Beauty & The Beast: Lost In A Book

I was inspired to purchase this book after watching a You Tube video from one of my favorite You Tube channels called Paper & Glam.  I ordered Beauty & The Beast, Lost In A Book, by Jennifer Donnelly on Amazon.  I was excited to begin reading it because I absolutely love the Beauty and the Beast story.  I looked forward to the author’s rendition of it.  The reviews on Amazon and Goodreads are mostly very high ranking, so I felt confident that I would love this story.

I was immediately drawn into the book as I begin to read.  However, it was not too long before I started to consider Belle to be one of the most selfish and stupid heroines I ever read about.  Spoiler Alert ahead.  The Beast specifically informed Belle that some of the books in his library were enchanted.  Some of the enchanted books were okay and others were not.  Why in heavens name would anyone with any sense walk into an enchanted book without knowing if it is one of the good ones or not.  If that was not bad enough, Belle does so without telling anyone what she was doing.  How could Belle know she would even be able to return the first time she walked into Nevermore?

As the story progresses, Belle’s sixth sense tries to warn her about getting sucked into Nevermore, but she completely ignores every single warning, and continues to entertain her human selfishness.   Why didn’t she even question a book with the title, Nevermore?  Why would vultures be so prominent in the story, or a creepy person such a Mouchard?  Why would the Countess always be dressed like a widow if she was supposed to be a fairy godmother figure?  Why was it so difficult for Belle to go through the portal every time she was trying to get back to the Beasts’ castle.  These and many other obvious oddities Belle did not spend any significant time thinking through.  She simply dismissed them within seconds and carried on with her one track mind.

The book does contain some important messages that are quite spiritual in a metaphysical sense.  It is important to write your own story for your own life.  We are the architects of our own lives, so do not give your power away to others.  The story also illustrates how strong love is and how it can move mountains.   Additionally, love is often right before our eyes in the most, so called, mundane.  All that glitters is not always gold.

Even though this book was disappointing for me, I would still love to read other renditions of Beauty and the Beast.  Maybe I will make some time to write my own rendition.