"I was a beast.
I stared into the mirror. I was an animal - not quite wolf or bear or gorilla or dog, but some horrible species that walked upright, that was almost human, yet not. Fangs grew from my mouth, my fingers were clawed, and hair grew from every pore. I, who'd looked down on people with zits or halitosis, was a monster."
Ever wonder what it was like for the beast?
This novel is an excellent re-telling of the classical Beauty and the beast story we have all heard so many times. For those of us who were kids during the nineties (and probably the rest of you) have seen the beautified version that Disney created and I bet you still find yourself humming the songs once in a while.
No? Only me? Oh, well, I guess you don't know then.
This story is, as you have probably already figured out, told from the beast's perspective. It's not set in the normal fairy-tale landscape, but in modern day New York. The prince turned foul is not a prince, but the most popular and famous guy in school. He , as he always has, sees only the outer beauty of people, instead of their true beauty.
This is an old story, and you've all read, heard, seen, or sung the songs to it.
But it wasn't only by setting in an environment we can all relate to (the devious halls of a high-school) that Alex Flinn managed to write a wonderful book. A bad story would be bad whatever setting it is in. It's not often one thinks about the the loneliness of the beast. He has, according to the story, been living alone, shunned by his family who could not accept his beastly appearance. And we know he upset a witch, but we don't hear the story from his perspective.
This is an excellent point of view, and when it comes down to it, a wonderful novel. Alex Finns shows what I find a extremely good insight into a boy mind, and though we don't agree with him we feel every bruise and dent he meets.
The lead, Kyle Kingsbury, is your average popular New York private high school boy: Not very average at all. He is the son of a famous news reporter, and is dating the hottest girl in school. He loves to be seen, and has a very strong conviction about that only pretty people deserve the good things in this world. At one point he even says that the ugly ones should simple have plastic surgery to become beautiful.
Not a very likable character huh?
When he proves his 'beastly' self to a witch, she decides to put him to the test. He has two years to find a woman who can love him despite his appearance, and whom he can love back.
We meet several characters that we learn to love and hate. The blind tutor that Kyle's father hires (who will be played by Neil Patrick Harris in the upcoming movie adaption) is a man who loves the little things in life, and who knows that the beauty isn't everything.
The maid, Magda, has known Kyle for a long time, and she is the one who can understand his transformation the most.
The language is, though from the mind of a sixteen year old boy, very beautiful. The novel takes place during two years, and one can really sense the difference in every single character as time passes. Kyle goes though so much, and comes to great realisations, and transforms in a way that I believe that many teens might need in todays society. We're all too obsessed with perfect beauty and superficial things.
This novel brings up the important things that teenagers deal with today, and gives us quite some things to think about.
It is a very well-known story, but this new take on it is simply wonderful. I know this isn't much of a review, but more of a 'Hey, I love this book, please read it' thing, but I am going to pretend it is one anyway. I hope you'll all read it, for it was really good, and then we can all go see the movie adaption and become extremely disappointed.
Sarah
Book 16 of 100
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