Beauty: A Retelling of the Story of Beauty and the Beast

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Beauty: A Retelling of the Story of Beauty and the Beast

4.06 of 5 stars 4.06 · rating details · 36,217 ratings · 2,743 reviews

"Like all of the other doors I had met in the castle, this one opened at my approach. The room it revealed was a large, warm, and gracious one. On one wall to my left a first was burning in a fireplace; two armchairs were drawn up before it. One chair was empty. In the other a massive shadow sat. I caught a gleam of dark-green velvet on what might have been a knee in the s...more

Hardcover, 247 pages

Published October 25th 1978 by HarperCollins

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Mar 16, 2011 karen rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: continuations-n-retellings, why-yes-i-ya

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 wou...more 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.(less)

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Jun 16, 2009 Kelly rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy-and-scifi, fiction, romantical, owned, its-the-quiet-ones

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, whil...more 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.(less)

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Aug 23, 2012 Nicole rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is a quick read - young adult fiction. There were elements of this story (a re-telling of Beauty and the Beast) that had the potential to be really cool, but the author concentrated on the clothes and hair and food instead of the magic. I'm all for detail, but come on! The main character was labeled "plain" from the beginning and her sisters were beautiful. Of course in the end the plain one becomes pretty and the Beast is also pretty and TA DA all is right with the world. Booo. Also, many...more

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Mar 16, 2009 Chandra rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2009-reads, fairy-and-folk-tales, kids-young-adult, clever-girls

My initial reaction to this book is: What rock was I living under that I wasn't aware of either this book or Robin McKinley when I was young reader?? I'm fairly certain that I would have been her number one fan! As it stands I'm still a big fan!

The premise here is really pretty simple - the familiar and touching story is fleshed out and given more depth with Beauty herself as narrator. I was struck by similarities to the Disney film (which came over a decade after this novel was first published)...more

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Aug 01, 2012 Aura rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: children-s-fantasy

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 co...more

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Sep 26, 2007 Sean rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The title says it all. This book is beautiful on every level: Writing, characters, story, themes. I thought it was an awesome portrait of quiet, gentle love and the joy to be found in simple things.

Dudes and ladies alike: Just read it.

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Jul 26, 2010 Tatiana rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: fans of fairy-tale retellings

Shelves: 2010, fairy-tales, ya

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 cha...more

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Mar 19, 2011 Chris rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: beauty-and-beast, youngadult, fantasy-fairy-tales-influ

There is something about the Beauty and the Beast story that is attractive to society in general and to the literature, movie making crowd in particular. Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, Middlemarch and other books in varying literary quality draw on the motif, subverting, perverting, or simply retelling it (One of my faves is Jane Yolen's version which is a mash up with O Henry's Gift of the Magi). It is no surprise that Robin McKinely was drawn to the tale, twice, and any reader can see the germ...more There is something about the Beauty and the Beast story that is attractive to society in general and to the literature, movie making crowd in particular. Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, Middlemarch and other books in varying literary quality draw on the motif, subverting, perverting, or simply retelling it (One of my faves is Jane Yolen's version which is a mash up with O Henry's Gift of the Magi). It is no surprise that Robin McKinely was drawn to the tale, twice, and any reader can see the germ of the second novel in this book, her first.

McKinley's writing, in particular The Hero and the Crown, was one very important touchstone of my childrhood, as it seems to be for many fantasy reading women of my age. I can't help but wish that teen girls of today would read her the obessive way and in the vast amount of numbers of those that read Twilight or Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. McKinley writes better, and she will most likely last longer.

This book, McKinley's first and her first retelling of Beauty and the Beast, was totally ripped off by the Walt Disney Company for thier movie. It's actually sad and insulting because not only did Disney rip it off, but they totally shortened the Beauty character (now, before people come and demand my Tigger shirt back, I happen to like the Disney movie, but a spade is a spade. Get over it).

