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ellenmrozek 's review for:
Beast
by Brie Spangler
I've read more Beauty and the Beast retellings than I could count on one hand, but BEAST just might be one of my new favorites. Set in Portland, OR instead of a mystical, European-based fantasy land, the protagonist Dylan has earned the nickname Beast because he's a big, hairy 15 year old--not a prince under a spell. Jamie, the beauty, is a girl ostracized for her recent gender transition instead of her bookish behavior. There's a charming, good-looking Gaston-type character in Dylan's best friend JP, who rules their school as a rich, popular jock, but that's about where the similarities to the fairy tale end.
If there's one thing that BEAST does extraordinarily well, it's dismantling literary character tropes. Dylan has a terrible temper that makes more than a few unpleasant appearances, but he's also one of the smartest guys in his grade. JP is rich and manipulative, but he's also one of the only characters who doesn't throw a fit when he learns that Jamie is transgender--perhaps because his life isn't all sunshine and roses either. Jamie presents herself as the kind of girl who makes heads turn, but she doesn't pass faultlessly one hundred percent of the time and Dylan is forced to confront that within the context of his attraction for her.
There are so many wonderfully uncomfortable conversations in this story--about transition and orientation, privilege, and parenting and death. From start to finish, BEAST felt honest, even and especially when its honesty was kind of off-putting. Each of the characters are held equally responsible for the mistakes that they make and the bad things they do.
This is a book that everyone should read, both because it's guaranteed to spark a dozen different conversations and because it's so damn good.
If there's one thing that BEAST does extraordinarily well, it's dismantling literary character tropes. Dylan has a terrible temper that makes more than a few unpleasant appearances, but he's also one of the smartest guys in his grade. JP is rich and manipulative, but he's also one of the only characters who doesn't throw a fit when he learns that Jamie is transgender--perhaps because his life isn't all sunshine and roses either. Jamie presents herself as the kind of girl who makes heads turn, but she doesn't pass faultlessly one hundred percent of the time and Dylan is forced to confront that within the context of his attraction for her.
There are so many wonderfully uncomfortable conversations in this story--about transition and orientation, privilege, and parenting and death. From start to finish, BEAST felt honest, even and especially when its honesty was kind of off-putting. Each of the characters are held equally responsible for the mistakes that they make and the bad things they do.
This is a book that everyone should read, both because it's guaranteed to spark a dozen different conversations and because it's so damn good.