34.
Author(s): Alex Flinn
Title: [Beastly]
Publication: Paperback
Pages: 300
Genre: YA Fantasy
Acquisition:
Date Completed: April 8, 2011
Rating: 2.5 stars out of 5

Yesterday evening I picked up Beastly again, deciding to give it another go.

I bought it after reading a few reviews here, and seeing the movie trailer. However, I put the book down after finishing just part 1 (about 45 pages). There are a number of things that just don't sit well with me. First of all, I am disappointed in the antagonist, and Flinn's refusal to maintain his (or maybe her? not that it matters) main theme: once again the "witch" transforms from a rather physically unremarkable individual to someone the protagonist views as very attractive. Now, my only understanding of the "Beauty and the Beast" story comes from Disney, but Flinn's consistency with the Disneyfied version of the folktale is disappointing. After all, in a story that is supposed to stress internal worth over physical appearances, why does the witch transform into an attractive young woman? Her actions - placing the curse - are what speak to the protagonist, so why must the author make the witch guilty of the same crime (vanity).

My second problem with the book came from the introduction of the chatroom transcripts. Really, Flinn could have done no worse in destroying the suspension of disbelief. Introducing elements from "The Little Mermaid" and "The Frog Prince" does nothing to further the narrative, other than confirm that the protagonist of Beastly is in fact a teenager living in the digital age. The transcripts themselves are obnoxious, and provide no character development that isn't better related through the body of the story.

And with that I put down the novel for several months.

Last night, a small detail has brought my previous judgments back to my memory. In truth, most readers would likely gloss over the information, but because it's so near and dear to my heart I'm rather offended by the lack of attention to detail.

The detail? "Wilde dies in prison" (Flinn 126).

Really, Alex Flinn. Oscar Wilde dies in prison, hhmm? Perhaps if you're being metaphoric, but somehow I doubt it.

...

After my previous griping I decided to simply let things go and finish the book, more out of the hope that Flinn would redeem herself than anything else. What I found in the second half of the novel was a lackluster presentation of the tale superimposed on modern New York City, with absolutely no twists or attempts at originality.

Beastly is exactly what readers would expect it to be. In the second half of the book Adrian becomes a more sympathetic character than Kyle, which makes the reading a bit more enjoyable, but overall I personally found the story to be unsuccessful.

I have a theory that Beastly, like so many Stephen King and Anne Rice stories, will make a far more enjoyable film than a novel.