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3.86 AVERAGE
3.86 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
emotional
reflective
tense
fast-paced
A strange and fascinating fairy tale. At first you are quite drawn to Coddie, a stereotypical Cinderella figure, but then your opinions waver dramatically. It's disorienting and unsettling, but Beauty's final actions are quite interesting and quite literally take the fairy out of the tale. And the epilogue is hilarious.
They've gone and done it again. Hubert and Kerascoët have created another fairytale that descends slowly into hell. It is bloody magnificent, intriguing, and beautiful indeed.
So Coddie is the village buttface. She smells of fish and everybody laments on how repulsive she looks. When it gets to her and drives her to run away, she helps a fairy by chance and is therefore granted a wish. She wishes to be beautiful and... well, she isn't. She is perceived by others as beautiful. In fact, people see her as SO BEAUTIFUL they lose their fucking minds. Kingdoms go to war. Her wish becomes a curse because every man who sees her will become obsessed with possessing her.
Very Helen of Troy, yes? ....well, yes but no. Yes, kingdoms really do fight over Coddie/Beauty, but the story is also not as simple as just that. It goes to very extreme places- sexual harassment, war, adultery so to speak; some Game of Thrones-level stuff.
What I love is how Coddie is complex- she's introduced as your kind-hearted fairytale stock character who's just unlucky in terms of her looks. But as soon as she is granted opportunities simply by suddenly becoming a beauty, she changes. She wants everyone (and boy, EVERYONE) to love her. She wants to be involved in politics, and does so by asking her king to pass a law that will end the poverty, and immediately flounces off to try on her new queen dresses. GOOD. I love how suddenly being beautiful didn't suddenly make her perfect. Hubert and Kerascoët want you to get it into your head that you won't be seeing pure black-and-white characters, and with the theme of literally perceiving beauty throughout the story, 'beautiful' can be applied to every colour there is- the characters are truly not limited to how they look. The beautiful characters do ugly things, and thus black and white are mixed. Look at Claudine, Dagmar, Otto even. And Robert! Peter!
And now finally, I need to talk about the art: Kerascoët's art style changes in this book too- the only way my mind thinks of describing it right now is that the characters look more easily squashed, flexed, and all in all, more susceptible to change. And this cast truly changes a lot- people die left and right, morals are dropped and ideals change because of the influence of beauty and Beauty herself, and it just seems very fairytaleish and is colourful enough for children (but be warned, this IS NOT FOR CHILDREN. At all). But what really keeps it together is that the art style is here to remind you to read this like a fairytale. Keep it in mind.
So Coddie is the village buttface. She smells of fish and everybody laments on how repulsive she looks. When it gets to her and drives her to run away, she helps a fairy by chance and is therefore granted a wish. She wishes to be beautiful and... well, she isn't. She is perceived by others as beautiful. In fact, people see her as SO BEAUTIFUL they lose their fucking minds. Kingdoms go to war. Her wish becomes a curse because every man who sees her will become obsessed with possessing her.
Very Helen of Troy, yes? ....well, yes but no. Yes, kingdoms really do fight over Coddie/Beauty, but the story is also not as simple as just that. It goes to very extreme places- sexual harassment, war, adultery so to speak; some Game of Thrones-level stuff.
What I love is how Coddie is complex- she's introduced as your kind-hearted fairytale stock character who's just unlucky in terms of her looks. But as soon as she is granted opportunities simply by suddenly becoming a beauty, she changes. She wants everyone (and boy, EVERYONE) to love her. She wants to be involved in politics, and does so by asking her king to pass a law that will end the poverty, and immediately flounces off to try on her new queen dresses. GOOD. I love how suddenly being beautiful didn't suddenly make her perfect. Hubert and Kerascoët want you to get it into your head that you won't be seeing pure black-and-white characters, and with the theme of literally perceiving beauty throughout the story, 'beautiful' can be applied to every colour there is- the characters are truly not limited to how they look. The beautiful characters do ugly things, and thus black and white are mixed. Look at Claudine, Dagmar, Otto even. And Robert! Peter!
