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

• This is not just a kid's book!

  
  By A142SWWCTIKL0H on 2001-11-24
  This is a book that I originally bought when it was packaged as an adult fantasy novel with a lovely Boris Vallejo cover. It has since been changed to a children's format and labeled ages 9-12 which is sad because I believe many adults who would love this story will overlook it due to its new age labels and format.

  First, what this book is not--it is not a slam, bam action book or gigantic doorstopper epic.
  What it is--a wonderful romantic retelling of the fairy tale Beauty and the Beast. A widower has three daughters, Grace, Hope, and Honour. As a young child, Honour decides that her name is boring and states she would rather be Beauty, and the nickname stuck with her. Kindly Grace and Hope grow up into great beauties, but Beauty grows into a gawky ugly duckling, little concerned with her looks, but proud of her intelligence and way with horses. They all live happily in the city until disastor strikes and they lose almost all their possessions. They move to the country next to a mysterious old forest and as years pass become used to hard work and the peasant life. Beauty thrives, but still suffers from low self esteem. Then their father goes back to the city to check on one of his lost ships and when he returns, brings her a beautiful rose. You know the story--he met the Beast who demanded one of his daughters in exchange for the father's life, because he dare to pluck the rose.

  Beauty volunteers to got to the Beast, taking only her warhorse turned plowhorse, Great Heart. She meets the Beast and encounters all the mysteries of his strange castle and invisible servants, some fearful and some wondrous. A sweet and charming romance ensues as the Beast asks her every night for her hand in marriage.

  The author really makes the character of Beauty come to life--her wry, self-deprecating humor, her love of nature and books, her wonder, and sometimes fear of, the magic surrounding her, the gentle changing and unfolding of her feelings about the Beast. And the Beast is just as wonderful, you can feel his sad yearning for love, his hard-earned wisdom, his patience with Beauty and her fears, his strength and temper and sorrow. There is wit and humor, sadness and joy. This is just a wonderful book that I read again and again.
  
  

• Enchanting "Beauty"

  
  By A1D2C0WDCSHUWZ on 2004-11-21
  The best-known and best-loved of Robin McKinley's books is also one of the best of the fairy-tale retellings -- "Beauty," a more enlightened, fully-drawn version of "Beauty and the Beast." There's a depth and a richness to the story and characterizations, as well as a beauty of atmosphere and writing.
  
  Beauty (real name is "Honour") is the ironically-named heroine of the story -- she isn't beautiful, but is very intelligent. She has two sisters, the beautiful Hope and Grace, and a benevolent, wealthy father. Then all their lives change suddenly: the ships their father owns are lost, and the money goes with them. One of the sisters marries a poor but worthy country lad, while the other lost her beloved fiancee who captained one of the ships. After selling their possessions the family moves to the countryside.
  
  The father leaves on a trip -- and returns with a single rose, a gift for Beauty, which carries the price of either his life or his daughter. Beauty leaves to go live at the castle of the mysterious Beast, with only her plowhorse to accompany her. She arrives at a castle of invisible servants, magical books, friendly animals, and a melancholy Beast who asks her to marry him every evening...
  
  There is nothing new in fairy tale retellings now, but when McKinley first wrote "Beauty," it was a relative rarity. And even now, few of them are as intelligently written and have such solid heroines. Rather than giving her story a contrived "twist," McKinley merely fleshes out the storyline and gives the characters personalities.
  
  The writing is excellent; McKinley writes the more prosaic passages of cottage life and the surrounding friendly village, as well as the more dreamlike, fantastical scenes in the Beast's castle. Lots of atmosphere, either in the poor but warm surroundings of the house, or the eerie feel of the castle.The dialogue is nearly flawless: McKinley doesn't write ye-olde-formal prose, but the characters never sound -- or think -- like modern Americans.
  
  Beauty is a great heroine -- brainy, kind, wry-humored, brave and strong. Though the "Beauty" element is discarded, it is done so with the apparent understanding that this "Beauty" has brains and guts rather than a pretty face. The Beast himself is a little more shadowy; we never get inside his head the way we do Beauty's, but then the book is hers, not his. Beauty's father and sisters are equally well-done, avoiding the cliches of nastiness in favor of being likable or haunted.
  
  Robin McKinley's debut "Beauty" is still among the best-loved fairy-tale retellings. With the help of a gutsy, brainy heroine, it rises above a mere retelling and becomes THE retelling.
  
  

• A three dimensional fantasy tale of beauty...and a Beast

  
  By A2PN7Z2VTHICL8 on 2004-02-14
  What would happen if you took the flat fairytale of Beauty and the Beast, and fleshed it out into a three dimensional fantasy tale of a young girl who loves her father and her family enough to do anything to save them?

  Beauty, by Robin McKinley is what you would get. Beauty�s life starts out wonderful enough, daughter of a well-to-do merchant and ship-owner, living in luxury with him and her two sisters, Hope and Grace. When her father�s entire fleet is lost, he makes plans to settle his debts and retire to the country with what little remained to him. Grace had lost her love Robbie on one of the ships, and Hope�s secret love Gervain, who was nothing more than an ironworker in Father�s shipyard, steps forward to tell of a place to be had for little money in his hometown of Blue Hill.