McKinley draws heavily on the French version of the story, yet she makes it her own. Beauty likes to read, but unlike Disney's Belle (Beautiful in French), Beauty reads literature, not the romance novels of her day. Belle's love of reading is based on her love for romantic adventure; Beauty's is based on a love reading for itself and for knowledge. She is a scholar. It is difficult to imagine Disney's Belle having the same reaction to the library in this book, that Beauty does (also, we are never given a title of what Belle reads, hmmm).

Another change that McKinley makes, and she is one of the few authors who does this, is make Beauty's family a loving family. Beauty not only loves her father, but she loves her sisters. She and her sisters get along. They take to each other, not down to each other. They are not in competition. This isn't a fairy tale of the bad sisters being punished and the good (always the young one) being rewarded; it's about a loving family being rewarded.

Because this is early McKinley, there are flaws in the book, flaws that make the reader understand why McKinley basically rewrote the story in Rose Daughter. Beauty, for instance, is almost too perfect. She is the girl who stands out because she is not only more bookish, but more boyish than the other women. This perfection is dealt with in the end sequence. Additionally, Beauty's gaining of Greatheart feels like a wish fullment version of the horse movie of the week. But these are really, almost nit-picking. The most serious flaw is the fact that Beauty's sisters, Grace and Hope, are almost interchangable, though fully likable. McKinley also presents the view that being non-bookish is not any worse than being bookish, which is nice.

What I truly love, now, however, is simply that I only realized when I re-read this book as an adult. Beauty and the Beast from its earliest days was always a story about women and marriage, in particular the fear of marriage that must have developed in a society when the marriages were arranged and husband and wife barely knew each other. McKinley keeps this, and adds, understandably, a fear of desire and of changing into an adult. In many of Beauty's reactions to Beast there is the change of pubertry but also that struggle of coming to terms with adult desire, love, and one's own sexuality.(less)

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Aug 19, 2008 Nikki rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, young-readers

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. 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 integr...more 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.(less)

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Oct 25, 2007 hypothermya rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: obstinant women, fairy-tale reconstructionists

Shelves: speculativefiction, fairytales

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 int...more

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Nov 10, 2011 Kaethe rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: top-100-ya, age-ya, adventure, fantasy, fiction, horses, books-about-books, libraries, magic, romance, sisters, strong-smart-female-protagonist, beloved, debut, retellings

apparently, I've read this before. It's been long enough that I didn't really remember anything until after it had come up, in fact, I'd conflated the book with the Disney Beauty and the Beast movie. Not too surprising, considering how close they come in places.

Here are the three things I love best: that the three sisters are all so fond of one another, that everyone deals so pragmatically with losing everything and becoming poor, and that the Beast's library includes books that haven't yet bee...more

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May 17, 2012 Jennifer rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

2.5 stars

I think that part of the reason that I didn't like Beauty was not so much due to Robin McKinley's retelling as a general aversion to the Beauty and the Beast fairy tale now that I'm old enough to notice that it's a little creepy to fall in love with not only a man who looks like a beast, but a man who is effectively your jailor and stalker (ahem, Stockholm Syndrome). This guy also gives you an ultimatum to choose between him and your family, which is lame. I also don't like the fact tha...more 2.5 stars

I think that part of the reason that I didn't like Beauty was not so much due to Robin McKinley's retelling as a general aversion to the Beauty and the Beast fairy tale now that I'm old enough to notice that it's a little creepy to fall in love with not only a man who looks like a beast, but a man who is effectively your jailor and stalker (ahem, Stockholm Syndrome). This guy also gives you an ultimatum to choose between him and your family, which is lame. I also don't like the fact that this fairy tale story sends the message that love will transform, in this case, literally, an unworthy guy into good husband material. It reminds me of a news article about a recent study about how women were more likely to rationalize traditionally physically attractive, "bad boy" types as good husbands and fathers when ovulating than any other time.

