Beauty (Paperback)

~ (Author) "MY FATHER HELD OUT THE LETTER IN A HAND THAT shook a little with the tremor he'd had since my mother died, the sheaf of..." (more)
Key Phrases: silver beads, Lee Crompton, New York, Harris Bellefleur (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Revisionist fairy tales with a message are definitely a '90s thing, and Wilson's lightweight but strained debut is a retelling of the classic story of Beauty and the Beast. The latter is Leland Crompton, a rich recluse who lives on a remote estate in New Hampshire's White Mountains, writing mysteries under the nom de plume of Harris Bellefleur and hiding his grotesquely deformed face. Yet family tradition dictates that his portrait must be painted, and Alix Miller, aka Beauty, is the latest of her family of artists to accept the commission. Of course, Alix, who narrates, has an unworthy boyfriend-oblivious and selfish photojournalist Mark. And, of course, she is ready for true love. Wilson spins her tale with some skill, but her stilted dialogue is clunky with platitudes ("You know that the friends of adversity are friends forever"). Leland is an appealing character, however. With his generosity and his gracefulness as he skates, he demonstrates that real beauty is active, found in movement and deed, not in the static medium of a portrait. His self-effacing humor is refreshing: When posing for Alix, he quips, "As you can see, I have no bad side." In opting for a weeper of an ending, however, Wilson pushes her love story over the brink into the kind of bathos that only romance addicts will embrace. Major ad/promo; first serial to Good Housekeeping.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From School Library Journal

YA-This novel based on the fairy tale "Beauty and the Beast" makes no attempt to duplicate the fantasy and magic of Robin McKinley's Beauty (HarperCollins, 1978), but the love story told is equally compelling. This is a Beauty of the '90s, facing her beloved father's death from cancer and involved with a handsome man wrapped up in his career. Beauty, an artist, meets Beast, a reclusive writer, when she is asked to paint his portrait. She ultimately proclaims her love for him, but he rejects her; the final metamorphosis of Beast is not a physical, but an emotional one: he must recognize that he is lovable in spite of his misshapen face and body. YAs will enjoy this romance, and will be challenged by the issues it addresses: how one can be a loving daughter or son to a dying parent, and how one faces the possibility of conceiving a child who may be born with a severe genetic defect. Finally, how does one get beyond appearance to find the heart and soul of a person?-Molly Connally, Kings Park Library, Fairfax County, VA
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster (September 24, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0684834227
• ISBN-13: 978-0684834221
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 5.1 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.3 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (33 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #702,040 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A captivating romance story, September 6, 2000

By	"estrella87" (Oklahoma) - See all my reviews

The characters in this book are so real, so well-written, you will be taken in. I read this book in an obsessed and feverish 4 hours! I couldn't put it down for a second. I was completely surprised at Leland Crompton's personality. Someone so cruelly treated most of his life was delightful and like a breath of fresh air to me. Lee seemed to be a man made purely of feeling. I guess the reason why I absolutely fell in love with Leland's character is because there aren't many people like him. I am fortunate to know one. Someone with such a beautiful heart that it makes him seem even more beautiful outside than he already is. Is it really our appearance (the clothing and makeup) that makes us beautiful, or could it be our personality that brings out our true beauty? Time has a way of changing our appearance but our hearts will always be the same. If you fall in love (can you even call it that?) with someone only because of the way they look, I ask you this: when time takes their beauty away and all that is left is their personality - a personality that you may have always had trouble tolerating but put up with because of their physical appearance - what will you do? Their wealth and beauty, and the physical pleasure will not always be enough. Just something to think about. Something, I am sure, Alix didn't think of when she began her relationship with her previous lovers and with Mark. She realized it, but stayed with him because she had likely not been with better men and was herself somewhat shallow. She had always focused on appearance...until Leland. He showed her what true beauty is made of. :-) Read it! You won't be able to put it down, I promise.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Reinforces society's punishment of independent females, December 29, 1997

By A Customer

The premise of 'Beauty', a modern re-telling of 'Beauty and the Beast', is innovative, and at first Alix Miller is an interesting character, both as woman and as artist. However, the last 20 pages or so change drastically in tone, transforming this tale of the importance of loving the soul of another, not the physical appearance, into another patriarchal diatribe displaying the extreme consequences a woman suffers for defying society's wisdom. What do Alix and Lee gain? They are both punished for their love, not rewarded for it.
'Beauty and the Beast' doesn't necessarily mean that the 'Beast' has to return to a 'normal' apppearance for a happy ending. However, neither should 'Beauty' die for her love of the 'Beast'. I absolutely loved this book until the last twenty pages, when it just made me ill. The message this book sends is quite the antithesis of the whole spirit of 'Beauty and the Beast'. An extreme disappointment.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fans of Beauty and the Beast will love this!, August 25, 2003

By	"celes1" (Havre de Grace, Maryland United States) - See all my reviews

In this modern take on Beauty and the Beast artist Alix Miller is hired to paint wealthy recluse Leland Crompton. Alix is shocked to learn that Leland suffers from a physical deformity but she soon learns to overlook it. The two become friends but when Alix realizes she's in love with Leland she has a hard time convincing him her feelings are real.

I'm a [fan of] Beauty and the Beast so I , of course, loved this book. The characters and plot were engrossing and fit well with the Beauty and the Beast theme. The writing was very good considering this is a romance novel but there was a couple of really cheesy lines in every chapter. I also hated the ending. I'm sure the author was trying to make some sort of statement with it but it wasn't really necessary. Overall this book is wonderful, I'll just skip the end if I decide to re-read it.