Book Review: Beastly, by Alex Flinn

I very much enjoyed the Beast’s perspective in Beastly. It was easy to get wrapped up in the story.

Alex Flinn has written a modern day take on the classic Beauty and the Beast story. Our beast, Kyle Kingsbury, is your typical handsome, jerky, high school jock. He makes fun of anyone who he deems less than him. His father is a famous news anchor, he attends a prestigious private school, and of course, he dates the prettiest girl at the school. So, a witch curses him and turns him into a beast. You know the rest of the story. But the basic story gets some updating, some details, and a little extra power, being told from the Beast’s point of view.

I mostly enjoyed this book except for the chat room segments. Flinn changes the perspective of the book once in a while, by giving us the dialog of a chat room that Beast participates in, along with SilentMaid (the Little Mermaid), Froggie (the frog prince), Grizzlyguy (a man turned into a bear), and a few other characters. This really shattered the mood of the Beast story. It seemed cheesy and stupid. If the book didn’t have those parts, it would have been much better.

The book is entertaining and well-written. The people that help Kyle, Will and Magda, are lovable characters that become integral to Kyle’s growth. The message that we need to look deeper than surface beauty when we evaluate our relationships comes through loud and clear. I think teens that like fairy tale retellings will enjoy this one. They probably won’t mind the chat room as much as I did, since that’s part of their own daily lives. There is a movie based on this book, but I haven’t seen it.

I listened to this audio book and thought the narrator, Chris Patton, did a great job. He changed voices appropriately but didn’t overpower the story with too much emotion. I’ve posted about the Illinois’ Abraham Lincoln High School Book Award previously. This book is one of the 2012 nominated titles, and that’s why I read it.

Published by HarperTeen, 2007, audio by Brilliance Audio

Free audio book obtained from SYNC.

320 pages

Rating: 3/5