Squee from the Keeper Shelf is a new feature wherein we share why we love the books we love, specifically the stories which are permanent residents of our Keeper shelves. Despite flaws, despite changes in age and perspective, despite the passage of time, we love particular books beyond reason, and the only thing better than re-reading them is telling other people about them. At length.
If you’d like to submit your reasons for loving and keeping a particular book for Squee from the Keeper Shelf, please email Sarah!
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I’ve been hanging around the Palace of Bitchery long enough to know that Beauty: A Retelling of the Story of Beauty and the Beast by Robin McKinley has many fans here (it popped up in the comments recently). But for those of you who haven’t read Robin McKinley’s 1978 classic, and especially for those of you who are still walking on air after seeing a certain big-budget live-action feature film, I have some squeeing to do.
I’m not exaggerating when I say that Beauty is one of my favorite books ever. I first read it not long after it was published, when I was a highly impressionable 11-year-old, and it was a revelation. It was shelved in the children’s section at the library, but it felt like it had been written for grown-ups. It was the first book I can remember reading that made me feel like I was a grown-up, or at least on my way to becoming one.
In this retelling, Beauty isn’t beautiful, and she knows it, and it does bother her, a little, but not so much that she lets it mess up her life. She’s smart, too smart for a girl living in a vaguely olden-days sort of world (the setting is never spelled out precisely), but she’s lucky enough to have a family that loves and appreciates her even if they don’t understand why she wants to spend her spare time translating Sophocles. And she is brave and kind and loyal and tough as nails, and both my 11-year-old self and my 47-year-old self love everything about her.
In most retellings, Beauty’s family abandons her to the Beast; in McKinley’s version (as with the Disney films) she insists on becoming his hostage in order to save her father. Unlike the Disney films, there is no external villain – no mustache-twirling Gaston – to imperil her future. The entire book rests on the developing relationship between Beauty and the Beast, and much of the dramatic tension comes from her unhappiness at being his hostage, her uneasiness at her growing affection for the Beast, and his compulsion to repeatedly ask her to marry him, even as he believes himself unworthy of her love. We can see how their mutual imprisonment torments them both, and as witnesses who are familiar with the fairy tale we know what they must do to relieve their shared suffering — but we are powerless to intervene, just as the unseen servants, mere wisps of wind, are unable to help Beauty or the Beast they serve.
Although I’m not averse to a steamier version of this fairy tale – I almost swooned at the end of the movie when a newly-human Beast offers up a smoldering growl to Belle – Beauty keeps things on the squeaky side of clean. Instead, it offers a note-perfect depiction of enemies who slowly become friends, and then friends who fall in love. Because there is no danger threatening from the outside world, apart from Beauty’s growing homesickness for the family she adores, the pace of this retelling may seem slow at times. All the more reason, then, to savor every page. You know how it’s going to end, so let yourself sink into McKinley’s gorgeous descriptions of the castle and its grounds, the food and Beauty’s gowns, even the mesmerizing portrait of an, ahem, ancestor of the Beast that captures Beauty’s attention:
[It] was of a handsome young man, of my age perhaps; one hand held the bridle of a fine chestnut horse that was arching its neck and stamping. There was something rather terrible about this young man’s beauty, though I could not say just where the dreadfulness lay. The hand on the bridle was clenched a little too tightly; the light in the eyes was a little too bright, as if the soul itself were burning.
In this version of the tale, some of the furniture and fittings in the castle move and respond to orders, but they are of secondary interest next to a pair of briskly attentive spirits, felt only as passing breezes, who gradually assume distinct personalities even as they remain invisible. In this retelling, Beauty’s family is worthy of her love (a pleasant change from the traditional tale) and the pain of their separation feels authentic. Even her horse, a majestic animal named Greatheart, is a memorable addition to the cast of characters.
And the Beast himself is perfect. Not as grumpy as the Disney versions, nor as grimly obsessive as the ogre of most traditional tales, he’s far closer in spirit to Mr. Darcy than to the Minotaur. Certainly he doesn’t bring to mind a water buffalo (the most frequent descriptor I’ve seen of his recent screen incarnation), but instead something more leonine in appearance, with beastly claws that shred the pages of the books he loves and a roar that can shake the castle to its foundations.
Although Beauty is written in the first person from our heroine’s point of view, we can easily see how lonely the Beast has become, how much he longs for love, and how sincerely he deplores his past misdeeds. This is a Beast who has learned from his mistakes and desperately wishes to atone for them. This is a Beast who, in setting Beauty free, earns the redemption he deserves.
“Wear your ring,” said the Beast, “and remember me.”