  He offers to travel with them back to his hometown and set up a blacksmith�s shop with Father, and they all agree to do this. Blue Hill is a far cry from the city from where the girls came, and they struggle to fall into a routine of work that they are unaccustomed to. Beauty was the youngest, but also the strongest, and she was the one who took on the rougher, outdoor chores, leaving her sisters to care for the household. Life continues, Hope marries Gervain, who superstitiously warns everyone to never venture into the woods behind their cabin at any time.

  Comes the day Father gets word of one of his ships coming in, returns to the city, and on his way back, of course, gets lost in the woods where he runs into the estates of the Beast. The fairytale bargain is struck, and Beauty agrees to take her father�s place at the Beast�s grand palace to keep him company.

  McKinley tells a beautiful, fully fleshed out story here, far more than the fairy tale with loveable characters, believable events, comedy and tragedy and love. If you need a break from life for awhile, pick up Beauty and give it a whirl. Enjoy!
  
  

• Gorgeous storytelling

  
  By A3N6JG64P2G9EV on 2000-04-29
  This is a retelling of the classic fantasy Beauty and The Beast. But this version has a bit of a twist, McKinley's "Beauty" doesn't quite live up to her nickname and can be more accurately described as an awkward teenager, a girl who prefers to spend her free time with books and horses. I liked her immediately. When her Father accidentally stumbles upon the bewitched castle of the "Beast" he is forced into a promise that will forever change Beauty's life. To give anymore of the plot away would be to ruin the magic of the book.

  BEAUTY is categorized as a children's book (10 and up) but I think it will appeal to anyone who loves a magical, sweet, old-fashioned love story. McKinley's characters are well-drawn, sympathetic and just plain lovable, right down to Beauty's charming horse. This was another one of those rare "unputdownable" books for me. It's a keeper and one I intend to read to my babies when they're old enough to sit still long enough to enjoy it.
  
  

• This could have been so much more

  
  By A9H8FQ9LDFK2H on 2004-09-27
  I couldn't wait to finish this book...but not because I loved it, just because I just wanted it to be over and done with, so I could move onto reading something better!
  
  I have always loved the story of Beauty and the Beast, and I have always been a sucker for rewrites of classic fairytales too. Thus I looked forward to reading this book like a farmer in a time of drought looks forward to rain.
  
  How disappointed I was! Don't get me wrong, it's not a bad story, and Robin McKinley does bring a pleasing, fresh perspective to her interpretation of it, particularly in the background details and backdrops. But her writing style is just so...well, so ANNOYING! Her writing meanders, her timelines are askew, and where her paragraphs begin and end doesn't make sense. I don't think I'm being too picky here when I say (in a tongue-twisting way) that I just want to read a book that reads like a real book should! Some may call McKinley's style innovative or artistic--I can only call it painful! Where the story should have flowed like a downhill river, in many places it seemed more like sludge being pushed uphill. For a while there, I almost forgave the book for its strange style because it was written in the seventies--a time when, let's face it, experimentation was the norm in many aspects of life--but then I thought, hell no, Richard Adams wrote his incredible 'Watership Down' in the seventies, and it was absolutely brilliant! This book has no real excuse, except perhaps that it was McKinley's first novel. Hopefully her writing style has improved since then...but I won't be reading any of her other books to find out! (I'm just not that much of a masochist!)
  
  Writing style aside, I also think that McKinley had problems with character development, or at least with the book's heroine she did anyway. The minor characters were wholly credible and well fleshed out, and I could even understand why the Beast had to be portrayed as broody and enigmatic too, but for all of the main character Beauty's alleged learning and wisdom, she actually seemed rather quiet and silly, and at times downright illogical. In spite of her having a brain, she doesn't say much of any consquence, or ask many questions. And I didn't sense much of a rapport or chemistry between her and the Beast, either--they only seemed to mesh because they had to, because they were lonely, and there was no one else. That didn't appeal to my sense of romance at all! It should have been love, not convenience, that brought them together! In fact, I think the heroine had more of a rapport with her horse than with the Beast. (Actually, the horse was the best written character in the book, perhaps because he says nothing: dialogue is NOT this author's strength; she does background details much better than she does conversations between people, which always seem stilted.)
  
  This wasn't a bad book, but then again, it wasn't a brilliant one either. I can only wonder at the number of great reviews it's gotten--I don't understand that at all. Then again, I'll never understand the popularity of Adam Sandler movies either! I think perhaps its popularity is due to the fact that EVERYBODY already loves the story of Beauty and the Beast. It's a classic story we were all read when we were children, so it holds a special place in our hearts, reminding us of good times long past. But even if we loved the original story, that's no reason to love every version of it, including this one! Especially given the rushed ending on this, which is so hurried it will leave you not only unsatisfied, but also wondering whether a)the author was being pressured by her editor to meet a deadline, or b) she just got lazy, or c)she hasn't got a clue how to finish off a book properly, or d) all of the above.
  
