautiful.

"The greatest lie ever told about love is that it sets you free."

Twice, On Beauty by Zadie Smith was referenced to me this past year, one of which was your blog Caitlin. I just finished the novel (and the next action was to open my laptop) but I really don't know what to write that would accurately describe the thoughts that are running through my mind about this book. This book!, left me speechless at times. How could Smith write such a layered novel involving race, gender, class, and not to mention love (love and beauty is interspersed to mean the same thing at times) in such a way that has me awestruck? I felt myself recalling some courses I took in my college days (thank you UCSD) and also missing my high school days of being one of the art leaders for Academic Decathlon (nerdism, it all started at such a young age).

"Most of the cruelty in the world is just misplaced energy."

Whether you could sympathize with either Howard or Kiki, sympathize with their family dynamics (I know I did) or relate to Carl of wanting to belong and then having the reality of fucked up people pull the rug out from under him, On Beauty goes into depth of characters that could span 3 novels. I can't wait to read more of her work.

PS: I've read tons of other stuff (we shall call them fun summer reads) and then was about to give up on this blog and then read this novel which compelled me to throw some babbles on it again. Greatest feeling that a book moves you that much huh Caitlin?