Meta: Beauty, by Robin McKinley
Apr. 24th, 2008 08:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sanalithMy deep love for books has lead me to read a *ton* over my nearly 27 years of life. Despite that, I’ve never had any trouble answering what ought to be an incredibly difficult question – What’s my favorite book? Ever since I read Beauty, by Robin McKinley, there has never been another answer.
At its heart, Beauty is one version among hundreds of the fairytale Beauty and the Beast, by Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont. I’ve always loved fairytales, and Beauty and the Beast has always been my favorite. I just seem to connect with the character of Beauty, no matter what version I watch or read. Her personality is so very similar to mine. McKinley’s version, however, took that connection to new heights.
Beauty is a first-person novel told from the perspective of the title character. From the very first page, her shy but precocious personality immediately grabbed on to me. She and her two sisters were named for virtues: Grace, Hope, and Honour. When Honour asked what each of their names meant, she was annoyed with her own name and claimed she would rather be called Beauty. Thus the name stuck, even though she considered herself much uglier than her older sisters. This was basically the first paragraph of the novel, and from that moment on, I was hooked.
In addition to her quiet wit and vivacity, I connected with Beauty on a more cerebral level. All Beauty’s are bookish, but this one was even more so. Instead of going to parties in town, she preferred to translate Sophocles and Cicero. Most of her novels were in Latin and Greek. She named her pet bird Orpheus, and read Latin poems to her favorite horse, Greatheart. When her family became poor and had to move to the country, her most expensive luxuries were candles to read by.
The Beast himself is also an interesting character. As in many versions, he dresses, walks, and talks like a man, and his only disturbing characteristic is his actual face. However, this Beast, like so many other characters in the novel, has a personality that goes well beyond what we’re used to seeing. One of my favorite scenes is the famous gift of his library to Beauty, which is in most versions of the fairytale. As she is oohing and ahhing over the extensive shelves, she makes the comment that she never knew there were so many books in all the world. The reader can practically *hear* the chagrin in his voice as he admits that, as a matter of fact, there aren’t that many books in the world, as many of them have not yet been written.
(I interrupt this summary to ask for a show of hands: Who would like to have a library that magically produces books that will not be published in the “real world” until years, or even centuries, later?? Yes, please!)
Beauty and her Beast often read together, and he shows her that his favorite books are scratched and torn, because his claws prevent him from turning the pages easily. Later in the novel, Beauty asks the Beast to come into the garden while she rides her horse, and he tries to protest because other animals are deathly afraid of him. Her strength of will and his trust in her leads him to bond with Greatheart, her favorite horse. That scene tugged at my heartstrings more than I can express.
By far my favorite scene in the entire novel is when Beauty is being dressed for dinner by her invisible maidservants. They are constantly trying to get her to wear elaborate gowns, but her modesty rebels and she consistently refuses them. One evening, they fight her and force her to wear a dress she despises, she ends up weeping in her room. The Beast comes up and asks through the door why she is so late for dinner, and she responds that she hates the dress her maids have put her in, and therefore she will not come down. There is a pause, and then he asks, “You care how I see you?”
And at that moment, they both realize her feelings are changing. Neither of them admits it, of course, but from then on, their relationship is altered.
What I love most about this novel is that every single character has his or her own unique personality. Every servant, every neighbor, every newborn baby had his or her own story. Even Beauty’s dead mother had personality. Unlike most versions, Beauty’s sisters were loving and gentle, and the family was a very happy one. They had their own beaux and, eventually, husbands and children. Even the invisible servants in the Beast’s castle seemed real! These original characters only add to the magic and wonder of the world McKinley created, and makes it seem all the more real.