  I realise that by bagging this book, I'm going to incur the wrath of its diehard fans, who will rate my review as NOT helpful. But so what about that? I'm more concerned with honesty than popularity, and honestly, this should have been written better! No wonder the author went back at a later date and had another try at the whole 'Beauty and the Beast' theme by writing another book about it. I would have too if I'd written this.
  
  
  
• I'm on my third copy!
  By A2ACF2L9M9TWM8 on 2001-01-03
  Beauty and the Beast is my favorite fairy tale, and Robin McKinley's beautiful reworking of the "tale as old as time" just makes me love it even more. It's a feel-good story that I go back to time and time again, rereading my favorite parts. After wearing out two paperback copies, I finally invested in the hardcover edition. This masterful novel is perfect for young adults to children at heart. The proof? I'm a freshman in college, and earlier this year I read it aloud to my two roommates, who both adored it. And a literature course I'm taking right now has this wonderful novel on its reading list! Beauty is a strong, likeable heroine that adolescent girls will easily identify with. The Beast is a wise and noble character, and the reader finds it easy to care about him and empathize with him. Beauty's father, sisters, and brother-in-law are strong, warm supporting characters. This is the perfect novel.
  
  
• Lackluster
  By A1Y71YV0PDWZ9L on 2006-07-06
  Mercedes Lackey got me into the wonder that is fairtale retelling. After reading The Black Swan and Fairy Godmother, I figured Beauty and the Beast was the way to go, but everyone recommended McKinley's retelling over hers. So, of course, this was the one I had to buy.
  
  The first surprise was that it is a children's book, or at most pre-teen, only about 250 pages long. This I didn't mind; I adore children's books. However, the book only disappointed me.
  
  The book is about Beauty, a not-so-beautiful teen who lives in the city with her two beautiful, kind and loving sisters and her father. When they lose their fortune they retreat to the country. One day, the father comes home and tells his girls of the horriblke pact he has made with the Beast, beauty realises she must try to 'tame the Beast' and free her father.
  
  From the start, the first-person narrative is lacking and gartes on the nerves. The endless "I did this, I went there, they did that" gives the feel of a kid narrating a story in a boring, repetitive way. Similes abound, and while they are creative, not EVERYTHING has to be 'like a small child' and 'like a touch of silk' and 'like a breath of fresh air'. Similes are attatched to nearly anything they can be attacthed to. And while the descriptions are fanciful and pretty, the overall style of the narrative and writing technique is lacking. Not terrible, but enough to disturb your enjoyment of the story.
  
  The characterisation suffers. The characters are flat and the dialogue lacking. Her sisters are 'good' and 'kind', Beauty is 'smart' and their father is 'indulgent', etc. But Beauty, beyond her book-smarts has no real intelligence to speak of. The fact that she isn't 'beautiful' is continuously shoved down your throat. Also, the fact that she is 'smart' is also repeated many times. Its like a treatise on 'Beauty is only skind deep, it is better to be intelligent that beautiful, see how wonderful Beauty is because she is smart, she is better than her sisters'.
  Some things are better left unsaid; the 'show don't tell' philosophy could have done this book wonders. Also, when Beauty is in the castle, she continues to refuse to wear beautiful gowns, always searching for the plainest ones, yet another treatise for us. I know what I would do in her place, and that would be wear all the pretty things I could.
  
  The Beast was an enormous disappointment, lackluster and boring as a character. Sure, he's moody and enigmatic, but how can Beauty possibly tame a beast that is already quite, quite tame? I didn't want to compare this to Disney's Beaty and the Beast, but in the Disney version, the Beast was truly a beast who became good through Beauty's (or Belle, in this case) influence. And Belle was an intelligent, over-curious bookworm. Anyone at all could easily fall in love with the Beast here because he is so obviously human.
  
  The other that bothered me was the way Beauty takes her father's place. It goes something like this:
  Father: (tells story)
  Beauty: I must take your place
  Father: No, you musn't
  Beauty: I always get my way.
  Father: Oh, yeah. Well, in that case, let's go.
  0.o Yeah, right. If I'm supposed to belive that a man would come home, tell his daughters the Beast wants his life in a month and then accept his daughter's offer with only a few 'but's, than you got something else coming. And after losing all respect for the supposedly wonderful father I lost most of my hope for the story.
  
  Anyway, for a child's story its alright. There's much worse. I can't for the life of me understand how such a lacking remake of the wonderful Beauty and the Beast could do so well and have such wonderful reviews, but there you have it. The story is didactive, preachy and boring. Not to mention that the firs half of the book is spent setting it up, telling us what happened, without anything really happening and no one getting anywhere. I would recommend Mercedes Lackey anyday over this story, for better prose, fleshed-out characters and a little more to the story.
  
  
• A beauty of a book
  By A24LE2U039BUAW on 2002-04-25
  I strongly suspect that when the folks at Disney decided to make the "Beauty and the Beast" story into an animated film, they used this book as their template. McKinley's Beauty (real name Honour) is much like Belle in her love of books and horses, though much plainer in appearance and without the nuisance of a Gaston character.