That caveat out of the way, one of the other things that I think strongly affects readers' opinion of Beauty is the previous exposure to Walt Disney's Beauty and the Beast which was actually released after the first printing of McKinley's Beauty. While reading McKinley's Beauty, I was struck by the similarities in her telling and the Disney version. The novel gives a more complex depiction of Beauty's emotions, but the storyline is very much like the Disney version, and even more strikingly similar if one takes into account the dark impressions implied by the art and music in the Disney version. In short, this was likely a major contributing factor in me not being "wowed" by this retelling, which is a bit unfair, considering the chronology.

McKinley's writing is sometimes beautiful and whimsical, and sometimes boring, but definitely impressive when considering that this was a first novel by the woman who would eventually write the award-winning The Hero and the Crown and The Blue Sword. I think that the contemporary reader, especially young reader used to Simon Pulse fiction, would find Beauty quite slow and boring. There isn't much action, and there is plenty of time spent on imagery. One of the things that makes the story beautiful is the same thing that makes it a slow read; ironically, it is too realistic, at least as a love story. My hunch is that the young adult girls, the audience at whom this work is presumably aimed, typically crave a more melodramatic story when reaching for this book, love at first sight, not the gradual building of a relationship from time spent in seemingly mundane diversions like walks, chats and reading.

One of the other things that I liked in Beauty that I wish were addressed better was Beauty's feeling that she no longer "fit" in the "normal" world with her family. I think that it's a universal theme that applies to everyone who has ever left home and returned to find it, and/or themselves, "different" as Beauty's father describes it. To me, it also hints at what many people feel when they are forced to straddle multiple "worlds" of any kind whether cultural or generational. This may be reading too much into things, or it merely may have stood out to me since a similar theme presents itself in The Hero and the Crown and The Blue Sword, but I wonder if this reflects a bit of what McKinley herself may have felt, as her biographical information always says, "in a navy family, traveling a great deal in the U.S. and throughout the world."(less)

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Jun 24, 2012 Admatha rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: did-not-finish

I heard so much good about Robin McKinley that I had to try her out. Hell, I love fairy tales. I love re-imagined fairy tales.

I do not love this book.

Perhaps if the story hadn't been told in the first person it would have been more tolerable. As it is, the book already lost the bid to win my interest by page three. Beauty - in the middle of describing herself to underline her 'ugliness' - says she has "muddy hazel" eyes. Muddy hazel eyes? Muddy green, maybe. Muddy brown? Redundant, but sure, why...more

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Oct 23, 2012 Melanie rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Everyone!

Shelves: i-wish-i-owned

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Wow. This is just Love. I love this story! This was a wonderful read, I enjoyed every second. I do wonder how I would have liked it had I not seen the disney version first.

I loved the Beast very early on, he was just lovely; a little sad, a little pathetic (maybe pitiable is a better word?), but always lovely. The ending felt like it just all of the sudden came upon me; I wish it had lasted a bit longer, explained a bit more, gone in to better detail, but I Love it all the same.

I feel like thi...more Wow. This is just Love. I love this story! This was a wonderful read, I enjoyed every second. I do wonder how I would have liked it had I not seen the disney version first.

I loved the Beast very early on, he was just lovely; a little sad, a little pathetic (maybe pitiable is a better word?), but always lovely. The ending felt like it just all of the sudden came upon me; I wish it had lasted a bit longer, explained a bit more, gone in to better detail, but I Love it all the same.

I feel like this is where disney got it's inspiration. This was a gazillion times better! So much more interesting. Rather than having a big fat jerk as the antagonist, it is Beauty herself!! Or maybe her family. A much more believable story.

I loved how Beauty experienced luxury, poverty, happiness, contentment, all these different things, but she liked best the company of her Beast. I also loved the story behind the curse; it's a bit odd, but hilarious! But, if people really are holier than other's, they wouldn't laud it over their neighbours; the wizard must have been a jealous jerk who cursed a young man because he was the only one he could curse/find fault with and so justify cursing.

