Prerna's Reviews > On Beauty

Now I know nothing about E M Forster, sadly, I haven't read any of his books yet. I obviously did not read Howard's end, the book On Beauty is based on, is inspired by. Yet, I can tell you that most of this book, perhaps even all of this book, is about seduction. All sorts of seduction - sexual, intellectual, the pull of a different identity, the allure of the 'almosts'. And so it's also about all the various characters rejecting, resisting, accepting, reluctantly pursuing, enthusiastically falling prey for these seductions.

Another relevant theme that sometimes just lurks in the background and sometimes just ambushes you full-force, is music. There's a very comical, emotional, confusing concert featuring Mozart's requiem, there's revolutionary hip-hop and spoken word, there's rap, there's Haitian music, there's extremely distressing funeral music and a horribly embarassing, very funny scence featuring a glee club.

There are extremes - political extremes, ethical extremes, academic extremes, racial extremes. You are pulled forward in every direction until you can't help but firmly stay rooted to your spot and scream "Oh my God, leave me alone" in agony.

Underneath all of this, Rembrandt and his paintings, and visual arts in general, follow us like vengeful spirits. They cast their ever-watchful eye upon us, the readers, as we stumble through the text and try to decide which character's take on art we like best. And just when we think we know, there's that inescapable question: what does any of this even mean?