A review by thisistanya
Beauty by Kerascoët, Hubert Boulard

4.0

This didn't knock me off my feet quite so much as the other [a:Kerascoët|752696|Kerascoët|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-ccc56e79bcc2db9e6cdcd450a4940d46.png]-illustrated project, [b:Beautiful Darkness|17287069|Beautiful Darkness|Fabien Vehlmann|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1364599765s/17287069.jpg|6577216], but this is also a solid, disturbing and clever fable. It's also just how I think all fairy tales should be - beautifully grim and somewhat terrifying. The take aways here are classical: beauty is subjective, beauty is only skin deep, beauty is something people want to possess and own - both in themselves, and in a subject/object that they see is beautiful - and will take great, sometimes awful, measures to get there. [a:Hubert|128805|Hubert|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/m_50x66-3fbaf32fc1fc48e6ffaf3f63a026f0ff.png], in his story, taps into some of the same notes of desire and violence that he did with the Miss Don't Touch Me series, which he also did with Kerascoet. I think the art here is sooo much more sophisticated, though, and has some lovely nods to the greats like Aubrey Beardsley and Edmund Dulac.