  Rarely is an author's first novel so worthy of praise. Her later novel "Rose Daughter," another retelling of the same fairy tale, is excellent but not, in my opinion, quite as endearing. Beauty is the youngest, smartest, and least attractive daughter of a successful widowed merchant. When her father's business falls on hard times, the family relocates to a village near an enchanted forest and spends the next few years embracing their newfound poverty. A trip back to the city from which they hail results in Father getting lost in the enchanted forest, where he encounters the Beast and is forced into a terrible bargain: the Beast will spare his life, if one of his daughters will come and live as the Beast's companion.

  Beauty, arguably her father's favorite child, insists on being the expendable daughter and takes up residence in the Beast's magical castle. Over the course of months she befriends the curious creature, who fosters her love of books and slowly wins her confidence. But when Beauty makes a discovery that will vastly change the life of her eldest sister Grace, the Beast grants her a week at home...where she must finally come to terms with her true feelings for him, before her absence destroys him completely.
  
  

• A Great (and intersting) take on Beauty and the Beast
  By on 1999-08-03
  I first read Robin McKinley's book "Beauty" some years before, before the Disney movie came out. It's definitely one of the best variations I ever read of the classic fairy tale (though I like Disney's version as well).

  What's so intersting about this version is that this Beauty isn't the most attractive of the three sisters! In fact, to hear her tell it, as she grows up, she becomes the least attractive one! Also, her sisters are good and kind, not bad and cruel like most versions have them be (there were no sisters in the Disney version). But Beauty is very much a bookworm (as am I), and the story is still familiar and very consistent.

  It's fun to see the efforts of Lydia and Bess to find a dress for Beauty that the girl doesn't think is too beautiful for her, especially the princess dress! It's great to see the relationship between Beauty and the Beast develop gradually. And I love the way the story's ultimately resolved, giving us a different reason for Beauty's return, a nerve-wracking (for Beauty) search for the Beast, and an interesting reason for the Beast's enchantment.

  I suggest that anyone who's read any version of "Beauty and the Beast" or seen the Disney version, read "Beauty". It's a very interesting and great version!

  Belle Book
  
  

• I really like fairy tales, so this book was great!
  By on 1999-11-09
  This book was very good. All of the descriptions used in the book made it so realistic. Beauty was really beautiful, but so unself-aware that she couldn't see her own inner and outer beauty. I thought it was funny how in this version the beast didn't have any mirrors, but in other versions he had at least one. Also this version made the sisters sound really loving and nice. In lots of other versions the sisters come off spoiled. This was such a great story that I am going to read other books by Robin McKinley.
  
  
• "Beauty" is a beautiful novel:)
  By A2GHH27A9WHP6Y on 2000-12-11
  In Beauty, an new version of the classic tale, Beauty and the Beast, Robin McKinley does a spectacular job of bringing the story to life. This being McKinley's first novel, it is a wonderful debut and it is destined to become a classic, much like the original tale. We are introduced to Honour, nicknamed Beauty when she is born. Beauty grows up as a wealthy city girl, the youngest of three daughters of the renowned shipping merchant, Roderick Huston. She grows up with everything she desires, as many books and as much horseback riding as she could ever want. Her sister's and herself have never known anything besides the wealth they were born into until one fateful day. Her father had sent out four ships, and it was that dreadful day that he was notified that all four were lost to the seas in a whirlwind of unexpected storms. Having no money left, Beauty, her two older sister's and their father are forced to sell almost everything they own and move out to the country with Beauty's new brother-in-law, Gervain, who had just married her sister, Hope. The family becomes accustomed to country living and have a very uneventful life for two calm yeasr until Father hears that one of his ships has survived and he feels that he must go to the city to find out more. When Father returns in the midst of a snow storm, he has a terrifying tale to repeat full of doom that is imminent. He tells his tale of being lost in the forest and somehow stumbling through the gates of an enormous castle. He finds himself being taken care of by invisible servants, but no master. The next day as he is about to return home, he spots a wonderful rose garden, and stops to pick a rose for Beauty. Enraged that his rose was plucked, the master of the castle emerges and Father finds himself faced with a horrible beast. The beast tells him that either he or one of his daughters must return within a month, or Father will meet his doom. Beauty tells the family that she is to go, and she does, knowing that she will never see her family again. She befriends the beast out of loneliness and eventually finds herself falling for the unlikely creature. Will she be the one to break the enchantments set upon this castle by a hateful magician more then two centuries past by falling in love and marrying the Beast?? "Will you marry me, Beauty?" (244). Read the book, and you shall discover the answer to that question and more. This is the second book I have read of Robin McKinley's and I have yet to be disappointed. She writes with strength and intelligence, weaving an old tale into a new and more entrancing novel. Her characters are extremely well portrayed and her descriptions are perfect. After reading the book you felt as if you knew the characters. I was thoroughly impressed with her version of one of my personal favorite tales, and recommend it to anyone that loves a fairy tale, and is a mush ball at heart!
  