Even though I love this book very much, I feel it is lacking. I want more story!!!! I want to know more about the Beast! How he got into the predicament we find him in! The basis for the stories of haunted woods/disappearances! Lydia and Bessie! The significance of the roses! How come Beast is able to control things? When did Beast start watching her? Was it when her father went home? Or maybe when she drank the water? How did he know so much about her family from the get-go? Maybe he always watches the house? Many questions I would have loved to have answered with a few hundred extra pages. I also wonder if his falling in love with her was a part of the curse, sort of like the little mermaid, he had to have it reciprocated or die. Or maybe that was just a part of living for such a long time, you realise there is little point without the one you love.

I would Love to have such a library as Beauty's enchanted one.

I am not sure I buy the quick acceptance Beauty has to the Beasts form change; I know it's his whole that matters more than just his appearance, but as the book points out, we rely heavily on our eyes; I reckon it would take at least a few days to reconcile the change.

Anyways, great fun! I loved Beauty! She is just awesome, reads books, has a bit of an issue with her appearance, is often too logical. hahaha! They are both so lovely.(less)

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Oct 09, 2011 CRO rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fairytale-fantasy, ya-fantasy, books-read-in-2011

4.5 stars

Hands down my favorite McKinley. Young, untainted McKinley before she got all artsy fartsy and tried to down play and deny her appeal as a creator of likeable, pleasant, homey - hearth side heroines. There was a time she seemed to go all symbolic and archetypal and shit with her characters - Outlaws of Sherwood, Deerskin - McKinley was like all "I don't need these character to be like, all, you know personable and relateable - that's just for pussies - these characters are my stand-ins...more 4.5 stars

Hands down my favorite McKinley. Young, untainted McKinley before she got all artsy fartsy and tried to down play and deny her appeal as a creator of likeable, pleasant, homey - hearth side heroines. There was a time she seemed to go all symbolic and archetypal and shit with her characters - Outlaws of Sherwood, Deerskin - McKinley was like all "I don't need these character to be like, all, you know personable and relateable - that's just for pussies - these characters are my stand-ins for great, huge, mythic, eternal truths - they don't need personalities - they just have to be - so suck on that all you readers who liked Beauty - and you know what - just to really fuck with your head - I'm going to re-write this book and call it Rose Daughter - take that - beaatches!"

Ok, I don't really imagine that Robin McKinley talks like that - that was just my inner teenage girl creeping out. And McKinley did seem to come back around to more earthly, accessible heroines later on - Spindles End, Sunshine - yeah!

I don't even know if I can speak coherently about this book - I've read and re-read this book so many times - I love and adore it all out of proportion to what it really is. This is my go to comfort book. The world gets scary and comes undone and I can crawl into this world - where smart but plain girls can go all ugly duckling/ beautiful swan and a strong, loving family creates a strong heroine, where the relationships between the women are loving and not adversarial. I want to say something all poetic about how the love and warmth of the hearth at Beauty's house is the light and warmth that she takes with her to the Beast's cold castle -- but yech - I think that's pretty apparent.

Happiness, sadness, read 2 Robin McKinley's and call me in the morning - I was reading this book through most of the 12 plus hours of induced labor (before the inevitable C-section) of my first child. I read this during the staggering post partum depression of my second.

What kind of books do we invite into our lives at these pivotal moments? And here I mean pivotal like balancing precariously on the edge of a cliff - not pivotal like at the next successful decision making crossroads I'll be in line for that promotion. Sorry, McKinley - your book has become larger than the sum of it's parts - you at a time of crisis - just suddenly popping up and offering to lend a hand - well that would be awkward and annoying. You and I are strangers - but your book - your worlds - I'll take them any day of the week.

