This is a lovely retelling of Beauty and the Beast. Robin McKinley's writing is fluid; the descriptions of the castle, landscapes, and even clothes are clear and vivid; horseback-riding scenes and interactions with horses are reflective of the author's superior knowledge of the animals. But other than that, there is hardly anything memorable about Beauty.

I don't know about you, but expect any retelling to bring something new to the original story, some new layers, better understanding of the characters, more intricate backgrounds. Juliet Marillier's Daughter of the Forest is a great example of a retelling done right. McKinley's Beauty doesn't bring anything fresh to the table except maybe that Beauty is not particularly beautiful in the beginning.

My other problem with the book is that Beauty's world before her arrival to the Beast's castle is very vaguely defined. It's hard to even envision in what time her story is placed - 16th, 17th, 18th century?

And finally, the ending of the book is anti-climactic to say the least. Everything happens so fast - the Beast's transformation, love confessions, introduction of the Beast's story, Beauty's sudden realization of her... well beauty, the wedding. All of it is just crammed in the last 2-3 pages. Disappointing and unsatisfying.

Many of these negatives, however, can be forgiven if you keep in mind that this book is Robin McKinley's debut. And the writing is lovely.

This is a wonderful retelling of my favourite fairy tale! It’s one that I keep coming back to over and over again.

The three stars might make it look like I didn't like this book, but I actually thoroughly enjoyed it! The reasons I felt I couldn't give it a higher rating are 1) lack of originality and 2) Even though this is a fantastical book/story, the ending was a bit too fantastical and abrupt for my liking.

Before reading a book, I always consider the author's intended audience and proceed from there. If the intended audience is the young reader, I don't expect any more, and I look for the authors integrity to that audience. So with that level established, the reasons I really enjoyed reading this book are 1) the details that McKinley takes you into Beauty's character, 2) the set-up of story line and characters, 3) that the main character was a hero. My definition of hero: someone who has great character, honor, integrity, and has the strength and courage to act upon what he/she knows to be right. In my opinion, the only part of Beauty's character in which she is lacking is her self-image. I think that McKinley intended her deprecative self-image to come across as charmingly humble, but the truth is that she's sending a disturbing message to her young readers. To loathe oneself has never been, nor ever will be, a pleasing attribute in the eyes of God. To be humble and not vain, is a pleasing attribute. While Beauty did not attain the latter, she also was not fully guilty of the former. But it remains that McKinley did miss the mark by just a tad. She just went a little too far with Beauty being horrified of anyone thinking she might not be ugly. I'm only criticizing because I wanted Beauty to be the perfect hero. It's okay that she knew she wasn't a beauty, but she just put way too much thought and effort into that idea. Then in the end, I found it disturbing that not until she realized she truly was beautiful did she find her self worth, and feel worthy to marry her prince.

So, at first glance, it seems like an innocent enough fun-read. But the underlying messages that we all receive can do their damage, especially to the intended audience: young readers. I feel that as long as this can be pointed out and discussed, it's still a good, fun book to read, and therefore, should not be avoided.

An absolutely lovely rendition of my favorite fairy tale, Beauty and the Beast. There have been many retellings of this tale, from the bodice ripping romance novel covers featuring men muscled to the point of beastliness, holding pale, innocent flowers, to, of course, the smart young lady with a conveinently lovely voice for a Disney musical. This one falls somewhere poignantly in between- in just the perfect place for adult fans of both genres to find something that they can identify with, while still appealing to the age group that this book is most directly useful to, the pre-teen and teenager demographic.

When I say this, I don't mean to demean the novel in any way, I am just speaking from my own experience. Had I discovered this novel as a 13 year old, I'm sure I would have read it ragged to shreds, over and over again. As it is, there are still places where this tale truly gets to me, places where I had to pause and start all over again, it aroused such strong memories of points in my younger life.