  
• Wish she'd make a series of these
  By A1H7IQM3WMOF11 on 2002-07-25
  After growing up on Disney fairy tales and the like I've always had a certain fondness for folk tales. This just happens to be a masterful retelling. I normally groan when someone attempts to tale a classic tale "with a twist", but if they were all done as well as this one I wouldn't mind in the slightest.

  McKinley gives her Beauty a wonderful worldly intelligence and almost sarcastic sense of humor. She's not a true beauty to anyone accept the Beast and her family. I loved the fact that the sisters were NICE, not your normal run of the mill evil siblings. The family was normal and it almost seemed like the reaction of any family put in such circumstances, fairy tale or not. McKinley fleshes out the story into a beautiful novel, with a Beast that was never mean. It's almost more believable that way. I mean Beauty had to get over him being a Beast in the first place, what better way to get over that part than if he were a nice Beast? The character are lovingly portrayed so that each one is cared about, not in the least the Beast himself.

  Yet Beauty is the main character in this story and there couldn't be a better heroine. She's brave, intelligent, caring and a tomboy. She has conviction and a sense of humor lacking from many fairy tale women.

  I myself wish that McKinley would continue writing novels of this type. I would love to see her take on other fairy tales. Everyone needs a Beast like hers.
  
  

• Enchanting & Beautifully Written
  By on 2003-04-26
  I've read this story more than once and just bought my own copy recently(I usually buy copies of books I really like.). I love it. I like fairytale's with a twist to them. I've read other versions that also had her with sisters, but they were conceited, greedy, and mean, but Beauty's were kind, sweet, pretty, and weren't absolutely greedy. I think Robin McKinley did an excelent job of detailing the appearance or mood of things, I really think that gave it a lot. I was pleased with the happy ending and the fact that Beauty finally lived up to her eventually well chosen nickname. I like the story of Beauty and the Beast(although I'm a big fairytale fan.). It's just a book you've got to finish as soon as you start-you want to know how it ends as soon as possible-you can't bear to put it down for a moment. I really got into the story & fell in love with it. I MOST DEFINENTLY reccomend this book to any fairytale or twisted fairytale lover.
  
  
• A Wonderful, Magical Story
  By on 2000-05-16
  This is one of the most perfect books I've ever read. The only other two completely perfect books I can think of are The Last Unicorn and Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. Beauty and the Beast has always been my favorite fairy tale. I read Rose Daughter first and thought that it was a lovely book, magical and delicatly written. When I found out that she had written another book about Beauty and the Beast I couldn't wait to read it. Beauty is much superior to Rose Daughter, the character of Beauty in Rose Daughter is very quiet, pallid, and the tiniest bit dull. The character of Beauty in Beauty however is wonderful, an awkward, boyish teenager who values her intellegence more than her looks and who also loves horses. The relationship between Beauty and the Beast is better written in Beauty than Rose Daughter, The Beast in Rose Daughter wasn't too interesting and was a bit too mild and limpid but I could feel real sympathy for the beast in Beauty and he also had a stronger personality. I also liked the ending of Beauty much better, I was so glad that he turned into a handsome prince! In Rose Daughter he stayed a beast and that was kind of a let down. This was a wonderful book, I couldn't put it down and felt sad when it ended. Like all of Robin McKinleys books it is beautifully written and imaginative. My goal has now become to buy and read all of her books.
  
  
• A Beautiful Tale
  By A1V1BMGBWTNLNX on 2001-12-28
  I love this book. It is perhaps one of the best renditions of Beauty and the Beast, and I like it even more than the well-known fairy tale. The skeleton of the story is widely familiar but McKinley lets her creativity flow through the writing and creates a totally original telling of the tale.

  Honour is not your classic so-weak-that-the-guy-has-to-do-everything damsel in distress. She is spunky, intelligent and real! The character develops into a complete, realistic person through the story, and so does the beast. Clearly one who loves fairy tales as well, McKinley tells the tale with grace, charm and enchantment, that not only gives depth to the story, but makes it real in our minds. You don;'t get a goody-good, beautiful, flawless Beauty, but rather, one whose nickname mocks her appearance (compared to her sisters) and whose character has flaws, like any other person in real life. The love story unfolds with a plot that wrenches your emotions through the unfortunate situations and have you tearing with joy at the happy ones.

  Unlike many other authors, who tend to inject too much violence or sex into fairy tales to make them the "adult" version, Beauty is a remarkable tale written with originality and maturity. This book is the definitive of how fairy tales for adults should be like. Well-rounded, well-written and complete.

  Read it.
  
  

• Beautifully written; true to the old tale... but...
  By A1QS3TIASZAVAK on 2004-06-07
  This is Robin McKinley's version of "Beauty and the Beast", told with her excellent grasp of the written word.

  Wonderful prose; wonderful characterization of Beauty and her family (a point I have often found lacking in almost all "Beauty and the Beast" versions.). In this version, we are made to understand how Beauty's family could give her up to a terrible Beast, how human they are in the face of such unexplainable enchantment, how they react to the surreal events of their lives when it comes to loss. I appreciate this part of the book where her sisters and father are actually people who have volume, not just mentioned characters who seem so heartless and greedy giving up their sister to such an uncertain fate.

