Jenna+Beauty

= = = = = Beauty = =A Retelling of the Story of Beauty and the Beast= =By Robin McKinley= = = The novel, Beauty, by Robin McKinely starts with a family of a widower and his three daughters. When the father's business goes under the family is forced to leave their comfortable city lives and move to the country with the middle daughter, Hope's, fiancé Ger. They travel to Ger's small hometown and quickly adjust to the harsher way of living. The family is warned to stay out of the forest behind their new house, but only Beauty, the youngest daughter, and the father are told why. Legend has it a beast and his magical castle lay somewhere in those woods, and nobody knows what will happen if someone enters. While returning from a business trip the father gets lost on a snowstorm and finds himself at Beast’s castle. Everything goes well until he upsets Beast by picking a rose from the castle’s garden to bring back for Beauty. Beast says the father must return with a daughter or his life will end. Beauty volunteers to live with Beast to save her father’s life. While staying at the castle Beauty becomes friends with Beast, but when he asks her to marry him every night, Beauty says no. Beauty starts hearing voices of her invisible maids and starts to realize there is a mystery about the enchanted Beast and his castle that she must solve. This is a story of inner beauty and strength, and in the end, Beauty learns more from this experience than she could ever have imagined.

**__About the Author__** Jennifer Robin Carolyn McKinley was born on November 16, 1952. Now she is just known as Robin McKinley, the great author who has written many very successful novels throughout her life. She has won the Newberry Medal, a Newberry Honor, and the Mythopoeic Award for Adult Literature. Her award winning books include // The Hero and the Crown //, // The Blue Sword // , and // Sunshine. // Most of her novels have strong female lead characters because McKinely wants girls to see they have the power and strength to make things happen. McKinely went to a prep school in Maine, and later attended Dickinson College. She has had many jobs that revolve around literature, but also some that you wouldn’t expect, such as a barn manager. She was a barn manager while living on a horse farm in Eastern Massachusetts, and then moved to Hampshire, England with her husband Peter Dickinson.

__**My Opinion**__

The book takes a long time to get interesting, and I almost gave up on it. Once you get through the necessary background information you get swept away into a marvelous fairytale that you can’t stop reading. The author keeps you in suspense, giving you enough information to have things make sense, but not enough to let you know what will happen next. The way the author keeps you guessing makes you feel like you must keep reading. The theme of this book is inner beauty is all that is needed in love. "'You will find no mirrors here,' he said, 'for I cannot bear them: nor any quiet water in ponds. And since I am the only one who sees you, why are you not then beautiful?'" (McKinely 130). Many people can relate or hope to one day relate to a story of true love overcoming the odds, so that makes //Beauty// a great book. 

Throughout the novel the reader gets to watch as the characters are developed wonderfully. As you read Beast will start to warm your heart, and you will be hoping Beauty falls in love with him and one day says yes to his marriage proposal. The rose in the story symbolizes love and beauty in the novel. The roses add to the mystery of the book, always making you wonder what they mean. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who is looking for something good to read. It has a great plot and the author uses many different ways to hold the readers attention. This fantasy story is great because it takes a classic story of true love and inner beauty and makes it interesting and different. The book is written in third person limited, where the reader can hear what Beauty is thinking. The reader gets to witness Beauty’s thoughts and feelings while she is going through her transformation of character at Beast’s castle. “’You care how I see you?’ he said; his voice was muffled by the door, and I could be sure of only the astonishment” (McKinely, 184). Beauty is starting to see Beast in a different way, and she is becoming self-conscious about what he thinks of her. The reader sees the inner struggle Beauty has with herself of letting go of her old life and accepting Beast for the way he is. The rose in the story symbolizes love and beauty in the novel. The roses add to the mystery of the book, always making you wonder what they mean. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who is looking for something good to read. It has a great plot and the author uses many different ways to hold the readers attention.

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=Works Cited  "Robin McKinley." //MINDSTALK -- Damien R. Sullivan//. Web. 07 June 2010. . //Fresh Fiction: Books and Authors for Today's Readers of Mystery, Thrillers, Romance, Suspense, Fantasy, and Science Fiction//. Web. 7 June 2010. . Ling, Laura. Web. 07 June 2010. . McKinley, Robin. //Beauty: a Retelling of the Story of Beauty & the Beast//. New York: Harper & Row, 1978. =