Rating: 
Summary: Too short and a little disappointing, with one exception
Review: Francesca Lia Block retells several fairy tales in this book, _The Rose and the Beast_. Each story is told in lush detail through the eyes of angst-ridden teenage girls. For the most part, the stories failed to grab me in the way that they captivated other reviewers; maybe it's because my teen years weren't marked by either the luxury or the tragedy seen in these stories. The stories are set in a modern setting and include current social issues, but most of them don't seem to really add new dimensions to the old tales. On top of everything else, the book is quite short; the print is large and the margins absolutely immense. I was stunned when I realized it was over.The stellar exception is "Ice", a retelling of "The Snow Queen", about a girl whose soul mate is stolen from her by the impossible beauty of a rival. The story is a wrenching and hard-hitting look at the fear, shared by zillions of women, of being cast aside for a pretty face. I cried over this one.
Rating: 
Summary: A New Touch Of Your Imagination
Review: Her descriptiveness, is beautiful. her staries are absolutly fantastic, this was the first book of hers I bought, and after this, I was hooked, i read it the first night I got it, in my bathtub, with candles lit, it was the perfect book for a soothing atmosphere, and I think my favrite story was Tiny, and Snow. Her work is fabulous! I totally recomend it, but it does have its dark parts just like L.A. so be open-minded! But it is a work of art!
Rating:
Summary: Just what we needed
Review: Her fairytales address coming of age issues in the times of unwanted children, divorce, sexual abuse, and the allure of an urban lifestyle (to name a few). She beckons us to look at our desires in these stories: our desire to overcome dysfunction and live healthy lives, to find true love, to leave the wounds of childhood behind and begin again, and to be who we really are. The stories are not wrapped up in a happily ever after trapse toward the sunset. She acknowledges the reality of disturbing situations common to many Americans in this day and age and tells us quiet stories to help us get past them. This is the first book I have read by her and won't be the last. I am in my 30's and think about when I will give this book to a girl I know. I would wait until she is striking out on her own. These stories are for girls in the middle of making lives of there own.
Rating:
Summary: For teens and adults
Review: Here is a book reminiscent of Angela Carter's "The Bloody Chamber" and Tanith Lee's "Red As Blood." These retellings of popular fairy tales are placed in modern settings with heroines well-established in the harsh lessons in life. While their experiences can be brutal, the heroines triumph and give hope to their readers. Be warned that these are not the gentler stories of Robin McKinley and Gail Carson Levine. However, Block and fairy tale fans (whether you are one or the other or both!) will enjoy this short story collection. Nine tales are offered including Little Red Riding Hood ("Wolf"), Beauty and the Beast ("Beast"), Thumbelina ("Tiny"), Bluebeard ("Bones"), Sleeping Beauty ("Charm"), Snow White ("Snow"), Snow Queen ("Ice"), and Cinderella ("Glass"). Readers might also be interested in Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling's "Wolf at the Door," Emma Donoghue's "Kissing the Witch," and Donna Jo Napoli's "Zel."
Rating: 
Summary: Not for young adults
Review: I bought this book because I love good fairy tale retellings. If you feel the same way, do not buy this book. It is incomprehendable, with its ultra-poetic style, and dirty to boot. Why was this in the young adult section? I began reading it to my 12yr old sister, and found myself trying to censure out profanity and garbled refferences to rape, drugs, and sex. It was horrible- I actually threw it out.
Rating: 
Summary: The Rose and the Beast
Review: I feel that her writing is not fufilling. I want to know more and although I like the idea of her POV I dont find it so much entertaining as confusing.
