On Beauty vs The Italian Girl: Which Should You Read?

Both live on shelves: Domestic fiction, Family, Families, Literature, Fiction

Cover of On Beauty

On Beauty Zadie Smith · 2005 ★★★★☆ 3.8 480 pages · ≈ 8 h 53 m · Moderate Find on Amazon

vs

Cover of The Italian Girl

The Italian Girl Iris Murdoch · 1964 ★★★★☆ 4.1 198 pages · ≈ 3 h 40 m · Challenging Find on Amazon

The verdict

Readers rate The Italian Girl higher: 4.1 vs 3.8 from 25709 votes.
The Italian Girl is the quicker read — about 3 hours vs 8 for On Beauty.
On Beauty is the easier read (Moderate), The Italian Girl more demanding (Challenging).

Side by side