The images of transformation were my favorite parts of this novel- they are the turning points that move the plot along. It is a quietly told tale, told mostly in a calmly adult voice (just as one would expect from a fireside fairy tale), but the points where that voice breaks are the most touchingly, heartbreakingly lovely in the piece. That break always happened at these poignant moments where transformation glittered all about young Beauty and/or her family. And her response to each of these moments is what made this tale so amazingly human- her utter refusal to accept who she was and who she became. The scene of the silver princess dress really did get to me. That symbol was perhaps the most effective one that they could have chosen. McKinley did such a wonderful job of presenting the idea that people never change until they are ready to, even if it is a positive change, even if it is necessary for their lives... because leaving behind your identity is the scariest thing of all. Living in an enchanted castle, far away from the effects of the world, enforced or not, is the closest that our practical heroine can come to Sleeping Beauty's hundred years of sleep. I found myself in perfect sympathy with McKinley's heroine, and I felt her journey of growth was perfectly organic, one thing given time to develop into another, something helped by the often distant, traditional fairy tale telling to most of the piece. It made the moments of her change into the woman she didn't believe in all the more lovely.

We all have moments where we want to duck our faces in the ground, and play the ostrich for as long as possible. It is always lovely to read books that remind us what we'd be willfully missing if we gave into that urge for too long.

I do wish that McKinley had let us spend a little more time with Beauty at the end of her journey- I'd like to see that she doesn't quite entirely smoothly adapt, to see what remains of her changes, and most importantly, that she still retains her self inside that silver gown.

This was a book that was one of my very favorites growing up, but I haven't read it since probably junior high. While discussing a different book with friends, this title came up. So, I decided to rumage through all of my boxes of old books, find this one and dust it off and give it a good read. It was just as fun as I remembered it!

This book is just a version of the widely known Beauty and the Beast fairy tale. It is a very simple, sweet and enchanting version. Beauty and the Beast has always been my favorite fairy tale, and this is probably my favorite version of it.

For adults that like to read YA fiction, don't expect anything deep or truly thought provoking in this. Just expect a fun couple of hours that reminds you of being a little kid that still believed in a perfect happily ever after.

If you know any 8-12 year old girls that enjoy reading, give them this book. They will love it, and it will probably start (or continue) them down the road to being a hopeless romantic.

This is somewhere between 3 and 4 stars, for me? Mayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyybe edging more towards 4? I'm quite perplexed as to how to rate it properly, I'm afraid.

The writing style itself--taken on its own--would EASILY merit 5 stars, if not more. It was simply delicious. Light, and airy, and clear, and never confusing in the slightest. I loved it. I want to be able to write like this, someday:

"The sun shone through a window, then made its delicate, fawn-footed way across the broad inlaid floor, and found the Beast's blue velvet shoulders to set on fire."

I mean to say, Jeeves. That is excellent. I'm most impressed.

The story itself was very well-handled, too, until the end--and that's where it fell short of my expectations. Hence, me taking off 1 or 2 stars. Basically, I had been very much hoping this story would give some sort of explanation as to WHY it was "okay" for the Beast to imprison Beauty in his castle--you know, some sort of unavoidable necessity or whatnot--and it didn't. It just turned out to be the same, old, [slightly] lame excuse that I've already heard a million times: I need a girl to marry me to break the spell. Like . . . sir, that's YOUR problem?? That doesn't give you the right to trick a girl into coming to your castle and then guilt-trip her into staying because you "can't live without her"? Sure, he lets her go at the very end, but he's supremely reluctant to do it and makes her promise to return . . . and . . . I don't know, I just really wanted this story to be different, somehow. Because it was so good in other respects, you know what I mean? I was disappointed.

I was also disappointed in Beauty's story, at the very end :-/ Up until that point, I absolutely loved her: she was plain and stubborn and practical and slightly sarcastic, and such a delightful Kindred Spirit all around, it was awesome. And then . . . what happens at the end of the story?SHE'S MAGICALLY CHANGED TO BE LESS PLAIN. And magically changed to be more comfortable in stupid ruffles-and-lace-and-silk, to boot. Do you understand how disappointing that is??? Here, at last, I FINALLY have a fairy-tale heroine whom I can genuinely relate to on a personal level . . . and poof, just like that, she's gone. Replaced with somebody totally different. I would have been completely happy to have her "accept" her own looks and think of herself as less plain; but that's not what the author chose to do. She literally changed the girl's whole appearance: something, I might add, that we real-life plain girls have absolutely no access to. Like . . . thanks a lot? Not?

