Une très bonne lecture, douce et émouvante, avec une touche parfaite de féerie ! Moi qui n'avais pas d'attachement particulier à cette histoire, je meurs d'envie désormais de voir le film en 2017.

This is absolutely my favorite retelling of the familiar tale of Beauty and the Beast.

An aside: it far outshines the Disney one.

McKinley begins the tale with the very familiar setting: A merchant with daughters has fallen on hard times. He and his family are reduced to living in near poverty.

But there she diverges, to give us a believable family structure of the daughters who have various levels of resourcefulness in dealing with their straitened circumstances. They are a family, and there are no cardboard 'evil sisters' in this telling.

I love McKinley's style in all of her books I have read. It is absolutely transparent. I fall into her writing effortlessly, and surface hours later feeling as if I have experienced a life rather than read a story.

LET THE BEAST REMAIN A BEAST, YOU COWARD.

sale alert 9May19 Kindle deal for 1.99 here

Hi. My name is Robin and I have a buddy reading addiction.

Hi Robin

So why not add another impromptu Buddy Read with My Enabler n  Jessican and The Instigator n  Tadianan over at n  BB&Bn on Oct 14

The great thing about a fantasy is that some of it is timeless. That is totally the case with Beauty. It was originally published in 1978 shhhh but when you pick it up it is really a tale as old as time but it can be told throughout these decades seamlessly. It could as easily been published last month and because it is fantasy you’d never know.

Why I liked this Re-Telling:

It���s a classic beauty and the beast retelling the one I remember from my own childhood with an enchanted castle, the rose, the curse.

n  Ger strode forwards and caught him in his arms as he staggered, and then half carried him to a seat near the fire. As he sank down with a sigh we all noticed that in his hand he held a rose: a great scarlet rose, bigger than any we had seen before, in full and perfect bloom. “Here, Beauty,” he said to me, and held it out. I took it, my hand trembling a little, and stood gazing at it. I had never seen such a lovely thing.n

I also saw where Disney might have got some of there ideas from. There are mysterious voices and servants in the castle that are invisible and always trying to ‘help’ Beauty with getting dressed and dancing a parade of food in front of her at meal times to chose from.

The Castle itself is amazing with rooms that move and melodious giggling winds that try to direct you around the place. As soon as you start to feel lost just go around the corner and your room will be there.

The Beast was sweet and charming and my heart broke for him as he tried to get close to a reluctant beauty. He has been lonely for so long and it really showed through in the story.

n  “You fainted,” he said; his voice was a rough whisper. “I caught you before you reached the floor. You—you might have hurt yourself. I only wanted to lay you down somewhere that you could be comfortable.” I stared at him, still kneeling, with my fingernails biting into the sofa cushions. I couldn’t look away from him, but I did not recognize what I saw. “You—you clung to me,” he said, and there was a vast depth of pleading in his voice.n

This is a perfect story for MG and YA readers for an introduction to fantasy writing as well as great for older readers that want to feel transported back to their younger selves.

Downfalls

If you are a semi-book snob like me you’d miss this book because it is ‘too old’. But I challenge everyone to get past that way of thinking at least in the fantasy genre.

It takes a little time to pick up. The beginning was slightly slow for me especially as they are traveling out of the city to their new lives in the country. I sometimes get really board during traveling….just me. But once they are settled in the country and all the tales of the magical enchanted wood start cropping up I was totally hooked.

n  “It’s said there’s a castle in a wild garden at the center of these woods; and if you ever walk into the trees till you are out of sight of the edge of the forest and you can see nothing but big dark trees all around you, you will be drawn to that castle; and in the castle there lives a monster. He was a man once, some tales say, and was turned into a terrible monster as a punishment for his evil deeds; some say he was born that way, as a punishment to his parents, who were king and queen of a good land but cared only for their own pleasure.”n

Overall

This is a beautiful retelling of a classic story with great imagery, a strong heroine and fantastic language in the telling. Totally worth a read.

One of my favorite retellings of Beauty and the Beast. The family is loving and the prose beyond witty. If you love the Disney version, it owes a lot to this book.

