Beauty

Rachel Bean
01/12/10
Beauty
Robin McKinley
HarperCollins Publisher Inc.
Copyright 1978
Pages 247
Reading Level: Young Adult

Summary

Beauty is a re-telling of the story Beauty and the Beast. Beauty (Honor) lives with her father and two beautiful sisters, Grace and Hope. While Beauty’s given name is Honor, hardly anyone remembers this. Beauty is quite different from her sisters in that she is not beautiful. She is tall and lanky and can be awkward. Her family is very well off, but when bad luck strikes her family, they are left in dire straits. Her family must sell their shipping business and move to the country. While adapting to life in the country, her father is sent word of one of his ships returning. He immediately leaves to find out its fate. Before he leaves he asks his daughters what he can bring them from town. Beauty asks for rose seeds. After several months their father returns with an extraordinary tale. On his way home he takes a shortcut and quickly becomes lost in a blizzard. He is lead to a castle where he and his horse are cared for by invisible servants. After he has recovered and is about to begin his journey home, he sees a rose garden. Remembering his promise to Beauty he picks a rose. The master of the castle (the Beast) immediately appears. He tells Beauty’s father that he can either die for his theft or Beauty can come to the castle and live with him. He promises no harm will come to her and that she will have all that she needs. The Beast gives Beauty’s father one month to decide and sends him on his way. As Beauty hears this, she tells her father she will go. Her sisters and father argue with her, but she sticks with her decision. The day soon comes and her father escorts her to the castle gates. She doesn’t look back. Upon arriving at the castle she soon meets the Beast. Her first impression is not a good one. The Beast terrifies her but they slowly begin a friendship. Every night the Beast asks Beauty to marry him and her response is always no. Despite this, their friendship grows and flourishes. Beauty’s days are filled with reading, riding her horse and spending time with the Beast. One night during a storm Beauty is disturbed by a dream of her family and she begins to miss them more than ever. The Beast shows Beauty her family, and then her sister’s fiancé who is long presumed dead. Beauty begs the Beast to allow her to go home and tell her sister her fiancé is alive. He allows it, but gives her a rose and one week. After one week the rose will wilt and he will die. As soon as she has permission, she gathers some belongings and returns home. She tells her family of her life (as much as they could understand) and enjoys her week with them. She tells Grace that her fiancé is alive and well. On her last night she dreams of the dying Beast, the rose wilts and without saying goodbye to her family she rushes to the Beast, but because he is dying she can not find the way. After traveling all day, she finds her way back to the castle. In the room where they first met, the Beast appears dead. She expresses her love and he wakes up. After talking about what could have happened if she had not come, she proposes to him. He immediately transforms back into a human. Beauty does not recognize him at first and is frightened but soon realizes what has happened. However that soon turns to dread when she realizes how beautiful he is and how dull she looks. However, when he leads her to a mirror she sees her reflection and realizes how beautiful she has become. They decide to have the wedding that day and everything ends with a cheer.

Who would benefit from reading this? I think this book is geared more toward girls. Also, girls who are having self esteem issues or who like romantic stories.

What problems or conflicts would this book potentially cause? In the beginning of the book, it almost seems like women are the weaker sex. Also, sending your daughter off to live with a Beast, some parents might think this is inappropriate.

I did not particularly enjoy this book. I thought there should have been more going on at the castle and more development of their relationship. I also thought that it took too long to actually introduce the Beast into the story. The background on the family was nice, but I kept wondering when the Beast would be brought in.