  The beast was intriguing, but as with most of Robin McKinley's male characters who happen to be her heroine's love interest, they are weakly developed, or at least half-baked. Which is strange because all the rest of the male characters come pretty strong.

  Now, while generally, Beauty in this tale isn't the typical Beauty of the tales we've already heard, the retelling, as a whole, really doesn't divert much from the original. While I realize that this could be a good thing, I was hoping for something fresh; a twist of sorts, like the way "Spindle's End" was told. Unfortunately, this came off with the same impact as McKinley's "The Outlaws of Sherwood".

  I would recommend "Beauty and the Beast" for first time visitors of the old tale. I would recommend this book to those who want to understand the motives behind Beauty's family. I would not recommend this book to someone looking for a fresh take.
  
  

• Eh... lands a little flat
  By A1446SFH1V1SQQ on 2006-06-10
  I found this book while casually browsing through a bookstore and bought it because I had seen great reviews of it online and I really loved the Disney version of this classic fairytale.
  
  However, halfway through the book I found myself uninterested with the cardboard-like characters who all seemed to have the same personality. This book also could have been much shorter - McKinley, I felt, went too overboard with the description. For example, she spent two long paragraphs describing dark woods EVERYTIME one of the characters went into it. It was very tedious to read this book and it neither tickled my imagination nor made me feel any inspiration or love of the book like so many other books made me feel.
  
  I actually find myself wishing I had spent my time reading another book rather than this one. I do not recommend purchasing or reading this book.
  
  
• An enchanting re-telling of the beloved fairy tale
  By AAPQYHE6NZXF6 on 2006-07-26
  Ever since I first saw the Disney movie "Beauty and the Beast," I fell in love with it. To this day, it is still my favorite Disney movie as well as one of my favorite fairy tales. "Beauty" is a well-crafted re-telling, one that made me fall in love with the story all over again.
  
  The book follows the original story of "Beauty and the Beast" very closely; so unfortunately, we don't have our friends Lumiere and Mrs. Potts providing commentary. Beauty and her family are very well to do until her father's ships are lost at sea, and with it, their fortune. They are forced to move to a small country village and begin a new life on the edge of an enchanted forest. One day, her father gets lost in the woods and encounters the hospitable Beast, whom he angers by picking a rose for Beauty. He is told that he has a month to decide whether he will remain with the Beast and die, or send one of his daughters in his place. Of course, we all know that Beauty talks him into letting her go...and so on and so forth.
  
  While I really enjoyed this book, it was a bit repetitive with the constant message of "beauty is only skin-deep...what really matters is what's on the inside..." which is of course the message of the whole story in the first place. However, it is forced down your throat a bit much; Beauty, in the first place, is not beautiful at all. The Beast is, after all, a beast, and Beauty refuses to wear any of extravagant dresses in her wardrobe, preferring simpler ones instead. The characters are all a little bit flat; there is no villain or really any troublesome character at all. Even the Beast is a perfect gentleman, one aspect I was a little bit disappointed at. Beauty has no chance to "tame" him, as was her mission in the first place, because he is already "tamer" than most guys I know. All of her family and friends are sweet and good-natured, and it would've been nice to have had a little bit more antagonism. The beginning is also quite slow, a lot of "My family did this, and this, and this...then I did this, and this, and this...and here's a description of a flower, oh why don't I describe all the flowers...and this is what the dark, enchanted forest is like, I know I've already told you about it quite a few times..."
  
  All in all, though, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would definitely recommend it. (I definitely prefer it to McKinley's "Rose Daughter", another adaptation of Beauty and the Beast) It is an enjoyable re-telling of my favorite fairytale. 4 1/2 stars.
  
  Kelli
  Future Star
  
  
• Breathtaking and Awed
  By A1XAQLRKLWH75H on 2000-04-01
  This is one of the best books I have ever read. I read it about 3 yrs. ago. I'm now 17. I just fell in love with this book(it was so good that I read it in less than a week!). I have always wanted to own it for myself. I borrowed it from a school library and couldn't put it down. Now that I know where to find it, I might just one day own it. It is one of my 3 top favorite books. The story was easy for me to follow(I love Beauty and the Beast stories).
  
  
• A wonderful, complex, breath-taking tale
  By on 1999-11-02
  I read this story one sunny summer day in the library, that Christmas I recieved that wonderful book as a present. Over the years it has been a comfort to pull this tattered book off of the shelf and read.

  When ever I read this book, it takes me into another world. I become an observer of the scene McKinley is telling. Her precise, explicit story creates a world inside the book. Each scene is so well written that one can picture Beauty's room. Everything you read combines with your own wished, desires, and dreams and gives an incredible image and picture to McKinley's work.

  The story gives respect, reality, and wonder to the Beauty and the Beast story. It is a wonderful, unparralleled story. It is a must for the curious or imaginative. Re-reading the book is the most exciting part of the whole experience, you wait and are excited for all of the parts you know are coming. It is a wonderful first read, and an even more wonderful, comforting re-read. This book has a soul, sit down and discover it, it won't let you down!
  
