| $@%&! level: Low (if any) “Bedroom” level: None Violence level: None Back Cover: “A young woman, well educated and honourable, accepts responsibility for her father's act and leaves her family to enter the enchanted world of castle and Beast. The Beast she finds is not the one she imagined, but can she stay with him?” |
There are a lot of bits I love about this story. For one thing, Beauty isn't her name; it's her nickname, which actually isn't entirely appropriate for her, at least at the start. For a girl who spent most of her teenage and twenties believing she was rather plain, it's nice to occasionally have a fairytale princess who also feels that way about herself. (And yes, girls, it is possible to grow out of it.) So yeah, between the love of books and the low self esteem, I identified really well with Beauty here.
Perhaps it's odd, but one of the things I enjoyed most is the build-up to the actual story. I like reading about how the family ends up in that little cottage by the woods, and how they live there, and the adjustments they have to make as they go through the transition from wealthy city people to moderately well-off country people. They manage it pretty well, mostly because of the country blacksmith that the second daughter has conveniently fallen in love with. I guess if you've got financial problems and have to go live in the country, it's good to have a few friends who can give you some pointers and introduce you around.
Then there's the magic at the Beast's palace. (Incidentally, he never does get a name. Why is it that the Beast never has a name? At least this time they address the question—he's been alone so long that he's forgotten it.) I enjoy the way it works, how the palace sort of rearranges itself to suit and/or direct its inhabitants, how the library contains literally every book ever written, and how inanimate objects do their best to satisfy Beauty's every wish. I also like how she inadvertently finds her way into the magic and the answer to lifting the curse, although it does seem like maybe she should have figured it out a little bit sooner. At least she's clever enough to keep her mouth closed so she can learn more without anyone knowing. And the Beast's calm, almost fatalist reaction to his curse (which he's been under for a couple hundred years, so it's not surprising that he got sort of used to it) is actually really touching.
On the other hand, if you're inclined to look at it that way, you might say that the entire story of Beauty and the Beast is a study of Stockholm Syndrome.