So what is it? What about this book is the siren call to my soul? The first time I read this book I was a post adolescent and my older sister and my mother - we all basically devoured this book together - practically at the same time - hastily handing it off from one person to another. So there we were all over the pages of this book - ok not 100% - we were/ are real people - and Beauty and her sister are too adorably good-natured to be true - and me and my family we do fight and misunderstand and judge - but just as much as we weren't there in the pages - we also were there. Women who love and know and accept one another - my family - we are the way less rareified version of these characters - with farts and low blood sugar bad moods. A shared reading experience among mother and daughters - with a book that is all over about the salvation of the home fires - keep 'em burning babe - because you may never be able to go home again but you can always take it with you- and it is always good to be reminded that at the source of your soul there are people there who love you. And aren't you just a lucky mother fucker that you will always have that? Because not everybody does. And in my head and in my heart, I agree - yes, yes - I am a very lucky girl.

So thank you Robin McKinley - even though you seem to be embarrassed and disheartened by the success of this - your, apparently, least favorite writing endeavor - because you have created a book that has become an anchor for my soul.(less)

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Aug 26, 2011 Jessi rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fairy-tales

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

basically a maid who didn't get paid....more

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Jun 23, 2010 Lin rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Though Robin McKinley is quite adept at lush description, her characters fail to connect with me in any meaningful way. The romance between Beast and Beauty felt predictible and rather boring. At no point during this book, especially the second half, was I unaware of exactly what would happen and how it would happen. Every time a new plot element was introduced - such as, Beauty introduces her horse to Beast! - it was immediately evident how the scene would occur, mainly because you get the clea...more

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Aug 04, 2011 Kelly rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Fairy tale nuts

Shelves: 2005, dis-over-my-dead-body

Yeah.

Those stars aren't going anywhere, anytime soon. The hard part is not wounding my literary pride. Sure it is..[slap]. And at one point in life you should think that you only have 99.8% other faults besides literary pride. There was not even a voiced term for it when I was growing up yonder (no, really. I just looked out the window and saw it). It was the log-pothole-peat bog you ignored before eating it three seconds later, and it was only supposed to wear one mask, not have a clown-face me...more

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Dec 30, 2008 Damian rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: contemporary-classics, fantasy-fiction, genrebender

I'm sure part of my gleeful urge to give this five-star rating stems from the fact that "Beauty and the Beast" has always been my favourite fairy tale. I love seeing it redone in modern settings, redone in post-modern settings, and even retold in a time period akin to that in which it was first penned and recorded for posterity.

This novel brings us the story in the first person POV, past tense, but with a current approach to language. I checked the credits and discovered it was first published...more I'm sure part of my gleeful urge to give this five-star rating stems from the fact that "Beauty and the Beast" has always been my favourite fairy tale. I love seeing it redone in modern settings, redone in post-modern settings, and even retold in a time period akin to that in which it was first penned and recorded for posterity.

This novel brings us the story in the first person POV, past tense, but with a current approach to language. I checked the credits and discovered it was first published in 1978 and was surprised at how pertinent all of it still seemed – most fantasy writers working today would probably kill to have produced something as simple, innocent, and ultimately pure as this novel.

It doesn't take the Beauty and the Beast idea and work it into anything unfeasible, and in fact, it sticks very close to the original French version of the tale (Perrault) and the later adaptations. There is nothing strictly unfamiliar here, but instead it's the joy of feeling firsthand the experiences of this character thrust into many uncomfortable situations. McKinley conveys all this with great clarity, and her descriptions are intense and honest and fruitful: you build places and scenes in your mind easily without being bogged down by any excess prose or purely affluent details. You KNOW this story, but even as you read it, you are still given to feel awkwardness, suspense, and joy.

I'll probably read this novel again soon. It was short and sweet and as close to perfect as these things come. If anyone holds "predictability" against it, please see the cover, whereupon it clearly states this is "A retelling of the Story of BEAUTY & THE BEAST." After that, there are no surprises, other than the constant pleasant delight of the author's handling of the subject matter, exploration and detail that the initial idea never develops (being that it's a folk tale, that's no problem, and that's why we like to read and write these things again and again!); in any case, those who are fans of the story itself will love it, probably unconditionally.

