Rating: 
Summary: So disturbing, I wish I hadn't read it.
Review: I liked the initial idea of Tepper's book, which deals with a dynasty of fairy tale characters, however I did not like the execution. I share Tepper's philosophy that stories can change the world, however, I found this dark tale, involving mass suicide by the inhabitants of an overpopulated world hypocritical to her own thesis that humans need beauty to survive.
Rating: 
Summary: The ultimate adult fairy tale...
Review: I read this book 10 years ago. I still remember it well and find myself looking for something like it. I've NEVER been able to find anything like it... HIGHLY Recommended!
Rating:
Summary: A Fun, Creative Book with a Deeper Meaning
Review: I started reading this book when I was in high school, but put it down after reading a particularly disturbing scene (those who've read the book will probably know which one I'm talking about). I picked it back up a few weeks ago and loved it. I'm so sorry that I didn't read it all the way through the first time.
Overall I thought the book was very good, a few flaws, but the strengths outweigh those. Some portions of the book are stronger than others, so my advice is that if you come to a section you don't care for, keep going. I personally loved the idea that her child and grandhild would also become stars in their own little fairy tales. Beauty really holds the book together, and I enjoyed the first person perspective Tepper uses. The book has a beautiful message, as do a lot of Tepper's novels. Sometimes she can be a bit preachy and that can throw you right out of the book, but I really loved this book and would highly recommend it. She has found a way to make what could be a depressing outcome into a touching ending that will stick with you.
Rating: 
Summary: Four stars for creativity!!
Review: I still haven't figured out whether I liked this book or not. Probably because this book literally is one of the few books that truly does have everything in it! Sci-fi, time travel, romance, sex, fairy tales, mystery, even Disney. Okay, there's no Western.
This book would have something you are sure to enjoy, which part of the book that may be for you, I don't know. Because the main character, Beauty, travels and lives in so many different places and times, with so many different people, it's like it's almsot several books in one.
And the whole time you wonder, just what is happening. As you start to figure one portion of it out, a whole other portion opens up and sets more questions spinning.
I don't want to say much what goes on in the story because 1) there is way to much to explain and 2) Finally!! A book that is neither predictable or boring! A book that keeps you wondering, guessing, speculating what is coming next and what has already happened. Like I said, I'm not sure if I truly liked the book or not as far as reccomendation, but for sure creativity alone, the author deserves four stars!
Rating:
Summary: Four stars for creativity!!
Review: I still haven't figured out whether I liked this book or not. Probably because this book literally is one of the few books that truly does have everything in it! Sci-fi, time travel, romance, sex, fairy tales, mystery, even Disney. Okay, there's no Western.
This book would have something you are sure to enjoy, which part of the book that may be for you, I don't know. Because the main character, Beauty, travels and lives in so many different places and times, with so many different people, it's like it's almsot several books in one.
And the whole time you wonder, just what is happening. As you start to figure one portion of it out, a whole other portion opens up and sets more questions spinning.
I don't want to say much what goes on in the story because 1) there is way to much to explain and 2) Finally!! A book that is neither predictable or boring! A book that keeps you wondering, guessing, speculating what is coming next and what has already happened. Like I said, I'm not sure if I truly liked the book or not as far as reccomendation, but for sure creativity alone, the author deserves four stars!
Rating:
Summary: Almost perfect!
Review: I wasn't sure what to rate this, right now I am giving it a four, but I just might change my mind by the time I am done writing this. I can say that this was my second tepper book. The first was A Plague of Angels, and the only reason that I read Beauty was my friend promised me I would like it. I have to say that overall, Tepper has the gift to disturb her readers, well at least almost all her books disturb me. Beauty isn't any different. I was told that this was a book about Sleeping beauty who had a daughter who turned out to be cinderella whose daughter was snow white, etc. I thought it sounded like a fun book. Boy was I wrong. From the author's note to the last sentence, this book plunges you down into a deep (abyss?). It's not a "fun" read, rather, it's a very deep story. It definitely hits heavy on the environmentalist aspect, but it's also speaks about loosing "magic" (hope?) and all that is not just physically beautiful in the world, but spiritually for lack of a better word. While I loved this book and have reread it, I have to say that the two parts that I didn't like was the Chinanga part--I didn't particularly see the point of it, and also Giles character. What a shallow shallow hero. However, it is still a beautiful story and as depressing as it is, ends on a note of hope.Oh, I guess to be fair, I agree with the person who said that Tepper uses religion to get out of situations. I guess I'll let the four stars stand after all. I still highly reccommend this book though
Rating:
Summary: A Wonderful Trip!
Review: I, as it seems many others have, read Beauty for the first time about 10 years ago. I was thrilled as the story proceeded to intertwine the "princess" fairy tales with some twists! I was touched by the insight with which she described the world's waning humanity. It was not hard to devour the story with Tepper's eloquent descriptions and well defined characters. This book does indeed take you to another time and place...to many in fact. I applaud her artistic imagination and thank her for sharing with us. Beauty was and is a delight.
Rating: 
Summary: A Sometimes Ugly Ode to Beauty
Review: In this novel by renowned author Sheri S. Tepper, one woman -- a young fifteenth century noble, Beauty by name -- finds that she is a pivotal character in a number of familiar fairy stories as she haplessly travels through the past and future, and lands real and imagined, on her way to a bizarre destiny.
Tepper is at her most engaging when she slyly retells the classic fairy tales, adding a cynical, sometimes earthy slant that can engage the reader's more adult sensibilities even as the familiar patterns of the old stories awaken childlike nostalgia. These sections are easily the most amusing of the book. She also fully imagines a fascinating version of Fairyland. Additionally, Tepper pulls off a remarkable feat in her writing. The book is organized as Beauty's diary, commencing when she is fifteen and continuing well beyond middle age, and Tepper convincingly changes Beauty's voice over the years, so gradually I barely noticed it was happening, as Beauty matures and as the events of her life change her outlook.
What keeps this book from greatness is that its central thesis -- that the beauty of art and nature should be preserved and appreciated -- is undercut by the way Tepper describes beauty itself. Too often, Tepper's words of appreciation of beauty segue into extremely mean-spirited rants against what Tepper perceives to be ugly. She devotes many pages of her book to describing a well-realized and vicious hell for writers of horror fiction, which she clearly hates with an ugliness that rivals any of the uglinesses she denigrates. Tepper is hardest on horror fiction, but does not spare other twentieth century institutions. If you think there is any beauty in modern music or architecture, or that there is any point to art other than beauty, Tepper has some pretty mean things to say about you.
Tepper's bitterness overpowers quite a bit of her book, but Beauty is a long book, and there is room for a lot of good in it. The plot is fascinatingly intricate in the way it weaves Tepper's thesis in with fairy- and folktales, and Tepper's writing technique kept me reading steadily to the finish. The fact that Tepper sometimes loses control keeps Beauty from being a true classic (or truly beautiful), but it is still a worthwhile read.
Rating:
Summary: fantastic book
Review: It has been such a long time since i read this book and i still remember it and i am a big reader i often read a book and toss it aside and forget all about it but this you cannot and will not forget it is fantastic with many an underlying message
Rating:
Summary: I really liked this book, but...
Review: It seems to me that most people either love it or they hate it... at least that's how it's been with my friends. I think it's a wonderful book, beautifully written, with an outstanding plot.. but a few of my friends have read it and they thought it was terrible.. I'd tell anyone to read it, because it's one of my favourite books, but it's not for the faint of heart..
|
