"One may as well begin..."

I noticed a real similarity in one aspect of a couple novels I recently read.
→ Opening lines.
First, there is this opening line in Zadie Smith’s novel On Beauty:

One may as well begin with Jerome’s emails to his father.

Smith has been rather severely criticised for her mimicry of other authors, case in point being Harper’s editor Wyatt Mason [I think, harshly] slamming her style as being “the literary equivalent of karaoke”. [I wrote of this in a previous blog].
Sure enough, E.M. Forster’s classic work, Howard’s End does open with an ominously similar line:

One may as well begin with Helen’s letters to his sister.

Thing is, Zadie Smith has made no secret that her latest work is heavily influenced by Forster, and she even calls it an “homage to Howard’s End.”
But I disagree with Mason’s cutting remark.
For one thing, as an accomplished karaoke singer myself, I know that there is a lot more to any song than the opening line. And really, arguing that On Beauty is LIKE Howard’s End is sort of like saying that umm… “Laura Ingalls Wilder writes a lot like…. William Peter Blatty!”
Please!
Some critics need an exorcism or two!

On Beauty is a great novel.
It’s gutsy.
It’s hip.
Real hip.
[Do people still say “hip”? Like… to mean groovy?]

I regret to say that I have been too lazy [there is no other excuse, really] to write appropriate reviews of my most recent reads. Honestly.
Lazier than ten snakes, I am.
So, here is a wickedly brutal synopsis of the last little while…

On Beauty by Zadie Forster → Superb. Funny. Witty. Sharp. Sexy. A must-read.
So Long, See You Tomorrow by William Maxwell → Good. Not remarkably good, though. Memoirish, stylewise. A bit confusing at times.
Eleven Minutes by Paulo Coelho → Not all that great, really. I cannot recommend it, and yet be honest with my inner bookpuddle.
Dance of the Happy Shades by Alice Munro → Pretty much goes without saying that I am going to love it and suggest that all living humans read it. Maybe even dead ones!
The Poe Shadow by Matthew Pearl → I preferred his first one, The Dante Club, over this one, but still, a really great read. Well done. For lovers of Edgar, essential.
My Life As A Fake by Peter Carey → Superb, and my favorite of all the books listed here. I literally could not put the thing down.

OK, so now [currently] I am reading what is shaping up to be a great story.
Pearl, by Mary Gordon.
It is real good, real interesting. Powerful strong narration.
And back to my opening topic… check out this opening line, of Pearl:

We may as well begin with the ride home.

I kid you not!
I’ve gotta go now and write an article about how Mary Gordon is… as the French might say it…. “tres Forsterian”!

And, in summary, if you want to go and read a great, worthwhile book, “one may as well begin with On Beauty!”

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