A review by toriedawn1
Beauty & the Beast by Mordicai Gerstein

4.0

This is a sweet, lyrical retelling of beauty and the beast. Though it is very short it manages to provide a beautiful rendition of the story within its pages. This story is very similar to Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve's 1740's Beauty and the Beast, ||the Merchant having lost all his wealth stumbles upon the home of the beast, he is warmed and cared for but then before he leaves attempts to steal a rose for his daughter. The beast threatens him with imprisonment but says he can go free if one of his daughters will willingly take his place as prisoner. Beauty ofcourse ends up at the castle and she gets to know the beast, she refuses his many requests of marriage she is given dreams to help her along, she leaves to check on her family, promising to come back using the ring he gave her, she fails to come back in the promised time and ends up only just managing to make it back before he dies, she agrees to marry him and he becomes a hansome prince||. || The only notable addition in this version was the fact that her siblings were far worse and got turned to stone at the end. ||This is a really nice yet basic retelling of beauty and the beast. Though not the most creative retelling out there it is certainly beautifully written and easy to read, I would reccomend.