Spoiler
I loved Peter ;-;And now finally, I need to talk about the art: Kerascoët's art style changes in this book too- the only way my mind thinks of describing it right now is that the characters look more easily squashed, flexed, and all in all, more susceptible to change. And this cast truly changes a lot- people die left and right, morals are dropped and ideals change because of the influence of beauty and Beauty herself, and it just seems very fairytaleish and is colourful enough for children (but be warned, this IS NOT FOR CHILDREN. At all). But what really keeps it together is that the art style is here to remind you to read this like a fairytale. Keep it in mind.
dark
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Infertility, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Violence
Moderate: Rape, Pregnancy
Minor: Death of parent
Somewhat peculiar fairy tale that's more in the realm of a contemplation on physical beauty than a morality tale. Fascinating illustrations, which work off this theme, and interesting depictions of part-bird or part-animal fairies. Not for kids -- some grim areas, depictions of abduction and rape, and violent conflicts.
Age-old story of a woman who was not beautiful, wishing for beauty, and finding that once she has it, her problems are tenfold.
For me, this story was just okay. It kept me interested but there wasn't any spark that would make me put it on my favorite's list.
What I enjoyed: the colorful artwork, that the story spanned years upon years to show the cascading impact her one wish had, that for the most part her beauty didn't turn her into a bad person, that Otto and Claudine ended up together, that her daughter Marine reigned after Beauty, and that Beauty's story had a somewhat happy ending.
What I enjoyed less: that there was no explanation why the spell only impacted heterosexual men and made them crazed with lust but women and gay men still saw her as beautiful, the ending was a little vague, and that, again, it was a retelling of a story told a hundred times already, with no new flare to it (other than the fact that it continued to follow Beauty throughout her entire life-its one redeeming quality in this regard).
Overall, glad I read it: yes. Glad I bought it: not overjoyed but oh well.
For me, this story was just okay. It kept me interested but there wasn't any spark that would make me put it on my favorite's list.
What I enjoyed: the colorful artwork, that the story spanned years upon years to show the cascading impact her one wish had, that for the most part her beauty didn't turn her into a bad person, that Otto and Claudine ended up together, that her daughter Marine reigned after Beauty, and that Beauty's story had a somewhat happy ending.
What I enjoyed less: that there was no explanation why the spell only impacted heterosexual men and made them crazed with lust but women and gay men still saw her as beautiful, the ending was a little vague, and that, again, it was a retelling of a story told a hundred times already, with no new flare to it (other than the fact that it continued to follow Beauty throughout her entire life-its one redeeming quality in this regard).
Overall, glad I read it: yes. Glad I bought it: not overjoyed but oh well.
Coddie is ugly. Really ugly. And she smells like fish all the time. Coddie hates being ugly, so when she inadvertently rescues a fairy and is subsequently issued a wish, she wishes to be beautiful. The fairy is quick to inform her that it cannot change her physical appearance, but that it can change how Coddie is perceived. The next day, Coddie is delighted to find that everyone in town finds her jaw-droppingly beautiful. Extreme beauty is not without its drawbacks though. Coddie is suddenly the object of nearly every man's affection and they're willing to do terrible things to get her attention. Coddie may be perceived as the most beautiful woman on earth, but it's done nothing to change who she is as a person. And she's a terrible person. She rises to power on looks alone, but leaves at trail of destruction in her oblivious wake.
Beauty is one of those stories that lets you believe you know where it's headed and then turns in the exact opposite direction instead. I found this graphic novel to be utterly compelling in spite of my growing distaste for the main character. The artwork is fantastic. When Coddie is in the presence of another person, her character looks appealing, but when alone in a panel or looking in a mirror, Coddie sees herself as she's always been. The style is almost cute, which, when coupled with some of the more violent scenes, makes for a fascinating incongruity. This graphic novel looks like it could have been a child's comic, but anyone reading more than a few pages would quickly concur that it is not particularly suited to a less-than-mature audience. Highly recommended to those who like books that will catch them off-guard.
Beauty is one of those stories that lets you believe you know where it's headed and then turns in the exact opposite direction instead. I found this graphic novel to be utterly compelling in spite of my growing distaste for the main character. The artwork is fantastic. When Coddie is in the presence of another person, her character looks appealing, but when alone in a panel or looking in a mirror, Coddie sees herself as she's always been. The style is almost cute, which, when coupled with some of the more violent scenes, makes for a fascinating incongruity. This graphic novel looks like it could have been a child's comic, but anyone reading more than a few pages would quickly concur that it is not particularly suited to a less-than-mature audience. Highly recommended to those who like books that will catch them off-guard.
Gorgeously illustrated. A grown-up fairy tale about western ideals of female beauty, femininity, lust, corruption and power.