| $@%&! level: Low “Bedroom” level: None Violence level: None Back Cover: “Belle is convinced she has the wrong name, as she lacks her sisters' awe-inspiring beauty. So she withdraws from society, devoting her time to wood carving. Secretly, Belle longs to find the fabled Heartwood Tree. If carved by the right hands, the Heartwood will reveal the face of one's true love. During a fierce storm, Belle's father stumbles upon the mysterious Heartwood—and encounters a terrifying and lonely Beast. Now Belle must carve the Heartwood to save her father, and learn to see not with the eyes of her mind, but with the eyes of her heart.” |
Because really, in this story, neither the question of whether Belle is beautiful nor her interest in gardening play a huge role in shaping events. There's a more important moral about true love and what it really means, and that is all about the Heartwood tree.
Now, I have a bit of a problem with the Heartwood tree, or rather with its origin story. I do think planting a tree is a beautiful way to mark the grave of a loved one, but if you then sit down and water it with your tears for seven days and eight nights...well, dehydration is just the beginning of your problems. (Sometimes I may take things a bit too literally.) I can't help it; the man in the story who is held up as the quintessence of true love just seems way too histrionic and sort of weak, really. Maybe it's because I have a different idea of true love. But I did like the eventual point about the face of true love. That part was very well done. And there was also the sub-moral about happiness in life and in family, and I quite liked that as well. There are times when having too many things can be more a burden than a blessing.
Altogether, I get the feeling that the story is trying to do too many things, and it gets a little bit lost in the middle of them all. If I look at each of the things individually, I appreciate most of them and find them enjoyable and relevant. But taken as a whole, I sort of wish it had left some parts out to make the others more powerful.