Bruno Pergher Pergher থেকে Rachcin, بولندا
I accidentally took a year-long break about half-way through Zadie Smith's sophomore effort--partly because I got distracted by a season of bookish overabundance, and partly because I initially found its "middle-upper class family drama" plot too pedestrian. Then I picked up Updike's "Rabbit" series again, and remembered just how riveting it can be to watch a "typical" suburban family slowly disintegrate. And riveting it is! Smith is doubtless one of our best living novelists, and it was rare that I found fault with a single sentence of "On Beauty." Between this and her debut, "White Teeth," Smith seems to've established some thematic ruts (i.e. race, class, immigration/assimilation), but fortunately these are topics that will take basically forever to exhaust. Which, as it happens, is about as long as I plan to remain a devout consumer of her prose.
The sexist views throughout the book were very difficult to swallow! I hate the viewpoint that it is okay if a man strays or is unfaithful but that a woman NEVER can do that. No one should ever stray once they are married for any reason whatsoever!!!! And since this was the first book in the Charlotte and Thomas Pitt series by Perry I expected there to be a bit more of a romance. But both characters were very stiff and growing closer together, but not enough for a huge declaration of love for me. The whole book was odd and unsettling and I'm not planning on reading any more books by this author.