J'ai bien aimé en soi mais mis à part une modernité dans le récit, l'aspect réécriture n'apporte rien du tout, c'est comme ci l'auteur avait juste décidé de rendre le texte plus accessible. Après c'était sympa d'où ma note ms on reste sur du très classique.

I got this book in a reprint while I was at uni and remember loving it but hadn’t touched it since. I think it shows it’s age a little, but it’s still lovely. I will always love a retelling, especially or fairytales and even more especially of beauty and the beast. My only real complaints were that it felt a bit too faithful to the tale (though given when it was written I will forgive that a little as it was less common to be radically different) and that the ending feel rushed. It’s suddenly all over when I wanted five or ten more chapters! I felt a bit robbed by that. But the characters are all lovely, and well written. I especially like Beauty’s honesty about her flaws (real or otherwise). However if written now, I do also think focusing on her perceived beauty as a measure of worth isn’t it enough - I wanted her to feel there was more than that available to her. You get it in pieces - wanting to go to uni, and fitting in round the town, but it all comes back to looks which is why I don’t like that she “grows up pretty” after being plain until 16-18 (it is not clear if any of the change happened before the castle). Hmm. Beautifully written and still a lovely story worth reading but as an adult I see a few more flaws in the story.

This interesting retelling took a lot of liberties, from "Beauty" being a nickname for how "unattractive" she is—weird but okay—to the many sisters and then the beast himself.

The most significant part of this retelling was the magical properties.

The worst part of this book was how underutilized the magic was.

All in all, I liked it, but it needed to use more of its strengths.

The romance wasn't very engaging for me, either.

Solid 3 Stars.

I forgot how delightful McKinley's books can be. They are stories you want to live inside, tactile and textured. Yes, we all know the story of Beauty and the Beast, but I've never really felt it before.

Dnf this was just way to slow for me and I completely lost interest.

REVIEW UPDATE: March 2017
Old friend, I didn't realize how much I missed you! I've been wanting to re-read this book for a long time, and the theater release of the new Disney movie seemed to be as good an excuse as any. McKinley immersed me again into the world of an enchanted castle and the affection growing between an ordinary girl, and a terrible but lonely beast.

There are so many good themes in this book! While some have argued the book may support Stockholm Syndrome (sympathy developed by a prisoner for a captor as a coping mechanism or someone remaining in an abusive relationship with the hope of changing the partner for the better), I don't think that's the case ... at least not with this retelling! Instead I dreamily drift out of the pages warmed by love that's not based on appearance and affection that puts others first.

My one complaint is a somewhat slow start to the book. The author makes sure we're well grounded in the normalcy of Beauty's world before galloping into the dazzling wonder of the Beast's world. However, I found I minded the slow intro less this time around. I was just happy to be getting re-acquainted with Beauty and her family. :)

ORIGINAL:
Though not normally a fan of fairy tales, this retelling of Beauty and the Beast is a real favorite of mine. When Beauty’s father looses his fortune and the family is forced to move to the country, Beauty adapts to their new life faster than her sisters. She considers herself happy in her new home until her father returns from a trip with a horrifying story.

To save her father from death at the hands of the Beast, Beauty volunteers to leave her family and live at the Beast’s mysterious castle. There she meets him, and after her initial fear begins to fade…Well, I would love to tell you the whole story, but you should read it for yourself.

I guess the thing that sets this retelling apart from the story as we know it (I mean the 18th century version, not the Disney one) is the charming first-person narrative (of which I have nothing to complain, which is rare) and the relationship between the sisters - and I loved there was true friendship and affection.

Beauty, whose name is actually Honour, is the kind of girl you and I would like in real life. She values knowledge more than anything in the world, apart from people, nature and common sense - precisely as we would dose it. Delicate yet stubborn, she makes her way, as the story tells us, to the castle of the Beast and through the core of the enchantments that surround that place. I feel that I should talk about the magic in this book, how the enchantments seem almost palpable.

But it was short, too short for me. I needed subplots, I needed some heroic rescuing. But it was brilliant nonetheless.

‘But he is a Beast,’ said Father helplessly. I saw that he was weakening, and wishing only to comfort him I said, ‘Cannot a Beast be tamed?’

Robin Mckinley tells a timeless classic in a sophisticated, alluring way, dutifully following its plot and adding a touch of humor and unique features to it. I've always loved the fairytale of Beauty and the Beast, and this book really delivered - I got the classic tale I wanted.