  

• Putting the beauty in Beauty and the Beast!
  By on 1997-10-14
  Of all the books I've readÑand there are many, I assure youÑthis is still one of my favorites. Since I first read it in third grade (or was it fourth?) I've been enchanted by the touching retelling of such a classic fairy tale. I must have read and re-read it a hundred times since then (wellÑthat might be a slight exaggeration), but I love the book dearly!

  Robin McKinley is one of my favorite authors, weaving wonderful characters, eloquent descriptions, true humor and imaginative plots together in the way only a true fantasy author can. And she does it better nowhere than this book! (Though I am also smitten with all her other booksÑthis was the first I read, and is probably still my favorite. Probably.)

  Anyone who loves fantasy, or any great book for that matter, should read this as soon as possibly (and make sure to start at a time when you don't have anything you have to do for a whileÑI gaurantee you won't be able to put it down!)
  
  

• FIVE STARS, MUST READ
  By on 2001-06-15
  Beauty is one of my favorite books! I think I've read it like 5 times! It is so great, much better than Rose Daughter, even though Rose Daughter was written 20 years after Beauty. Beauty is a story about a girl who has two older beautiful sisters. She is an honest, funny, smart girl who you immediately like. Don't get put off because the beginning is a little confusing, it gets clearer and much more involved and exciting. I recommend this book for anyone who loves magic, fantasy and romance. It's not at all like the fairy tale, so read it! I also recommend McKinley's Blue Sword and Levine's Ella Enchanted for anyone who liked this book. And it's for everyone, so read it even if you're older than 12! (I just said I was 12, I still love it and I'm almost 14)
  
  
• *****A truly WONDERFUL and ENCHANTING story!
  By on 2003-06-24
  Wow! What a fun book! Don't miss out, and read it. I just picked it up at a boutique at my violin camp, and then, I of course read it, and of course loved it! But anyways, you probably want to know what it's about, so here it goes: Beauty doesn't think this nickname(her real name is Honour) suits her well. She is the third daughter of a wealthy man, and her two older sisters have gotten all the luck with looks, it seems. Well, when disaster strikes, the family has suddenly lost their wealth, and they have to move into a small home in the countryside. That's when the real story starts! Beauty's father is coming home from a journey, when he comes upon an enchanted castle deep in the woods. He plucks a rose from a beautiful bush to bring home to his youngest daughter, and then, comes the "horrifying" beast. The dad is given the choice to either bring himself back to be killed, or bring a willing daughter to live with the beast by the end of the month. Well, surprise, Beauty chooses to go instead of losing her father's life. Over time, Beauty grows fond of the "friendly" beast. Could this fondness turn into love? I'm not telling! Read the book if you're dying to know! But anyways, I thought that the author did a marvelous job telling this story. She almost makes the enchantments seem like something real. I also enjoyed the scenes that McKinley was able to concoct between Beauty and the Beast. They were, pretty realistic. Well, read this book.It's great. ENJOY!
  
  
• A Beauty and the Beast for the Ages.
  By A1IJYX0EISH161 on 2005-08-09
  This is the first Robin McKinley book I ever read and will always be my favorite. It was given to me by a teacher in Jr High School and both she and the book have left lasting impressions.
  
  The tale begins with Beauty and presents a deeper vision of the often forgettable "Beauty". She is revealed to be a woman of depth substance and learning and one ill-suited to the restrictions of a woman's life of this time.
  
  The Beast too is shown as a man of greater depths and mysteries then the simple misspent youth often depicted. We discover him much as Beauty does and our knowledge of him is seen through her.
  
  The castle and it's surroundings are truly magical in this presentation of the tale, I fancy I've seen some of her ideas in other re-tellings on page and screen.
  
  I find it difficult to describe the magic of this re-telling, I found that it lingers in my mind like a favorite melody. I've re-read it countless times, so many that I purchased a used copy to protect my much re-read original.
  
  In fact the best testament I can give it, is that no matter how many times I re-read it I put it down with a sigh of complete contentment as I finish the last page and close the book.
  
  
• A Beauty-ful story!
  By A3QYO76LD22QHT on 2006-09-21
  Beauty (a marvelous retelling of Beauty and the Beast) is divided into three parts, the first tells of her and her families sumptuous life in the city with her father as the head of household with an 18 room mansion complete with servants. In this part of the novel we are lead to see that they are good, kind and decent people...not the vain, spoiled and irresponsible ones portrayed in the story I was told as a child (I particularly liked this about Beauty). Here we see the traditional bones of the story with a few nice embellishments. The father's fortunes are ruined by the loss of his shipping fleet and his eldest daughter's betrothed is lost at sea with them. The middle daughters love interest saves the day for them and they find themselves set up with him the local blacksmith in the small village of Blue Hill, on the remote edge of a dark wood and their experience adjusting to their new homespun county existence.
  
  The second half is retelling of the fathers trip back to the city when his fortunes change some and one of his ships turns up. On his return journey, he of course encounters the Beast and the demand of the father's return in 30 days (or else) is made...with the option, of course, for one of his daughters to return in this stead. This section is a bit tedious for me...the endless going on and on about how horrible it is that Beauty is leaving then (boo, hoo)...it was just a bit too much for me, but overall doesn't detract too much from the story.
  
