youngandtragic

'Beauty and the Beast' has always been a favorite fairy tale for me. Therefore reading this had me quite exciting. I had already seen the movie and enjoyed it and I was pleasantly surprised when I learned about the book. This retelling takes place in a more modern day world, and starts with our "Beast" - Kyle. A rich, spoiled, popular pretty-boy who seems to have it all. When he plays a prank on the wrong girl he is cursed into a beast and we quickly learn this guy had nothing. He is moved to a private apartment, hidden away from the rest of the world. While at first he comes off as selfish and shallow (and in many ways is) it is quick to learn where his habits come from. His desire to change and grow after awhile impresses me. Especially his love toward his garden. One huge difference between the book and the movie is that in the book he is truly a beast (hair, claws, etc) yet the movie adds hair loss, tattoos, scars and metal grafting. While I am okay with this difference I do not feel they should have EVER used the movie cover on the book. Very misleading. One annoyance in the book that bugged me the most was the chatroom stops throughout the book. While amusing it doesn't fit. Especially since they are not mentioned in Kyle's actual thought. No reference to his chat with others about curses, love, etc. While the chats were somewhat amusing I overall though it to be a waste and took too much time from the real story. Kyle really grew on me. At first annoying but about halfway though we start to see that heart of gold shining through. His caring for his companions to his love for his garden. Heartwarming. True to the tale, we are stuck waiting until the last minute for any resolution to his curse. Alex Finn did a great job keeping the the concept for the original tale and making it work in today's world. This is a good book for teens and even enjoyable for adults. While the teen drama is a bit heavy at parts it soon dies off about 1/3 the way in. Any fairy tale fans should be sure to check this one out. While there is room for improvement on the writing, the story is sound.

2022-11-14 17:07