The characterisation is very good, and I appreciated every single one of the characters introduced in this novel. Especially Lydia and Bessie - I thought those two were rather quirky, but had good intentions and loved Beauty in their own way. The Beast was sad, and lovely, and loved Beauty so much. He was one of my favorite characters of the book. When reading, I was easily enchanted and engrossed by the simple prose. Robin McKinley has clearly treated the original tale with respect and care, and she writes it in such a way that the prose is wonderfully elegant but not too cloying. It's not an elementary-standard fairy tale for young children, but also not a tale with unnecessary flowery language either. Instead, the tale is told just as it is.

However, the thing I didn't like about this book was that the story could very easily drag for a large part (or at least Part One) of the book. Beauty spends a lot of its time describing Beauty's family and their life for many years before they met the Beast. I get that this is essential so that the setting and circumstances can be set and characters introduced, but I felt like the ratio of content was uneven and McKinley could have fleshed out the time when Beauty was at the castle, instead of using phrases like "Months passed" and "After six weeks". Fortunately I did not find it too boring, but this book has received negative reviews because of it. The ending also felt slightly rushed and like the author was in a rush to end the book.

I genuinely feel that this is a well-written retelling however. I liked it for its truth and ingenuous way of telling. If, like me, you are a fanatic of anything Beauty and the Beast, you will love this.

Q:
Our literal-minded mother named us Grace, Hope, and Honour, but few people except I perhaps the minister who had baptized all three of us remembered my given name. (c)
Q:
Hope named her Mercy, after our sister who had died, although I privately thought that our family already had more than enough virtues personified. (c)
Q:
My intellectual abilities gave me a release, and an excuse. I shunned company because I preferred books; and the dreams I confided to my father were of becoming a scholar in good earnest, and going to University. (c)
Q:
I was frightened of the unknown that we faced, and of our ignorance; but I had never been afraid of hard work, I had no beauty to lose, nor would there be any wrench at parting from high society, I didn’t relish the thought of sleeping in an attic and washing my own clothes, but then it didn’t fill me with horror either, and I was still young enough to see it in the light of an adventure. (c)
Q:
When spring came I dug up the garden and planted it, and weeded it, and prayed over it, and fidgeted; and almost three years of lying fallow had agreed with it, because it produced radishes the size of onions, potatoes the size of melons, and melons the size of small sheep. The herb border ran wild, and the air smelled wonderful; the breezes often stirred the piney, mossy smell of the forest with the sharp smell of herbs, mixed in the warm smell of fresh bread from the kitchen, and then flung the result over the meadow like a handful of new gold coins. (c)
Q:
I sat on my bed and looked out at the quiet woods, black and silver in snow and moonlight, and serene. There was nothing watchful or brooding about that stillness; whatever secrets were hidden in that forest were so perfectly kept that their existence could not be suspected nor even imagined by any rational faculty. (c)
Q:
... the sun filled the castle and its gardens with gold, like nectar in a crystal goblet; the roses gleamed like facets. (c)
Q:

Such a beautiful fairy tale retelling! Love the emotional stuff, how close-knit the family is. A great character dev and setting: a well-off family gets into a hardship and needs to change their way of life, move to a cheaper place in distant lands and build a new way of living. With magic and enchantments being hidden right next to them.
Great descriptions, pacing, lovely characters. Wow! A new fav of mine.

I can't believe I haven't reviewed this properly before! This book was so influential in the writing of my fairy tales! It has been so influential my writing in general! This book is the forerunner, and set the standard, for modern YA fairy tale retellings. And since the last time I read it I've seen Disney's animated Beauty and the Beast roughly 9,000 times with my daughter, and I have to say: if they didn't pay McKinley for her ideas, Disney owes her big time!

Love this book.

BEAUTY is a fairy tale of the best sort, the story of a life transformed by love. Although the details are fantastical, the metamorphosis of a simple girl into a regal woman feels strangely within the reach of any ordinary person who pursues truth and honour.

I loved the way Beauty's character was developed, starting as a very plain and self deprecating young girl who loved classic literature. Perhaps she didn't see herself as the protagonist in her own story---how often do we acknowledge that we are, too? Being steeped in classics, she had virtue imprinted on her soul, and was therefore impelled to honour as her narrative unfolded.

Fairy tales can effortlessly transport us to other dimensions: to invisible realms that exist behind the curtain of this present reality. Beauty came to see that she was living in two realms, the earthly life she shared with her family, and then the fantastical life in the Beast's castle--- an entirely separate realm that was beyond the understanding of others. To be able to see the juxtaposition of the two realms is a dividend reaped from fantasy tales such as this one. Even children (especially children?) have an innate understanding that dimensions exist beyond our 5 senses. Beauty at first only caught hints and glimpses of what was "behind the curtain" but experienced a metamorphosis and full-on citizenship when she committed herself to the Beast because of love.

Although this book is aimed at young adults, it certainly is not beneath the dignity of an adult who still hungers after the wonder of another kingdom.