The story itself was also fleshed out in ways I’ve never before seen in a fairytale adaptation. The family’s place in society, and their subsequent financial ruin, was extremely well done, as was their move to the countryside. The cause of the Beast’s enchantment was actually related back to his parents, as opposed to a vanity on his own part, which is rather different than normal. Everything had its own story; nothing was just thrown in. Even the magic was explained, yet it was done in a way that did not actually take away from the magical feeling. The dialogue was not forced in any way, shape or form, and the character interaction was brilliant. Even the animals were personified extremely well! It was, and still is, one of the most *real* novels I’ve ever read.
Generally speaking, I read this book once a year, and I’ve never once gotten bored with it. I also always seem to notice something new. I think I first read it when I was in fifth grade, so you can see how long it’s been with me. It’s technically a young adult novel, but it has a depth to it that goes beyond that.
I could sit here for hours and pontificate about why I love this novel, but I already feel as though I am not doing it justice. Instead, I will just say that if I could only ever recommend one book for everyone in the world to read, it would be this one. It’s a simple fairytale, but the characters are more amazing and more real than I could ever express.
So, that’s all well and good, but you may be asking yourself how this novel actually changed my life. It did so in two very simplistic yet infinitely complicated ways, and both are centered in the fact that this novel was written in first person.
To this very day, I believe Beauty has spoiled me for all first person books. I’ve always believed it was the most difficult voice in which to write, but this novel left me with an impossible-to-reach standard. If I start reading a first person novel and I can’t connect with the voice in the same way I connected with Beauty, I put it down. I simply cannot bring myself to read an inferior work. I have read some that meet my standards, but I will admit that the list is quite short.
At the same token, this novel has limited my own attempts to write in first person. It convinced me that this was the voice in which I wanted to become proficient, because no other was so beautiful to me. However, all of my attempts to write an original first person novel have been woefully inadequate, and I’ve always stopped within the first two or three chapters. I have written several very short pieces of fanfiction in first person, and I’ve been fairy satisfied with them as practice pieces, but they are a far cry from an original, novel-length book. I refuse to continue writing something that does not meet my standards, and I can only hope that someday I will be able to produce something that makes me happy.
In addition to changing how I read and write, this novel has also provided me with a comfort that no other book has ever done. This is the book I take with me whenever I go to a hospital when one of my family members is having a medical procedure done. I take it on long car and plane trips, just in case I lose interest in whatever I’m currently reading. If I’m in between books and I’m starting to feel down because nothing new is appealing to me, I read Beauty. It’s a book I can pick up any time, any place. It resonates with me in a way no other novel does. It’s almost like a child’s security blanket – when I need something to comfort me or cheer me up, this never fails.
There’s an old saying that tells us that we can’t judge a book by its cover. Bollocks. The version of Beauty I have is out of print. The bottom left corner of the cover is folded over and almost torn. The spine is permanently creased, and the very bottom of it is torn off. The back has scratch marks. One of the pages was ripped when a child on my school bus slashed it with, of all things, a toothbrush. It was shabbily patched together with scotch tape. I’ll never buy another version as long as I live, even if it falls apart in my hands. I’ve always believe that a book’s cover tells its own story. It shows how much it has been loved. It shows how many times it was stuffed into a bag that was too small for it, but you took it anyway because you had to. The spinal creases lead the book to fall open to the pages you’ve most read. A book’s scars tell as much of a story as the words on the pages.
See for yourself:
Honestly, I think all book lovers have a Beauty on their bookshelves. We all have at least one novel that we can go to whenever we want. We can start at the beginning, the middle, or even the end, at any point in our lives. We all have that one book that goes on every vacation and every sleepover. It’s a constant we can’t do without. If you don’t have a novel like this, I sincerely hope you find one someday. It will leave you with a feeling you won’t ever forget. In the mean time, READ THIS BOOK!!!
The rows of books tugged unrepentantly at the edges of my sight. I walked like one bewitched to the nearest shelf. "I didn't know there were so many books in the world," I said caressingly, and the Beast's answer was heard only in my ear and did not register in my brain: "Well, in fact, there aren't," he said..."This library is - well -" He paused. "Most of these books haven't been written yet...But don't worry, they will be."