Critically – not much to say. A few misprinted typographical things in the edition I have, and knowing now that it was probably written and published at least thirty years ago, you can derive what you want to from that... author's age, life experience, whatever... none of that really factors. The story simply feels genuine, and I find nothing to contest in it. It is, after all, a fairy tale – unlikely beauty found among the thorns. Let's just go with it.
(less)

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Dec 18, 2008 Grace rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

An absolutely outstanding rendition of Beauty and the Beast. I have read Robin McKinley before, but it's been years, and I had forgotten how well she could write.

The charm of this novel isn't in its creativity with or spin on the fairy tale, but in the way that Robin McKinley tells such a classic story in such a straightforward way, and yet still manages to make it delightful and fresh. In so many longer novelizations of short tales, the authors get caught up in tedious detail to extend the leng...more

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May 10, 2009 Elizabeth rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: my nieces

Recommended to Elizabeth by: clearly the best children's librarian ever

Shelves: vamps-and-other-mythical-beasts, reviewed, fantasy-sci-fi, fey

In Jean Cocteau's 1946 film version (better than Disney's by far), Belle is running through the castle's corridors while arms reach out at her from the walls. Her skirts are billowing in the wind from her movement and she is running from something, or searching for something, and you have this image of beauty and haunting enchantment, surrounded by threats, and fear. It's disconcerting to have those images and feelings transmuted into Angela Lansbury's singing tea pot.

Blending the elements of t...more In Jean Cocteau's 1946 film version (better than Disney's by far), Belle is running through the castle's corridors while arms reach out at her from the walls. Her skirts are billowing in the wind from her movement and she is running from something, or searching for something, and you have this image of beauty and haunting enchantment, surrounded by threats, and fear. It's disconcerting to have those images and feelings transmuted into Angela Lansbury's singing tea pot.

Blending the elements of the original tale (yet another story of a maiden and unknown sexuality personified), with the imagery of enchantments (dancing crockery galore) and adding a real character of Belle, one who reads Greek poetry, loves horses, and thinks herself ugly, could have lead to something stomach-twisting-cutesy and a complete disaster, or a novel that captures the essence of Cocteau's Belle running through the castle while also making it accessible for awkward girls who could be Beauty (although the Greek poets are unlikely material for modern awkward girls).

This book, McKinely's first, is a first person narrative by Beauty (her given name is Honour) and it has very little dialog. It's a rarely interrupted description of events as they happen to her and told entirely from her perspective. It doesn't have much of the humor that McKinley's later books have, but Beauty is young, and rather overly honorable, and so not too much fun anyway. I didn't notice any of that when I first read the book at age ten or thereabouts, and if I notice it now, I love the story and how it is told so much I don't particularly care. I have read the book so many times now that I'm surprised I still get anything new from it, but I always do. When reading Plato's The Republic in college, the point about the ideal form, I thought, "Oh this is what she was talking about." I was thinking of this book and Beauty being afraid to enter her room because while her name might be Beauty, she was not one, and she thought of Plato too.

Yes, my first introduction to classical thought was from Robin McKinley. Who else does that? Who else would think to create an awkward teenager reading Plato, Cicero, and Spenser? (Pamela Dean did it in Tam Lin but she had McKinley's example to build on).

So this book may be a form of comfort food; one of the few childhood books that I would still want to read and love again just for the story, but there is also this maturity to it. Sometime, not here, I'd like to write about the meaning of honor in this book (actually, it's a theme throughout McKinley's work, but its most obvious here, at the beginning). She's written other versions of the story since this one. They don't all have the same ending, but there is always that concept of honor in them and what it means.