I laughed, and my voice was shrill with excitement. ‘I couldn’t forget you, dear Beast,’ I said, and bent down. His hands lay, fingers curled a little upwards, on his knees; I kissed the right palm, and looked into the shadows for a moment, where his eyes watched me. The glitter of them was strangely bright, as if reflected by tears; but that must have been the blur in my own vision. As I turned away, I saw his right hand close slowly.
Since discovering Beauty I’ve read it about once a year – at least thirty times over nearly four decades. And yet the final scenes never fail to seize at my heart, and I always end up blinking back tears as I reach the end. I’ve worn out or given away at least a dozen copies over the years, and tomorrow I’m off to buy another one: this time for my niece, age 13, who was entranced by the movie. I’m hoping she feels the same way about the book.
Beauty comes from Jennifer’s Keeper Shelf! Jennifer Robson is the author of three novels set during and after the Great War; her fourth book, Goodnight From London, will be published this May. It’s set in WWII-era London, it has a smart and brave heroine named Ruby, and in lieu of a Beast it has a grumpy, mysterious, and periodically unshaven hero named Bennett.
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*WANT*
This is one of my favorite books. The writing is just so lovely.
How have I never read this before? My 11year old self is crying out for this book! I’ve already added to my Amazon shopping cart in paperback so I can read and share with my daughter.
What a great new feature, I can’t wait for the next review!!
This is one of my favorites!! And it’s nice to know that I share a book with one of my favorite authors. 🙂
I know what I’ll be digging out of my bookshelves for a re-read!
This review is lovely & articulates so many of the reasons I just adore this book! I’m inspired for yet another re-read.
Definitely a favourite of mine too. It’s one of the examples I use of books I like when I’m asking for recommendations. Speaking of – can anyone recommend similar books?
Sunshine is my favorite Robin McKinley (it’s the one I reread every year), followed by The Blue Sword, but this one is definitely third
Yes to everything you said! I LOVE this book and re-read it around 5 months ago. It was amazing how certain lines came to me, b/c I’d read this so often as a teenager. It does NOT grow old or dated at all. It’s the best retelling … maybe of any fairy tale. Hefty claim, but it’s just that lovely. Of course, McKinley is known for her retellings of fairy tales, so dive into her backlist. I introduced a friend of mine to this book who had also – gasp! – not read it before. She loved it. Squee away!
Beauty is my favorite book, and I love Robin McKinley’s writing in general. I also love The Blue Sword — a very close second! I think it is time to re-read both of these books!!!
I love this review and all the Robin McKinley love in the comments. I’m totally in the “my 11-year-old self memorized parts of this book” club.
The Blue Sword is my favorite of hers, but for anyone in need of a good binge, might I recommend . . . everything Robin McKinley has ever written*?
*Except Pegasus because I don’t wish that cliffhanger on anyone!
I love, love, love this book, for all the reasons you mention; IMHO it’s better than her later retelling Rose Daughter, which I think gets a little too metaphysical.
@Bridget or anyone else looking for a similar read, I also recommend McKinley’s Spindle’s End, a wonderful retelling of the Sleeping Beauty tale with an equally spirited heroine and lovely family dynamics in both the birth and adoptive families. I think it’s my all time favorite of her books.
I love this book and reread it every year or two, on a day when I need cheering up… agree with everything you said about the loveliness of this novel.
I read it once a year as well! Fantastic review.
I too have loved this book since since it first came out. I just pulled my tatty 1978 paper edition down from my Keeper Shelf and reread Peter S. Beagle’s glowing review on the back cover. Beagle’s squee sounds a lot like what most of us have said. He also noted that this was McKinley’s first novel, which makes it even more astonishing.
Since I was rather older than 11 when I first bought Beauty, I’m going to have to buy a Kindle edition so I can reread it in large enough print for my now very much older eyes.
I wouldn’t have made it through high school without this book. McKinley saved my emotional life with this book. It was my place of peace and refuge.
I’m a super huge fan of this book and all things McKinley. Thanks for this lovely appreciation!
The Blue Sword has been my recent annual reread… and I also really love her book for adults, Deerskin, which features a heroine who rebuilds her life after sexual violence.
It makes me so happy to know there are so many of you out there who love “Beauty,” too! I want to add that the audiobook version is very, very good — the narrator is Charlotte Parry, and she is *wonderful*. (It’s on sale for 50 percent off at Audible today, as well, if anyone is tempted.)
Yes! Beauty (and Sunshine) is one of those books I own in multiple forms (paperback, hardback, e-book), so I will never be far from a copy. It’s just that comforting.
I loved Beauty as a kid! I remember I read it after Rose Daughter, not realizing it was a different Beauty and the Beast by the same author and loved it so much more – as I’ve grown older, I find I like Rose Daughter more for some spoilery reasons but I’ve definitely kept them both in rotation.
