Hattie K reviewed Beastly Beauty by Jennifer Donnelly
Traditional Lit with a Twist
5 stars
Beastly Beauty is a beautiful, thoughtful & inspiring twist on the traditional Beauty and the Beast. Jennifer Donnelly writes of a castle trapped in time under a dark spell, where ladies hold court for the young Arabella, servants do their best to keep the castle running, and everyone locks themselves into their rooms by midnight. When a band of thieves stumble upon the castle late one night, and enjoy bountiful feast, the golden clock strikes midnight and suddenly a ferocious Beast emerges. All but one thief escape across the crumbling bridge, leaving behind young Beau. As Beau faces down the Beast, he finds more than he bargained for but finds himself alive still the next morning. As Beau learns more of the mysterious castle and its inhabitants, he finds himself swept into an enchanted tale that's not quite what it seems.
My favorite part of the novel is not just …
Beastly Beauty is a beautiful, thoughtful & inspiring twist on the traditional Beauty and the Beast. Jennifer Donnelly writes of a castle trapped in time under a dark spell, where ladies hold court for the young Arabella, servants do their best to keep the castle running, and everyone locks themselves into their rooms by midnight. When a band of thieves stumble upon the castle late one night, and enjoy bountiful feast, the golden clock strikes midnight and suddenly a ferocious Beast emerges. All but one thief escape across the crumbling bridge, leaving behind young Beau. As Beau faces down the Beast, he finds more than he bargained for but finds himself alive still the next morning. As Beau learns more of the mysterious castle and its inhabitants, he finds himself swept into an enchanted tale that's not quite what it seems.
My favorite part of the novel is not just the countless Easter Egg references to the well-known Disney Beauty and the Beast movie (there's even a scene that harkens to the "Be our Guest" song and dance), but the masterful way Donnelly crafts a tale of love and identity in a way that pays tribute to the traditional tale but pulls it much further. Can Beau or Arabella truly save the other, or is there something they each must do on their own first?