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Beauty: A Retelling of the Story of Beauty…
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Beauty: A Retelling of the Story of Beauty and the Beast (1978)

by Robin McKinley

Other authors: See the other authors section.

Series: Folktales (1)

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingConversations / Mentions
3,8921291,214 (4.2)3 / 224
  1. 122
    Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine (Caramellunacy)
    Caramellunacy: A funny and fleshed-out take on Cinderella with a strong female protagonist. (And it's MUCH better than the movie)
  2. 90
    The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale (fyrefly98)
    fyrefly98: Another retelling of a classic fairy tale.
  3. 60
    East by Edith Pattou (foggidawn)
    foggidawn: Another excellent fairy tale retelling with a strong female character.
  4. 72
    Rose Daughter by Robin McKinley (infiniteletters)
    infiniteletters: A later version of the same tale by the same author. Both excellent.
  5. 40
    Ice by Sarah Beth Durst (Caramellunacy)
    Caramellunacy: Ice is a re-telling of the Norse fairy tale East of the Sun, West of the Moon. Especially at the beginning (in the castle), the description is just breath-taking and reminds me quite a bit of McKinley's Beauty.
  6. 30
    Toads and Diamonds by Heather Tomlinson (Aerrin99)
    Aerrin99: An excellent fairy-tale retelling set in an India-like world.
  7. 20
    The Serpent's Shadow by Mercedes Lackey (kiri_wren)
    kiri_wren: If you like fairy tales, Lackey's Elemental Masters series gives the classics a fun twist -- historical fiction meets magic.
  8. 10
    Winter Rose by Patricia A. McKillip (ncgraham)
    ncgraham: These books share a dark portrait of the woodlands, an intimate, loving family, and an air of unknown peril.
  9. 21
    Beastly by Alex Flinn (elliepotten)
  10. 32
    Briar Rose by Jane Yolen (notemily)
  11. 21
    Mira, Mirror by Mette Harrison (Bonzer)
  12. 10
    The Shadow Of The Bear by Regina Doman (LucyClements)
    LucyClements: Great re-telling of the fairy tale Snow White and Rose Red.
  13. 21
    Black Thorn, White Rose by Ellen Datlow (Larkken)
    Larkken: Both are modern re-tellings of fairy tales.
  14. 10
    Fire Rose by Mercedes Lackey (infiniteletters)
    infiniteletters: A spin on the classic tale, with elemental magic and 19th-century San Francisco.
  15. 12
    Mirror, Mirror by Gregory Maguire (PatMock)
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Showing 1-5 of 128 (next | show all)
Rating: 4 of 5

A well-crafted retelling of the classic Beauty and the Beast fairy tale. I particularly enjoyed the Beast's home and its enchantment. Spectacular imagery that any imagination would appreciate but especially young children. The romance factor was a major player, though. While I appreciated the strength and grit of Beauty, it seems love and marriage were inevitable.

Read for Into the Forest 2012 ( )
  flying_monkeys | Apr 14, 2013 |
Nice retelling of a story about beauty and a beast. Nothing new... A little too ordinary for my taste, I expected that writer would add some twist to the tale. ( )
  bookwormdreams | Apr 10, 2013 |
Apparently, Robin McKinley has written two retellings of the "[b:Beauty and the Beast|41424|Beauty A Retelling of the Story of Beauty and the Beast|Robin McKinley|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1169613617s/41424.jpg|2321285]" story. Beauty is the first. It's easy to read, and the world building is pretty simple -- i.e. none of the layers that Sunshine has -- not that the details given aren't well-placed and lovely. I would dearly love to live in the Beast's castle just for his library, anyway. It isn't a re-imagining of the story by any means: details may differ, but the plot overall remains the same. But the detail and the voice makes it interesting enough.

I enjoyed it a lot, as a bit of light reading, and I'm planning to read Rose Daughter, for comparison. ( )
  shanaqui | Apr 9, 2013 |
I don't know why I had the urge to reread Beauty, but I'm glad I did. I needed the gentle enchantment of the story and the quiet strength of the various loves that it's really about: Beauty's love for her family, Beauty's love for the Beast, the Beast's love for her, her sisters' love for their partners, Beauty's love of her horse...

It's not laugh-out-loud humorous most of the time, but there's a gentle humour to all of it, and it really made me smile.

The only things that grate on me are the fact that Beauty is supposed to be plain at the beginning and then she becomes beautiful, even though she was perfectly fine as she was, and even though she fell in love with the Beast as the Beast, she ended up marrying a man who she didn't know, and who didn't even know himself if you consider the fact that he doesn't remember his name. ( )
  shanaqui | Apr 9, 2013 |
3.5 stars

This book was quite good! It took a while to get into the meat of the story—especially since it is one every girl is familiar with. By about page 50, I was like, "When are we going to get to the castle part???" Yeah, not until page 99. But one we were there, things picked up. I really liked the interaction between Beauty (real name: Honour) and the beast. It was fun to see her attitude toward him change from fear to a deep caring... The magic in the story wasn't dog-footstools and little candlestick-men, but invisible servants that one eventually begins to be able to hear... The magic was cool; I liked it a lot. Overall, a pretty good book. Not my favorite, but worth reading, for sure. ( )
1 vote saraferrell | Apr 3, 2013 |
Showing 1-5 of 128 (next | show all)
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Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Robin McKinleyprimary authorall editionsconfirmed
Deas, MichaelCover artistsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Vallejo, BorisCover artistsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
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Epigraph
Dedication
to my mother,
because it will be a long wait for Kilkerran;
and to both Mr. Rochesters, for aiding Mahomet to go to the mountain.
First words
I was the youngest of three daughters.
Quotations
The sun shone through a window, then made its delicate, fawn-footed way across the broad inlaid floor, and found the Beast's blue velvet shoulders to set on fire.
Last words
(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)
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Amazon.com Amazon.com Review (ISBN 0060753102, Mass Market Paperback)

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 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 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)

(retrieved from Amazon Wed, 02 Jan 2013 12:28:33 -0500)

(see all 2 descriptions)

Kind Beauty grows to love the Beast at whose castle she is compelled to stay and through her love releases him from the spell which had turned him from a handsome prince into an ugly beast.

» see all 3 descriptions

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