I wish I could remember the name of the librarian who gave this to me that summer when I first read it. I owe her a great debt.(less)

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Sep 22, 2008 Kathryn rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Kathryn by: Christina

It was a nice enough story. Honestly, though, I found it difficult to relate in any real way to the main character. She seemed stiff, to me, and kind of stagnant. After reading authors like Sharon Creech and Gail Carson Levine where the heroines become your best friends and you can sense what they are feeling and understand their pain and rejoice in their successes, Beauty seemed like a brick. I think the author tried too hard to make her "realistic" to the point that she became anything but.
I d...more

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Feb 03, 2013 Dorothy rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I've been re-reading this twenty-years-favorite of mine. Thinking these days (while we try to imagine what daily experience can possibly be like for our baby) about how poignant it is to be a person discovering herself in an environment she didn't choose, surrounded by kindly but mysterious handmaids.

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Oct 03, 2008 Anita rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: book-club, fairy-tale

I read this book several years ago and loved it. However, on the second reading I didn't enjoy it quite as much. I wanted to know more about the beast, why he became enchanted, why did he pick Beauty to help him break his enchantment... I just wanted more about him! The story is told from Beauty's perspective, which may be why the reader doesn't learn as much about the beast. The author does do a good job of telling Beauty's family's story and I really like the relationship between Beauty and he...more

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Nov 27, 2012 Jocelyn Murray rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Of all the fairy tales, Beauty and the Beast has always been my absolute favorite, and this particular version is as enchanting as ever. Perhaps it is my own romantic inclination that has me imagining myself as the Beast's captive in that mysterious castle. And what a castle — with its endless rooms, corridors, doors that open and close by themselves, candles that light-up on their own, gardens forever in bloom — it is exquisite. But perhaps best of all is the Beast himself: immense and dominant...more

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Apr 14, 2009 Natasha rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: No one

Shelves: kill-me-now

Extremely tedious and slow-paced with too much description--that basically describes the whole book. I like the idea of a more gracious Beast, but there wasn't anything really creative or new about the retelling. The ending was especially... bleh (meaning very abrupt and silly). Beauty's character was a bit cliche as well.

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Jul 20, 2011 Wendy rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites

This book has definitely become one of my favorites. If you like fairy tale retellings, you should definitely pick up this book. It takes on an interesting perspective when it comes to Beauty. I really liked the Beast's character throughout the book. It showed him as he had matured already. Most other retellings always still have him in the process of maturing and understanding his lesson. The only thing that was a bit confusing was the ending. There were a couple of questions that I still had....more

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Apr 30, 2012 Rosalba rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: princess-like

It was quite a good book. The beginning was a little slow, but after forty pages or so it got better. I loved the way the Beast was portrayed, and I felt sympathy for him right away. It was a bit of a short book for my taste, and the Beast's world was pretty much left unexplained, and lacked the intrigue and wonder of, say, Shannon Hale's Eight Realms, or Gale Carson Levine's Kyrria. The ending was also a little hurried and flat, and I didn't grow to love Beauty the way I expected to, but overal...more

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Oct 06, 2008 Shannon rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: fantasy-nerds

Recommended to Shannon by: Tortla

Shelves: own, scifi-fantasy

Pretty nice.. nothing earth-shattering as far as the plotline goes since I've, you know, seen the Disney movie "Beauty and the Beast". I don't know if I can get used to the way fantasy novels are often like 95% backstory/setup, 5% payoff/climax. It's like all the gooood shit is in the last 20 pages... I wished there was more after that. Oh well. McKinley is a good author.