So . . . yeah. I was quite upset by that.

BUT I was genuinely delighted by all the references to classical learning included in the story. And I loved the magic library. That was special <3

I'm still perplexed about the proper rating. Because it was such a wild mixture of Stuff I Love and Stuff I Don't. I do recommend reading it, though, definitely--for the beautiful descriptions and pacing, at the very least :-)

3.5

I decided to kick things off on my end (for Fairy Tale Fortnight) with one of the most traditional retellings I've come across.  So traditional, in fact, that I first was a little irritated with it and thought it was a rip-off of Disney's Beauty and the Beast -- until I realized that Robin McKinley's version of the story came decades before the movie.  Decades.  Yet the similarities are so incredibly striking that it's kind of a wonder there wasn't a big McKinley/Disney smackdown.  For reals.

The beauty and the beast/cupid and psyche/etc story is one that never fails to capture my attention.  No matter how bizarre the bones of the story really are (falling in love with something you either can't see and fear is a monster, or can see actually is one), there is this incredible magic to the story and its elements that makes me all swoony and fangirly every. single. time.  I can't help myself.  Now this isn't to say every telling of the story is good.  Some most certainly are not.  But some are magic.

This one is not quite magic for me, but it's certainly very strong.  It was McKinley's first novel, so it's lacking some of the crazyspark exhibited in later work (and the rambliness that accompanies it).  But her talent as a storyteller is eveident, even if some of the spark is missing.  Hints of her incredible worldbuilding skills are there (as I said, if you're familiar with Disney - well, that's the world she gives us, minus talking tea pots.  For the most part.)  It was easy to picture, and enjoyable to be there.  She succeeded at one of the hardest aspects of this tale: she made me love the beast, and believe Beauty should, too.  It was really all very lovely.

It was lacking, though, in the power I've come to expect from McKinley; it neared her usual level of development, but lacked some of the savor.  I think anyone looking to get the obligatory "twist" on the tale is going to be disappointed.  This isn't a "twist" tale.  It's really more an expansion.  She takes the tale and fleshes it out, fills it and makes it more real, but she never spins it or puts her stamp on it necessarily.  She tells it well, but some may feel like anyone could have told it.  Personally, I don't think every tale needs to have a twist or a spin -- some can just be well told versions of the well-known tale.  That's okay.  But for many readers, it may leave them feeling like something's missing, or that it lacked creativity, and this may cause it to fade a little more quickly from mind.

I also think that there is something to be desired in the ending.  Everything happens as it should (and as you know it will), but I would have wished for a little more development to it, a little less rush.  Again, it's that 'savor' that I'm used to with McKinley (and sometimes, her books are a little too savory...).  I wanted a little more time to process and enjoy, and not feel like I was being rushed out the door.   But it's a very exacting and engaging retelling, and though it may not be flashy, it's certainly not one to pass up if you're looking for a fairy tale more so than a "retelling".

I'm not saying this was a bad book but I couldn't finish it.

IT WAS SOOOOOOO SLOW! I didn't see the point in many aspects of what the author put in the story which caused the story to DRAG!

I am still hoping to try again maybe in the future but for now it's on my DNF list cause I couldn't get through it and I was almost half way through!

Oh and Beauty can stop letting the reader know how "unpretty" she was, we got the first 100 times you let us know.

I think I would've liked BEAUTY a lot more had it been a full-length novel. We spend so much time with Beauty and her family in the beginning, which were the parts I really enjoyed, and while we did have a decent chunk of time with the Beast.. it didn't feel like enough. And I felt the ending was super rushed and also.. what? I mean, sure, magic but still.

There were a lot of elements to this retelling that I quite loved though and it's definitely worth reading even if it's not my favourite version of this fairytale.

I just finished reading this book. Apparently a semester of dealing with politics and classics brings out the hard-core romantic in me, because I've been barreling through idyllic fantasy novels as if I were 13 years old.

