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[nimiety]

The apartment that I thought was going to be mine fell through on Monday, explosively. It fell through in a hail of harsh words and glaring, all of which came to me secondhand, thankfully. It fell through like something punctured. It was an apartment on which sweet-smelling shiny layers of this is what my life would be could be built. The new-

Comments

[chloebird]

Her name is Kiki. Keeks, if you will. That book gave me a pain. I did like parts of it, though.
(Also, recall Irie's unbeauty -- and her fatness -- in White Teeth.)

[nimiety]

I know it gave you a pain. There's something very strange about On Beauty, but I think it's the same thing that's wrong with White Teeth, which is that the actions and dialogue and anecdotes are very sharp and very clear and very, very resonant, but the actual characters remain fuzzy. It interests me more in On Beauty than in White Teeth (I think because White Teeth doesn't have the same degree of contemporary versimilitude, possibly just for me because its surroundings aren't as recognizable) and now it interests me in terms of the comparison to Howards End, because there the characters act sort of as vessels for ideology both personal and interpersonal. Their thoughts are always changing, even their very fundamental attitudes, but they accumulate anyway, and make cohesive people in their accumulation, even though you never know quite how to sum up the people that are made. There's something in that that feels relevant to the Zadie Smith Character Phenomenon, but I'm not sure how

[chloebird]

I actually think that what White Teeth and On Beauty actually share is, as you put it, their contemporary verisimilitude. ZS is remarkable at capturing environments, and the kinds of languages that people speak in those environments. To some extent, I suspect that she's not so much a writer as a remarkable mimic -- I say this not to put her down at all -- I have a great deal of respect for mimicry, and believe that it's a skill, not just blind repetition. As such, I think that probably the parallel's to Howard's End are quite conscious: they are, likely, a result of a different kind of cultural mimicry: the mimicry that she acquired not through her growing up (White Teeth) or her current situation up at Amherst/Harvard/those schools (the environment of On Beauty), but her education.

Also, the little poet lady's name is Claire. I think it's interesting that you forgot that one. Speaking of which, I just spoke to your mother on the phone.

Finally, and back on topic, here is a link: Reply

[chloebird]

Please forgive the GREGARGIOUS apostrophe in "parallel's" I don't know what I was thinking.

[reedthespis]

Yeah, well, Poirot obviously forgot HER GAY BEST FRIEND. (Maybe he was trying to sneak it in to hairdresser?)

[kayjaywhy]

I really want you to see this place. I think you'll find that it could be a fantasy apartment. I know. No terraces. No rooftop. No fabulous views of midtown. but so much space! So much moreso than the old-new apartment.

When you come back to New York, you'll see it. And we'll hang out with Nick in his apartment and take notice of how much smaller it feels.