- Paperback: 272 pages
- Publisher: Corgi Childrens; New edition edition (4 Mar 2004)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0552548634
- ISBN-13: 978-0552548632
- Product Dimensions: 19.4 x 12.8 x 1.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 52,118 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Book Description
A retelling of the classic tale, Beauty is a beautifully-woven tale of love, courage and magic for young and not-so-young adults.
Product Description
When the family business collapses, Beauty and her two sisters are forced to leave the city and begin a new life in the countryside. However, when their father accepts hospitality from the elusive and magical Beast, he is forced to make a terrible promise - to send one daughter to the Beast's castle, with no guarantee that she will be seen again. Beauty accepts the challenge, and there begins an extraordinary story of magic and love that overcomes all boundaries. This is another spellbinding and emotional tale embroidered around a fairytale from Robin McKinley, an award-winning American author.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Captivating,
By
This review is from: Beauty (Paperback)
This book is a delightful retelling of the Beauty and the Beast fairytale. However, don’t assume that you know everything there is to know about this story already. In this version, Beauty is plain compared to her two elder sisters … and the beast is more sad and mysterious than frightening or beastly. Closer to the original French fairytale than any version so far, the style of writing has an old-fashioned charm and simplicity about it, giving you the feeling that you are reading a letter from Beauty herself describing her life at the beast’s enchanted castle. This book would make a wonderful gift for girls aged nine to ninety!
11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Beauty-ful,
By E. A Solinas "ea_solinas" (MD USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER) (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)
This review is from: Beauty (Paperback)
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.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Well written, romantic but not overly so: an enjoyable read,
By A Customer
This review is from: Beauty (Orbit Books) (Paperback)
Beauty is a retelling of the classic story of Beauty and the Beast. It follows the original quite closely, which is similar to the modern Disney version, but with more detail, such as a better explanation of who the main character (Belle) is and where she comes from.I enjoyed it a great deal; it was well written, so the characters felt very real, there were little bits of humour and the magic of the Beast's world made me realise all over again why I love this story.
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