Beauty

After reading the reviews, it is obvious that this is one of those books on which opinions are divided. There is no middle ground. People either love it or hate it.I have to confess, I'm one of those who loves it. I thought it was a beautiful book with a very strong, if not positive message. Beauty is the daughter of a noble and she lives in fifteenth century Britain. She runs away from home and, barely a day after, blunders into a film crew from the far-off future who are making a documentary about that time. Not wanting to leave a witness, they kidnap her and she is taken into the future: a harsh, overpopulated world where the food is nutrients packed into a bar, and people live in an area 100 feet square. It would be too ambitious to outline the whole plot; it is too convoluted and complicated, with journeys back and forth through time, and in and out of various fairy tales. Needless to say, Beauty has a hand in all of them; in fact, the original Cinderella is her daughter.Though I don't necessarily agree with her picture of the future, I think that Beauty portrays a very real message. I agree with what some of the reviews have said: Beauty (the character) remains cold and distant. You don't really get to know her because the book is formatted through diary entries which, far from pouring her heart out, are basically the pure facts. However, I think this fits in with the mood of the book.I think that it is really clever the way the author has intertwined most of the well-known fairy tales with the plot, with some strange twists: Cinderella is a bitchy and selfish girl, Snow white is a dumb blonde, etc. The land of the faerys was accurate with most legends of the faerys. I can never like them. They are selfish and manipulative and care nothing for the lives of mere mortals of the likes of us. Time travels differently in faery land, so seven years in faery land could pass as a hundred in the real world, which makes an ending nothing short of tragic.I don't know who to reccomend this book to; it seems that you either like it or you don't. This was my second Tepper book, the first was the Gate to Women's country. I didn't like it much, but I fininshed it and for some reason I decided to read Beauty. Then I started a Plague of angels, but was too bored to finish it. So I think that this is the best of her books, and anyone who likes fantasy should try it, even if it's for just another opinion.

As I was browsing in a used bookstore one day, I was attracted to this book by the cover and the simple title. Over the past 10 years, I have gone back to this book again and again. I fall in love every time! The romance between Beauty and Giles is one of the most beautiful I have read anywhere. I am fascinated by time travel, fairy tales, and the struggle to discover identity, and Tepper skillfully weaves all these and more into a simply wonderful story. After reading this, I went out and looked for her other books, but the only one I would recommend beyond Beauty is "A Plague of Angels". My only caveat: some of Tepper's ideas are very liberal, but don't let that stop you from discovering this priceless book.

I have to admit that I love Sheri Tepper, and that I've read every book of hers that I could find. But, I must say that this is THE BEST BOOK of hers to date. I have had to buy so many copies of this book because I've lent it to friends that simply refuse to give it back. I can't believe some people are so hooked on "agenda"s! This book has a message, yes. But to put it down for that is like putting down any book that tries to inspire people to be better than they are. If you don't care for excellent writing, deep characters, or intelligent stories, please, PLEASE, don't get this book. This way those of us who do appreciate these things can go on without hearing "pernicious nonsense" from those that don't. Read this book with an open mind, and you will find a most engaging story with characters so real, you will have a hard time closing the cover for fear you are closing it on their life!

"Beauty" is firstly a clever reweaving of several traditional fairy tales into one coherent story.It is alternately funny, ironic and horrifying and finishes with an ending that I found wonderfully optimistic and hopeful just when it seemed that Beauty, surely one of the best but most unfortunate heroines had no chances left whatever. For me however, what lifts this book out of the ordinary is the strong clear voice of the author on overpopulation and the current craze for horror fiction. As I am an extensive reader of horror novels, Ms Teppers thoughts on how we are becoming desensitized to cruelty and brutality and the way this is contributing to the disappearance of magic and beauty in our lives really had an impact on me. I recommend "Beauty" both as a very entertaining read but also as that rare thing, a book that makes you actually think about important issues without feeling as if you are being preached at.