Beauty: A Retelling of the Story of Beauty and the Beast in Fantasy Buddy Reads

Nov 15, 2011 Kaila rated it liked it

Shelves: 2011, childrens, fairy-tales

Although I did not enjoy this book overly when I read it a few years ago, one concept has stuck with me. Beauty has access to a library of everything that has ever been written. I've recently been attending a class on Greek Mythology, wherein we have read things like the Iliad, the Odyssey, and poetry by Sappho. Did you know that Sappho was extremely prolific, but it is estimated that 97% of her poetry was lost? Mostly due to jerky popes who claimed she was just too saucy and her poetry needed t ...more

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Dec 12, 2015 Sandra rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, audio

I don't think it's necessarily an improvement over the original. While it's true that this Beauty did not have a troubled life to escape from, she is not very intelligent. Oh well. ...more

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Feb 22, 2010 Vivian rated it it was ok

Shelves: read-2011

This would have gotten 3 stars until the very end. The book is VERY descriptive throughout and takes its time building the story - it's a very meandering pace that McKinley sets - until the end. Then we rush through the resolution in a few pages and tack on an HEA. I almost feel like my book was missing pages because the end just happens.

The story is very similar to the Disney version, except for Beauty's background differs. Even though the book came first, I saw the movie first, so I didn't fe ...more

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Jun 19, 2009 Ali rated it liked it · review of another edition

I'm not the biggest fan of Robin McKinley's writing. It's almost too breathless at times; the flow is so continuous that there's no room for the prose to linger and develop. This book in particular felt so rushed in places – so much like an initial draft written in one fell swoop that never got the further deepening it clearly asks for. I'm not sure if that was intentional, in order to make this feel and sound more like a fairy tale. But it lessened the impact of a story that is (or should be) c ...more

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May 19, 2009 Jennifer Provost rated it it was amazing

The classic fairy tale, retold in the author's own unique style. And -- dare I say it -- totally hijacked by Disney in less than a decade.

Seriously, though, this is a book I wish I'd read when I was younger. The true magic of fairy tales is captured here, what with a horrible curse that can only be cured by true love's kiss. ...more

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