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Type of bind: Paperback
EAN num: 9780060753108
ISBN number: 0060753102
Label: Eos
Manufacturer: Eos
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 336
Printing Date: August 01, 2005
Publishing house: Eos
Age index: Young Adult
Release Date: July 26, 2005
Sale Popularity Level: 7792
Studio: Eos
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Editor's Notes and Comments:
Amazon.com:
This much-loved retelling of the classic French tale Beauty and the Beast elicits the familiar magical charm, but is more believable and complex than the traditional story. In this version, Beauty is not as beautiful as her older sisters, who are both lovely and kind. Here, in fact, Beauty has no confidence in her appearance but takes pride in her own intelligence, her love of learning and books, and her talent in riding. She is the most competent of the three sisters, which proves essential when they are forced to retire to the country because of their father's financial ruin.
The plot follows that of the renowned legend: Beauty selflessly agrees to inhabit the Beast's castle to spare her father's life. Beauty's gradual acceptance of the Beast and the couple's deepening trust and affection are amplified in novel form. Robin McKinley's writing has the flavor of another century, and Beauty heightens the authenticity as a reliable and competent narrator.
This was McKinley's very first book, written almost 20 years ago. Since that time she has been awarded the Newbery Medal for The Hero and the Crown and has delighted her fans with another retelling of the Beauty and the Beast fable, Rose Daughter. Still, McKinley's very first novel has a special place in the hearts of her devoted readers, many of whom attest to relishing Beauty time and again. (Ages 11 to Adult)
Product Description:
A strange imprisonment
Beauty has never liked her nickname. She is thin and awkward; it is her two sisters who are the beautiful ones. But what she lacks in looks, she can perhaps make up for in courage.
When her father comes home with the tale of an enchanted castle in the forest and the terrible promise he had to make to the Beast who lives there, Beauty knows she must go to the castle, a prisoner of her own free will. Her father protests that he will not let her go, but she answers, 'Cannot a Beast be tamed?'
Robin McKinley's beloved telling illuminates the unusual love story of a most unlikely couple: Beauty and the Beast.
User popularity level:
Rated by buyers 
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Good then, and good now. A library of all the books ever written, a thousand details that make it all feel real.
Rated by buyers -
By now you all know how much I love romantic things. Well the book "Beauty" is an enchanting re-telling of the Beauty and the Beast story that many of us have grown up with. However, it is refreshing and very believable. It is one of those book that make you sigh happily at the end and you wish it would not have ended... and then you want to read it all over again. Robin did an excellent job in her version of this tale.
Anna del C.
Author of "The Elf and the Princess"
The Elf and The Princess: The Silent Warrior Trilogy - Book One (The Silent Warrior Trilogy)
Rated by buyers -
This a simple but beautiful retelling of the classic fairy tale. The added details are lovely and the style is old fashioned and warm.
Rated by buyers 
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Sometimes I worry about Back-Room Books. Sure, they're already on shelf, already established, and don't need the buzz Up-and-Coming Wonders require. Or do they? Every once in a while I stumble across an ugly paperback that hasn't been checked out in years. The title's familiar, but as to being any good, I haven't the foggiest. Back on the shelf it goes--and I miss something amazing. (Blast that library godmother. She's supposed to give neglected gems an effervescent glow.) Maybe I'm just ignorant--after all, 1 in 49 people I meet have read "Roller Skates." But in the absence of signs and wonders, it would be lovely for librarians to shine a little light on back-room stacks. Notwithstanding their dusty appearance, some novels shouldn't be missed.
Beauty isn't a beauty. Her nickname is only the result of kind, wry humor. She is good, however, and when her merchant father sets sail for foreign lands, she asks him to bring back a rose.
McKinley might not alter much of the original plot, but the reassuring familiarity of her story is like a bowl of steamy rice pudding (the novel is perfectly enjoyed alongside that comfort, by the way). Delicious prose is reason enough to read a fairy tale; small delights, such as a castle library replete with past and future classics, just add to the book's charm.
Beauty was written long before the recent crop of fairy tale retellings, whose twists and unexpected departures seem necessary to sustain interest in the "same old story." McKinley obviously did not intend to put a new spin on a familiar plot, but to remind readers of the simple beauty every fairy tale holds, common loveliness, preserved by thousands of peddlers, housewives, cooks, and nurses. Beauty is McKinley's performance beside the fire, imparting the story to yet another generation of imaginations.
Rated by buyers -
I find this retelling of beauty and the beast to be incredibly charming. I enjoy the backstory with Beauty's family. The backstory, for all of its vagaries, manages to ground the bulk of the story in the "real" world. When contrasted with Beauty's time at the castle, it serves to impart a sense of magic. I particularly enjoyed that there is no villain in this book, simply a set of unfortunate and often tragic circumstances.
Overall, the story flows quickly and easily. McKinley has a good sense for when to embellish and when to simply move the plot along.
The only reason I didn't give this story 5 stars is because of some basic construction issues. McKinley slips sense often in this book, switching from past voice to present with little rhyme or reason. Also, McKinley is obviously well versed in mythology and classical texts and as such Beauty often makes references to authors and characters that I'm not familiar with. Generally, I get the idea from the context, but I did find the continual references to be a bit annoying. It implies a shared knowledge base which simply isn't there for some readers.
But even those annoyances are minor. Overall, the book is a joy to read, witty and quick. I highly recommend it.
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