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As I read further and further into this book I find that I am observing less of an evolution and more of a replication of events, "with flavor." As mentioned by Laura, some aspects of On Beauty are simply modernized representations of the events in Howard's End, the simplest and earliest example having been the opening line: "One might as well begin with..." followed by Jerome's series of emails (how clever?). This is just the beginning. Though Zadie Smith makes perfectly clear her adoration of Forster, my opinion thus far is that her hommage is a little less "adapted" (from an evolutionary standpoint) and a little more "maybe it should be written like this," even though (and this is ridiculously obvious, so excuse me) her setting did not exist in Forster's time. Sometimes I am angry with Zadie Smith and I think to myself: "If this book were an organism, adapting through time and adapting, it would die." Give me time to get used to her, I think I need it.