  The final section is of course her experience with the monstrous beast (who is rather civilized, except for his appearance of course) and how they come to live and enjoy one another's company. The ending felt a bit rushed, but overall, it had the traditional happily ever after feel to it...and not even a villain really, just the triumph of the human spirit and goodness over the evil magic spell and they live predictably happily ever after.
  
  You know...I knew this would be good...but was worried that since it was written twenty years ago that it would be dated...and how pleased I am to be proven wrong! This is simply a sumptuous retelling of Beauty & the Beast!! Exquisite in detail and a joy to read! Unlike the version I was read as a child, Beauty's sisters are not vain or shallow and this isn't a family glad to be rid of the competition...now this is much richer and more complex and in places heartbreaking! Beauty is not without faults though, the characters are richly drawn, but the dialogue and descriptions are a bit repetitive...over emphasis on the dark and haunted nature of the dark woods and on how plain, smart and hard-working Beauty is...but these are easily forgivable as this was McKinley's first novel and I assume that her work will only get better.
  
  I give it a solid A, it sticks to the traditional bones of the story, but give it more heart and soul...filling in the outline with outstanding details that bring the entire family and the back story of how Beauty left them to life complete with many enjoyable quirks.
  
  
  
• A fantastic re-telling...
  By A311KBQDJQNIZE on 2006-10-21
  I absolutely love this book... and if you can believe it, my outdoorsy-action-loving husband liked it too! I was reading it again one night and he asked what I was reading, so I started reading out loud... and he kept asking me to read the rest of it out loud too!
  
  Robin McKinley's books all give an unusual twist to a classic tale, but this one is by far her best. I won't go over how it's different again, since so many other reviewers have done it already, but I love the way she brought the fantasy dimension into the story in such a believable way. See... this story isn't written so much as a fantasy. Rather, it's the story of a normal girl living a normal life in a world that only has a bit more fantasy and magic than ours does... a girl who finds herself thrust into a life she didn't want, but is brave enough to make the best of, for the sake of those she loves.
  
  I also like the way the romances for the other two sisters are woven into the story as well. It's a well-rounded story that can only be described as beautiful.
  
  
• My FAVORITE book
  By on 2000-02-26
  I love to read and have read many stories, but so far, Beauty is my all time favorite. McKinley puts such realistic detail into this story that you can almost believe that it is true. The Beast's castle was delightful and Beauty's love of books was something I could relate too. Greatheart was also wonderful; He is just perfect for the story! I would recommend this book to anybody, but especially to someone who likes a more sedate, beatuiful, and thoughtful book.
  
  
• Lovely little story
  By on 1999-10-28
  This is one of the most gentle, loving, and subtle stories I have ever read, and takes the Beauty and the Beast fairy tale to the highest heights. Well-written, with a truly wonderful heroine and a fabulous beast, I read this book in grade school and, as a freshman in college, still pick it back up from the shelf.

  The writing is very gentle and subtle, and all of the characters are sweet and kind (except for the cranky wizard, but he never actually makes an appearance); in fact, the characters are SO good and sweet they're almost parodies, and at times I feel restless and stifled by the dreamy sweetness of the novel. The whole novel is practically spun out of sugar, which can be irritating to readers who like a little more... oomph?

  However, the take on the fairy tale is wonderful, the twists to the tale make it a classic, the two main characters are great, and the themes and views and personalities are complex and subtle. Great read for when you're in the mood for a little light confection!
  
  

• Absolute Perfection
  By A1HW1Q3CDUWT75 on 2001-02-10
  The best, without at doubt, adaptation of the Beauty and the Beast fairy tale. Beauty is no longer a two dimensional fairy-tale heroine. Beauty is intelligent, loves learning, and riding her horse. When her family's fortunes take a turn for the worse, she shows her strenght, taking on much of the hard work forced upon her family by their financial downfall. She isn't perfect; occasionally she complains, she can be stubborn and willful, but she is more real than Beauty has ever been.

  The supporting character are created with as much loving care. No cardboard cutouts of selfish sisters or a bumbling father. Each character is drawn with meticulous care.

  Buy this book, read it, read it to your kids, or your spouse, or even your grandmother. You won't regret it.
  
  

• A very enjoyable read
  By AO91U187DFA4P on 2001-06-26
  In general, this book is really good. The writing style is beautiful, and the story itself is very sweet. Anyone who enjoys fairy tales and happy endings will certainly love this. I have to admit I was disappointed, though, when I finished the book without finding any twists by the author on the traditional telling of Beauty and the Beast. The main difference was in the main character, Beauty, who is a very human and lovable girl, instead of the flawless heroine that is often seen in the part. But other than that, the storyline differed very little from that of the fairy tale, so I could always tell what was going to happen next. Nevertheless, it was nice to see the short story stretched into a novel and given a lot more depth.
  
  

• Rose Daughter
• Blue Sword
• Spindle's End (Firebird)
• Sunshine
• The Hero and the Crown