Product Description
In the tradition of Beauty and Rose Daughter, Newbery Award-winning author Robin McKinley "lends a fresh perspective to a classic fairy tale, developing the story of Sleeping Beauty into a richly imagined, vividly depicted novel" (School Library Journal).
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 Roses are red, beasts are hairy...
Robin McKinley has been one of my favorite authors since I first read Beauty in the eighth grade. I was overjoyed when I found out that she wrote Rose Daughter, a re-telling of her own story, and I was very excited to read it.
The main character in Rose Daughter is Beauty, the youngest daughter of a rich, widowed merchant. The oldest sister, Lionheart, is bold and loves to be around horses, and the middle daughter, Jeweltongue, is smart and likes to play with words. Beauty is quite shy and loves gardening, but loves roses more than any other flower. After their father's business fails, the family moves into Rose Cottage, even though there had been rumors of an unexplained curse. After living in Rose Cottage for a couple years, the father learns that one of his missing ships has returned from it's voyage. Hoping that they might get some money or other wealth out of it, he sets off for their old city. However, when he arrives, he finds there is nothing for himself or his family. On his way back to Rose Cottage, the old merchant gets lost in a blizzard. He finds refuge in an enchanted palace, and when he takes a rose from a vase to give to Beauty, he finds himself nose-to-nose with a Beast. In return for stealing the rose, the Beast demands the merchant's youngest daughter, Beauty.
As I mentioned before, McKinley has written this plot before, but I think this version is more calm and thoughtful, with more of a Gothic impression. The story goes along at it's own pace for the most part, and isn't rushed in the least bit. McKinley writes witch such adoration for her characters and their surroundings. Every animal, spirit, vegetable and rose in the book are so alive, it seems as though they are all characters in themselves.
In the author's note at the end of the book, McKinley states that she didn't purposely re-write her own novel, but I'm sure glad that she did, otherwise I would never have been able to enjoy it. Rose Daughter doesn't have quite the energy and vigor that her other novels do, but it really is a gentle and charming story.
"...There came to her there some strange breath of air, some movement just seen at the corner of her eye. She turned her head; the edge of the nearer summer tapestry stirred..."
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 Read "Beauty" instead ( emwaldron )
Years ago, I read Beauty, McKinley's first attempt at the Beauty and the Beast story. I loved it. Earlier this year, I picked it up again and read it. It held up well and I still find it incredibly charming.
Given how much I enjoyed Beauty, I really wanted to read "Rose Daughter" and see how McKinley's second crack at the tale fared. I expected a lot. I assumed McKinley would have matured as a writer and I was hoping to love it as much as I loved Beauty.
I was wrong.
The term 'florid prose' springs to mind. This novel is absolutely strangled by the egregiously wordy prose. You have to wade through painfully winding and ultimately pointless descriptions of everything, large and small. After slogging through a single run-on sentence that choked up the better part of an entire page, I threw the book away. This novel is a fine example of writing at its worst.
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 A Disappointment
This book was wonderful to read until the end. The ending shocked me and left me with a bad taste in my mouth. Maybe Robin McKinley was trying to make this retelling "her own". If she was, she should have chosen another way to do it.
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 I like Beauty better ( aprildt )
This author's other spinning of Beauty & the Beast. I think I like Beauty better. This one was really good, though, and perhaps better developed. The Beast is clearer drawn, Beauty has a larger role in the breaking of the spell. Sometimes McKinley gets swept up in her grand descriptions. I think she forgets that lucidity should be one of a writer's goals, not just turning out beautiful phrases one has to wade through.
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A Wonderful Retelling of Beauty and The Beast!!!
I purchased this book with some hesitation based on the mixed reviews I had read. This was an excellent story!! I enjoyed this book so much, it took me less than a day to read it, and I can't wait to read it again! (so I'm not:) What a wonderfull retelling of an old classic.
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