2019 Review
This was an interesting re-read for me. I read it over and over again as a pre-/young teenager, but haven't picked it up in easily a decade. In some ways, it was quite satisfying. In other ways, it really left me wanting more.

Pros: All the things I remembered and loved about this book still exist. Beauty's teen angst about her own looks (so relatable to a 12 year old!), the scene with the dress where Beast roars because Beauty's servants are ignoring her wishes (such heights of romance to 14 year old me!), and the dramatic end of the spell. These things I loved and liked finding again.
And I also found I liked the slow-ish beginning, the way Beauty and her family are introduced, the passing of time and contrast between old and new.
But...

Cons
The very slow beginning means the story focuses more on Beauty's relationship with her family than with the Beast. In fact, I would argue the reader knows Beauty's 1-year-old niece better than the Beast by the end. The ending wraps up abruptly, the curse and spells glossed over, and the reader can't help wanting more.

I would say this did not impact my youthful readings, but I gave it 3 stars originally so I think I sensed this. Perhaps that is why McKinley wrote another version? I hated it Rose Daughter the first time I read it and never went back, but might be worth a second chance.

Also, as a random side note, it distracted me how all three of these blond haired, blue eyed girls turned into such distinct looking people. Obviously siblings look different. But the book seemed to imply (especially with Beauty's final transformation) that hair and eye color change regularly, possibly with puberty. So one became very blond, one became chestnut, and one went from muddy brown to auburn at age 18 because...magic? Genes? Love?

See Anna's excellent review

Nothing new or Earth shattering here, but if you like Beauty and the Beast, its a super fast and an enjoyable read.

I sort of beyond love the story of Beauty and the Beast,as a child I loved fairy tales, but this was always my favourite. My mum likes to tell people how when asked why I like this one so much, I would say "Beauty had the best shake outta life" and she did for reals. I was a realistic child I saw these fairy tales for what they were:

Cinderella
n  n
basically a maid who didn't get paid...Gross

Pocahontas
n  n
Her whole life is camping.....Gross

Little Mermaid

n  n
Deep water creeps me out
n  n
as do eels....Gross

Snow White
n  n
There are so many many many things that upset me but if she just took a basic lesson from raccoons and washed that apple Jessi may have had a few less nightmares growing up..Gross,Gross,Grosss

Beauty got to live in a castle with magic servants who were invisible(no guilt)and read, there is a beast who thinks she's beautiful and lavishes gifts on her and only wants to win her heart. Um not gross.
n  n
Because I love this story soooo much I am can be a little bit more critical of different versions,this one my only complaint is there is not a lot of time spent on the relationship between Beauty and Beast,very little emotional development, it was like boom! they were in love just by hanging out together, other then that fun read!

I have a soft spot for fairytale retellings and this one didn't disappoint. Parts 1 and 2 (about the first 100 pages) were pretty slow but it got better after that.

I feel like I've been on hold for this book forever, and to be fair, it's been since September since my last mini-Robin McKinley binge and since June that I read Rose Daughter. I loved Rose Daughter, especially the way it left off, but I guess that left me with some pretty high expectations for Beauty. I adore BatB retellings, even ones that stick pretty close to the original tale or vary so widely that they almost don't feel like a retelling. Beauty is the former. And it was beautiful. It just seemed kinda basic? I mean, there was something like 20 years between the two books, with Beauty releasing first, so I guess it's understandable. I liked it, but I didn't love it.

If you love Beauty and the Beast retellings that stay true to the original story, read this book!

This the first Beauty & the Beast retelling I have read. First things first, the cover is absolutely stunning. I am so glad that I have this copy because it is out of print. The story itself was basically the same as the original but more expanded. It really delved into the characters lives and the people that surrounded them. The writing was very beautiful but a little hard to follow. It was a very enjoyable read and I highly recommend it if you are fond of this story.

Great work done by Robin McKinley. Beauty and the Beast is one of my all-time favorite books, . It was one of my most frequently read books for maybe the next 15 and I still love it! It's a wonderful retelling of Beauty and the Beast. I've always felt that the screenwriters of the Disney version borrowed some elements for Belle's character. I highly recommend all of Robin McKinley's work!.