This was the last book I read out loud to my oldest son. We both loved it for itself, but it has an additional emotional resonance for me because of that.
I love this book and still reread it regularly. As much as I enjoy the palace (the library! with books that haven’t yet been written!) and the development of the Beauty/Beast relationship, what really makes it for me is Beauty’s family and how they adapt to their new home.
And I still fondly remember the crappy cover design of the 1980s paperback, which made it look like Beauty had horns.
I’m doing a re-read of ‘Beauty’ right now. It’s just a little too slow-paced for me and doesn’t hold the exact same magic it did when I was 14. Though I do like the evolution of their friendship, and I agree that the Beast in this book is somewhat ‘Darcy-like’.
I love love love love love this book!
I find it interesting that many of these comments refer to people having read and loved this book in childhood, but I didn’t get the sense from the review that it was a children’s book. Is that just me being oblivious? Or is it perhaps that its target audience doesn’t matter? Or simply that the books that made a great impression on us during childhood are likely to remain favourites?
I never heard of McKinley until I read and loved Sunshine some 5 years ago. I liked Deerskin then too. Would she be classed as a children’s or YA author? I realise the latter term is fairly recent, and that I don’t entirely comprehend it. 🙂
@Hazel it is actually classifed as a YA novel, and I did first discover it in the children’s section of my library. That being said, there is nothing in the book to prevent adults from enjoying it, and I find my delight in reading it hasn’t diminished at all over the years.
Thank you, Jennifer. I may read it myself, and I have a couple of teenaged nieces who might be tempted.
All I can say is … If there are more than two SBTB readers in my (very small) county, one of you will have to wait your turn at the library.
My favorite new retellings of this tale are C.E. Murphy’s Roses in Amber, which brings in a lot of the original elements Disney leaves out, and T. Kingfisher’s (Ursula Vernon’s) Bryony and Roses (she cites McKinley’s other Beauty tale, Rose Daughter, as inspiration).
I prefer Rose Daughter over Beauty, but they are both lovely books – as is almost everything written by McKinley! I adore The Blue Sword (and The Hero & the Crown, its prequel), Deerskin, Sunshine, and Spindle’s End. I’ll add one I haven’t seen mentioned above, Chalice. Definitely YA by today’s standards, but moving and well worth a read.
I literally just finished rereading her novel Dragonhaven, which has male hero who tells the story in first person about finding and raising an orphaned baby dragon. It still blows me away. I bought Beauty when it first came out and still adore it.
I have read Ms. McKinley’s voluminous blog off and on for years but her last post was in January. She lost her husband just over a year ago and I am worried for her.
I agree with everything you said, Beauty is one of my comfort reads and is on my Desert Island Book List – several McKinley are.
You might also enjoy another rework of the story by T Kingfisher – Bryony and Roses – a more grown up version with some true laugh out loud absurdities that are real treasures
DA reviewed it but I think its better than their grade personally – its similar but different – Kingfisher credits McKinley as an influence – but she makes it her own as well
http://dearauthor.com/book-reviews/overall-b-reviews/b-plus-reviews/review-bryony-and-roses-by-t-kingfisher/
I skimmed the review cos its late here – McKinley did a second rewrite of the same story called Rose Daughter – which is a very nice story in an of itself, but Beauty is my fave 🙂
About the same time as I was reading Robin McKinley, Tanith Lee put out a collection of short stories, a reworking of fairy tales, called Red as Blood (Tales from the Sisters Grimmer). In it was a short story called Beauty where the Beast was an alien and Beauty was his required tribute. He spends most of his time in an opaque environmental suit and the ending is perfect.
(Late to the party and no one might see this but:) Can anyone tell me whether Bryony and Roses is available in print format anywhere? I only ever spot it as an audiobook, and I don’t find those congenial.
Bryony and roses was first released on kindle so yes it’s available as a readable book on Amazon, I has it
And oh, how can I forget these when half of them are sitting in my TBR pile right now? Anyone looking for a similar, perhaps slightly more adult read, I cannot recommend Juliette Marillier’s Sevenwaters Sextet highly enough. (Yes, I know that sounds dirty, but they’re not, it’s just that it was originally a trilogy and she recently added a second trilogy, so…) They are based on Celtic mythology and full of luscious prose and imagery and in addition to the fantasy and Medieval politicking and battle each one has a purely wonderful love story. The first volume, Daughter of the Forest, is based on the Twelve Wild Swans and hooked me immediately. I will warn the first-person-averse that they are each told in first person by the protagonist, but her writing is so gorgeous I didn’t find that cumbersome at all.
This is the best book ever I read for a book report when I was younger and I aced the only school book I’ve ever liked!!