Into the Forest discussion

A place to discuss the book with spoilers.

Not a fan. At all.

It rather slavishly follows the plot of "Beauty and the Beast," only it changes the setting into modern NYC.

Unfortunately... when you take a story that, at its heart, is about accepting and adjusting to an arranged marriage and put it in modern times, the idea of Beauty being locked in a mansion changes from "arranged marriage" to "creepy kidnapping."

Not to mention Beast's voyeuristic mirror watching...


In theory, a version of "Beauty and the Beast" from Beast's point of view SOUNDS interesting, but in practice, Beast's mind is a pretty insipid place to be.

Melanti wrote: "Not a fan. At all.

It rather slavishly follows the plot of "Beauty and the Beast," only it changes the setting into modern NYC.

Unfortunately... when you take a story that, at its heart, is ab..."

Honestly this book did not appeal to me from the start but now even less so!

Again, I apologize for inflicting it on the group! I just wanted to see what all the fuss about it was about.

Melanti wrote: "Again, I apologize for inflicting it on the group! I just wanted to see what all the fuss about it was about."

I think sometimes in a group like this it is also interesting to discuss what does NOT work.

Melanti wrote: "Not a fan. At all.

It rather slavishly follows the plot of "Beauty and the Beast," only it changes the setting into modern NYC.

Unfortunately... when you take a story that, at its heart, is ab..."


Is it anything like the trailer ? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZmOm3...

Hm. That trailer actually looks relatively accurate for a movie adaptation. I'm actually able to pick out what scene in the book most of those clips are from.

Though Kyle is only about 14 when the book starts and 16 when it ends. The guy in the trailer looks older. And he is a wolf-man type creature, not just a bald guy with weird scars and tattoos. And Lindy is supposed to be a very plain bookworm and poor - not pretty. All those are pretty common changes for movie adaptions, though.

IT also looks like the movie takes place in a fairly short period of time? The movie takes place over the course of 2 years, so Kyle changing his character is more plausible...

They also don't leave the apartment very often - except for one trip in winter where he can get away with wearing scarves/hoods/masks, etc. and not look out of place.

Sorry folks, but I really can't get into this!
I read a few chapters this morning. Kyle is a creep! He is a bad person. I don't care what happens to him! And the witch....oh come on! The witch is a Goth girl. So this book is kind of confirming what Kyle thinks. She is ugly, fat and looks goth so she must be a witch!

I usually love "Beauty and the Beast" retellings. But not this one. I totally agree with Melanti's description of it as 'insipid.'

The Beast has to be likeable for this story to work and he was not in this retelling.

Here's some palate cleansers:

* Beast by Donna Jo Napoli . It doesn't hurt that I love this cover!

* film: "La Belle et la Bete" which is definitely misspelled. It's from ~1932 and French by Renoir. It's glorious, live action and Disney stole from it liberally to make their animated version.

* by Marianna Mayer has gorgeous illustrations.

Julia wrote: "I usually love "Beauty and the Beast" retellings. But not this one. I totally agree with Melanti's description of it as 'insipid.'

The Beast has to be likeable for this story to work and he was no..."

Julia, I have read so many good things about the re-tellings of Donna Jo Napoli. I really have to read one of her books!

It's a young adult love story that the guy tries to find out who he is and how to act normal and he finds a girl that is exactly like that and then he is saved because of love.

It's a creative way to use the characters that already exist and turn it into a similar but different kind of story.

You guys can chose whether you read a new version of the beauty and the beast or stay with the actual beauty and the best story.

Greetings bibliophiles.

Gina wrote: "It's a young adult love story that the guy tries to find out who he is and how to act normal and he finds a girl that is exactly like that and then he is saved because of love.

It's a creative way..."

It is a never a problem here if we have different tastes! As I said in the No Spoiler thread, I am not ashamed to admit that I'm one of the few people who liked Twilight and there are few books that Chris and Melanti loved that I could not finish!

Definitely! If we didn't all have different tastes, the world would be a very boring place.

Loved both the movie and the book :D

I loved the book, but thought that the movie completely ruined it. In the movie he does everything for the girl, and does not change at all.