beauty by robin mckinley
I said: "He cannot be so bad if he loves roses so much."
"But he is a Beast," said Father helplessly.
I saw that he was weakening, and wishing only to comfort him I said, "Cannot a Beast be tamed?"
my first book by robin mckinley! I've had beauty on my TBR for ages – I just love a beauty & the beast retelling – and this was a good one. I had wondered at first, having read critique after critique on robin mckinley's pacing... but in the end, I have the feeling that this is exactly the story the author wanted to tell.
I guess the thing to say here is that robin mckinley seemed to approach beauty as a true retelling of the story so familiar to us. she maintains the integrity of all those little details we remember from the film (the snowstorm that leads beauty's father to the beast, the magic roses, beauty's love of books, the sumptuous dresses, the lively yet invisible service, the birds that beauty draws in, the beast's true identity) – but she breathes life into it all.
The moon was three-quarters full, and there were just a few little, dancing clouds in the sky. The forest was quiet, except for the sounds that trees make.
the author sort of enriches beauty's family relationships, making it so that beauty's decision to leave home feels like a true sacrifice, comes at a cost. she takes the roses and makes them a more meaningful part of the setup to her story, giving them a role to play even as the tale goes on. she qualifies beauty's bookish interests, giving her real books to read, adding her own touch of magic to the literary world that exists in the beast's castle...
I could go on, but suffice it to say, I really enjoyed the way robin mckinley expanded on the world and story we know from the classic film. she made it feel more fantastical yet somehow more plausible, with more believable motivations and greater character depth.
"But if she comes, she must come here of her own free will, because she loves you enough to want to save your life – and is courageous enough to accept the price of being separated from you, and from everything she knows. On no other condition will I have her."
I was delighted to be discovering this world alongside beauty.
re: pacing... I definitely understand why other readers didn't care for the overall flow of the story. there was a lot of exposition, let's call it, focusing more intently on beauty's family life as they moved from city to village, from comfort to starting anew. it took a while to get from "home in the city," to "new home in the village," to the inciting incident, to finally "new home in beast's castle"... I felt like the climax of the story didn't hit until we were three quarters of the way through the book, and then the resolution came quickly tumbling after.
and yet... a large part of me didn't mind, because I enjoyed the reimagining of beauty's family life and the slow unfolding of the plot. when you know how the story goes, sometimes it's nice to experience it in a slightly new way and have the chance to savor it all over again. I liked that it took beauty a long time to discover her own feelings toward the beast, liked the repetitive days and nights as a tool to slowly lead us there. it's only because of that repetition that the minute differences resound so loudly.
I looked at him a moment. "Aren’t you going to offer me your arm?" I said. There was a silence, while we stared at one another, as if every candle, every tile in the mosaic floor and colored thread in the tapestries, had caught its breath and was holding it as it watched. The Beast walked the few paces back to me, turned, and offered me his arm. I laid my hand on it, and we walked downstairs.
lately when I've encountered uncomfortable pacing issues in stories, I've thought back to something mia tsai said about her own bitter medicine, which is that there are many different ways to write a story. in the western world, we're accustomed to a handful of archetypal story arcs. as a result, if a story doesn't fit a specific mold, it sort of breaks our brains. but in the east, stories take on many different forms... sometimes more subtle, a twist here and there, or sometimes more circular in feel. this is something I want to embrace more in the books I read – teaching myself to conceive of more kinds of stories, instead of taking unfamiliarity or discomfort as a sign of a bad book.
anyway, that's kind of what beauty felt like to me. like climbing up a mountain, and letting the journey to the summit be compelling enough.
so, as I said at the top, I think robin mckinley wrote the exact story she wanted to, ending just before the wedding, because (if I remember correctly) this is more or less how the film ends, too – on a declaration of love and a saving of the beast. would I have liked even more story? sure. will I probably look for beauty fanfic on ao3? uh duh. but I like how beauty had that same chop-chop kind of pace that the film did – it left me feeling the same kind of way... yearning, wanting more, wanting never to leave this fairytale world.
"Beauty, will you marry me?" said the Beast. The world was as still as autumn after winter's first snowfall, and as cold as three o'clock in the morning beside a deathbed. ... I thought I knew what Persephone must have felt after she ate those pomegranate seeds; and was then surprised by a sudden rush of sympathy for the dour King of Hell.
(I mean, what immersive writing! it was all too easy to suspend any sense of disbelief and jump right in. I found robin mckinley's characters funny and charming and wry, and I hadn't expected that at all.)
Something that might have been a smile exposed too many long white teeth. "I welcome Beauty and Honour both, then," he said. "Indeed, I am very fortunate." Oh dear, I thought.
I think my next robin mckinley book will be the blue sword, but now I also really want to read cruel beauty by rosamund hodge, which has been on my TBR for as long as beauty has. either way, I feel so much joy when I read a great book that energizes me to read even more, and beauty is definitely one such book.