A review by libertyreads789
The Beauty and the Beast by Gabrielle-Suzanne de Villeneuve

adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

I’ll keep this one short since everyone knows the basic premise of Beauty and the Beast (at least the Disney version). I was surprised by just how different this was than the well known version of today. I didn’t completely hate the differences, but the writing style drove me up a wall. Especially in the last half of the book. We follow a similar enough plot throughout the first 130ish pages, but then we get a fairy who spends the next 75ish pages just explaining how everything came to be and how she managed to work it all out in the end. It felt unnecessary--or if not unnecessary it felt like this should have been seen before the beginning of the novel. As is usual for the classics I read, there were a lot of things that just worked out from nowhere. Contrivances that make everything tie off with a bow nicely. But I guess in the 18th century that’s something you were looking for in fiction. Overall, not my favorite classic I’ve read, but also not a least favorite. And I’m definitely keeping this gorgeous Minalima edition on my shelves.