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Feb 20, 2013 Freelfe rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Robin McKinley est spécialisée dans la réécriture des contes et mythes. Elle a été lauréate des prix World Fantasy Award et Mythopoeic Award... Et elle le mérite grandement ! Belle est publié aux Editions Mnémos et fait un peu moins de 240 pages. 240 pages de pur bonheur où nous redécouvrons l’histoire de La Belle et la Bête. Oui mais, tout le monde connaît l’histoire du conte de Walt Disney ! Le véritable conte, termine-t-il ainsi ? C’est la question que je me suis posée durant tout le roman…

Ce...more Robin McKinley est spécialisée dans la réécriture des contes et mythes. Elle a été lauréate des prix World Fantasy Award et Mythopoeic Award... Et elle le mérite grandement ! Belle est publié aux Editions Mnémos et fait un peu moins de 240 pages. 240 pages de pur bonheur où nous redécouvrons l’histoire de La Belle et la Bête. Oui mais, tout le monde connaît l’histoire du conte de Walt Disney ! Le véritable conte, termine-t-il ainsi ? C’est la question que je me suis posée durant tout le roman…

Ce roman n’est pas une simple réécriture. C’est une redécouverte du conte, voire même, une totale découverte. La magie qui transparaît aux travers des pages saura conquérir le cœur des grands comme des petits. Car l’auteure possède une plume magique, envoûtante, qui nous entraîne dans ce conte et nous ensorcelle. Les émotions nous saisissent, tout comme la beauté des paysages, l’austérité du palais, la tristesse des séparations, des épreuves… et la plume de l’auteure nous retranscrit chaque chose avec perfection et sensibilité. Nous ressentons ce que ressentent les personnages. Nous avons peur avec eux, nous sommes aussi curieux qu’eux, aussi méfiant.

Je n’ai pas eu l’impression de redécouvrir un conte, mais tout simplement, de le découvrir. Ici, Belle possède deux sœurs. Et elle ne s’appelle pas Belle. Le destin ne sera pas clément avec elle et tout ne sera pas rose. Je me suis attachée à chaque personnage et ait vécu avec eux chaque tragédie qui les toucha. Mais le plus beau, le plus émouvant, le plus magique, est la rencontre de Belle avec La Bête. Cette Bête, austère et mystérieuse, que nous apprenons à connaître, à découvrir, que nous apprenons à aimer.

Et c’est émerveillée que je suis retombée en enfance. Mon cœur de petite princesse a été conquis par cet univers que l’auteur nous fait présente. Ce conte de fée, si beau, m’a enchantée et j’ai tout simplement dévoré ce roman. Je n’ai pas vu les pages se tourner, ni les heures défiler : j’étais dans le château avec Belle et j’apprenais à découvrir la Bête. Il me fallait savoir si oui, ou non, le conte se finissait bien.

« Voulez-vous, Belle… »

Conclusion

Ce roman est un chef-d’œuvre. On pourra penser que j’exagère mais je ne crois pas. L’auteure possède une plume ensorcelante et nous dresse un univers magique. Mais plus qu’un roman, ce livre est un conte. Et je pense que les petits comme les grands se retrouveront émerveillés par l’histoire et la plume de l’auteure qui nous retranscrit les émotions et la magie du conte avec perfection. J’ai aimé redécouvrir le conte de La Belle et la Bête, j’ai aimé apprendre à connaître nos deux héros et je pense que ce roman mérite largement d’être beaucoup plus connu.(less)

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About Robin McKinley

Born in her mother's hometown of Warren, Ohio, Robin McKinley grew up an only child with a father in the United States Navy. She moved around frequently as a child and read copiously; she credits this background with the inspiration for her stories.

Her passion for reading was one of the most constant things in her childhood, so she began to remember events, places, and time periods by what books...more

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Quotes from Beauty

“As I have said, you have no reason to trust me, and an excellent reason not to.” — 73 people liked it

“At least I was true. 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. It was unheard-of several shocked governesses were only too quick to tell me, when I spoke a little too boldly -- but my father nodded and smiled and said, 'We'll see.' Since I believed my father could do anything -- except of course make me pretty -- I worked and studied with passionate dedication, lived in hope, and avoided society and mirrors.” — 54 people liked it

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