Beauty : A Retelling of the Story of Beauty and the
Beast
by Robin McKinley
A Beautiful
Tale
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.
