On Beauty
An engaging read, the setting doesn't hurt. It's really about death... although, that's what all art is about.
Liked the conflicts. Not so much culture war as class war. The Belsey-Kipps conflict is the main setting, but there's middle class versus lower class, native born versus immigrant, Black versus White that drives the novel.
While Kiki Belsey grapples with her own issues, Howard Belsey is the main protagonist (I think). Howard has to come to terms with his presence (and ultimately lack of presence) in the emotional/physical world instead of his insistence on being primarily an intellectual being.
The riff on aversion to representational art is funny.
Good stuff. 7.6547
You must have been smoking crack while reading it. It's a fantastic book.
PS-- I met her once.
Towards the end, I just didn't care -- the characters were all well-developed and everything, but the introduction of the well-to-do smart family felt a little desperate, like she didn't know where the book was going and pulled a device out to save herself. Felt kinda cheap.