That said, I have trouble thinking of another fantasy novel I would rather have read. Robin McKinley once again takes an old, archetypal fairytale (Beauty & the Beast, in case the title and the large rose on the cover didn't clobber you with recognition) -- and turns it into a living and breathing story. It's very refreshing, after having just read the Iliad and the Odyssey, to have a book wherein a female character has a major role in the story as well as a personality and will worth speaking of. Beauty, in this retelling, has plenty of both.

A few noteworthy things:

*In this story, Beauty starts out looking rather plain, her name being an ironic nickname
*Her sisters are not type-cast as vapid bitches (although they certainly don't have the moxie that Beauty does)
*This retelling doesn't seem to concern itself too much with exposition and a lengthy history of the Beast's curse -- it just takes the plot and runs with it

I'll admit that I was expecting the Beast to be a little bit more fiery and ill tempered to begin with. Additionally, there were lots of noticeable similarities between Disney's Beauty and McKinley's Beauty. Thankfully they were all similarities I was happy to see repeated.

Additionally, McKinley's Beauty shares a tendency with other McKinley heroines: hyper-active innocence paired with a non-existent sex drive. And while it strikes me as odd that the animals in her books are more sexually active than her heroines, I still like the book. Sometimes a good innocent romance wearing the dress of a fantasy/fairytale is what's on the menu.

Again, McKinley leaves me happy to have taken the time to read this book -- and having tucked this nice, innocent fantasy under my belt, I'm going to move on to the Aeneid by Virgil.

I like this retelling of Beauty and the Beast better than the original.

fairy tale retellings are fascinating - i went through a datlow-phase years ago, and i have read many others outside of her collections - it is a comfortable pleasure for me. so, since i am now going on an "introduce myself to the fantasy genre" expedition, this book seemed like the most logical entrée into it all.

beauty and the beast was never one of my favorite fairy tales - i don't know why, particularly, but i usually preferred the ones that didn't have a corresponding disney movie which would unavoidably be playing in the back of my head as i was reading them, not to mention the songs - the dreadful songs...

but i really liked this adaptation.

the best thing about this particular version is that mckinley changes the backstory a little bit in a way that makes it more natural and a much better story overall.

most fairy tales operate by isolating the main character. the heroes and heroines are frequently orphans, or abandoned by their parents/stepparents, friendless and forced to make their own way with the occasional animal or supernatural ally. but in this retelling, beauty comes from a loving family. she and her sisters are close, her father loves her deeply, she has a strong sense of community and duty.

the cinderella type, who stoically goes on sweeping and polishing while everyone around her abuses her and enslaves her while she just keeps turning the other cheek as though she is in a morphine daze - i cannot get behind that kind of character, because they seem less human and more symbolic; they are empty. in the original b and the b - of course beauty would go to the beast - what's she got to keep her where she is?? some shitty sisters and a weak father? (she does love her father in the original, but the rest of her life is pretty easy to leave behind). but in this version, her decision is made out of love and sacrifice and she is giving up so much, that it makes her sympathetic, but not some doormat like so many others, doing "good" because they have been lobotomized sometime in their past. her decision feels more natural considering her background; the sacrifice is greater than that of someone with nothing to lose. this young woman has learned how to love and how to be nurturing from a support system that includes her family, but also includes her neighbors and everyone she meets along the way, in a natural nice-girl way that is never treacly. and she is no gentle delicate flower, either - this girl is a perfect match for the beast.

without that family-oriented background, it is illogical that she would have learned how to be kind, how to be giving, how to care for the beast enough to bring him back to his true form. (there is no way i am putting a spoiler alert on this review, by the way - DO YOU LIVE IN A HOLE???) i think that mckinley made absolutely the right choice by changing the parts she did, and her prose is beautiful and simple and a real treat to read.

and don't get me started on that library. this is why we need more booknerd heroines in our fairy tales. so books like this can be written.

i think i got muddled somewhere in the middle of all that, but never mind - maybe the brain will make more sense tomorrow...

nope!

and if anyone can tell me the fairy tale collection my grandmother had when i was little, i would be so grateful.

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