Rating:
Summary: Lyrical Retelling of Fairy Tales
Review: I found Francesca Lia Block quite by accident. I was looking online to see what Suza Scalora (one of my favorite artist/photographers) had illustrated - to see if she had published any other books (in addition to her Fairies and other book) - and I noticed she had illustrated the front cover of The Rose and the Beast (it's a gorgeous photo illustration, by the way). This collection of "fairy tales retold" by Block was intriguing. I have long been retelling fairy tales in a weird and twisted way, so I was naturally curious as to how Block treated it, and wondered if she was a "sister spirit" in writing. Reading about Block, I noticed she was placed by publishers in a strange liminal zone where she wasn't quite treated as a writer for an adult audience (fairy tales are always treated as childish in the Western world), but she was too dark and real for children. She now has a very avid fandom of young adult females. The Rose and the Beast had some dark adult undercurrents in its pages, but nothing too horrifying for women coming-of-age. Inside her pages are stories of Sleeping Beauty pricking herself with heroin needles, Bluebeard the serial killer and Little Red Riding Hood's Wolf as a child molester and wife-beater. Many of the other stories were less intense - but frankly, I liked the stories that touched upon the more violent and sadistic side of society better. There was something more satisfying about them. I found "Wolf" to be very suspenseful and intriguing - it had a genius quality - a story that flowed so easily it seemed the author wrote it quickly and in a deep trance. The voice of the narrator was very raw - it seemed honest and real. One paragraph reads: "I don't know what else I said, but I do know that he started laughing at me, this hideous tooth laugh, and I remembered him above me in that bed with his clammy hand on my mouth and his ugly ugly weight and me trying to keep hanging on because I wouldn't let him take my mom away, that was the one thing he could never do and now he had..." (p. 127-128) "Bones" was another one of the stories I just loved. It begins with "I dreamed of being a part of the stories-even the terrifying ones, even horror stories-because at least the girls in stories were alive before they died." (p. 153) Bones continues with "We were all over his house. On the floor and the couches and tables and beds. He had music blasting from speakers everywhere and I let it take me like when I was at shows, thrashing around, losing the weight of who I was - the self-consciousness and anxiety, to the sound. He said, You're so tiny, like a doll, you look like you might break. I wanted him to break me. Part of me did. He said, I can make you whatever you want to be. I wanted him to. But what did I want to be?" As you continue to read, you discover that "Derrick Blue" is a modern-day Bluebeard, collecting bones in deranged, serial killer fashion...And the story gains in suspense while you root for the female narrator to escape his Casanova clutches. Block ends her book with a punch in her story "Ice". It first reads: "She came that night like every girl's worst fear, dazzling frost star ice queen. Tall and with that long silver blond hair and a flawless face, a perfect body in white crushed velvet and a diamond snowflake tiara." How many hordes of young women can relate to their hearts getting run over as the men (or boys) they love fall for an "ice queen"? Block's genius is that she writes in a down-to-earth, yet metaphorical fashion for her readership: the young female. She finds the archetypal themes still threading through contemporary society and shines light on them, while catching a raw and honest young woman's voice, as if in snapshot. About the only weak link that I found was her story Charm. I got a little lost in Charm and wasn't always certain - or interested - in what was happening. It could have been my mind-state at the time however, and the other stories were well worth it, so I should give Charm another chance. I'm now another fan of Francesca Lia Block, for her modern-day risks in lyricism, her magical realism, her metaphorical, mythical themes, her archetypal yet fleshed out characters...Since The Rose and the Beast is divvied into 9 stories, her book is both a fast intriguing read, and one you can easily put down if you are interrupted constantly by a busy lifestyle. The book is definitely worth buying, and in this case, you can tell a book by its cover!
Rating:
Summary: Phenomenal
Review: I had read a few of Block's books before reading this one, and I literally fell in love with the worlds she painted in each. They were so beautiful, so magical, yet so realistic. I was hooked. All my life, I've had a thing for fairy tales. Imagine my delight when I discovered rewritten fairy tales- by Francesca Lia Block nonetheless. This book is a must have for anyone who enjoyed fairy tales at any point in life, or anyone who has even the slightest imagination. It adds depth to the old fairy tales, and even manages to take away most of the misogyny in many. Over all, a beautifully written book.
Rating: 
Summary: Good book for mature teens--not middle schoolers
Review: I just completed this book and found it very disturbing, and I am sixteen! It is said to contain language that is "lyrical", but I find nothing lyrical about child porography, rape, drugs, and constant sex. This is not to say that I though it was horrible, but to advertise it at as a young-adult book without any disclaimers is not good advertising. Unless something is changed, I know parents will soon riot, and this time, the elementary scool parents will have a real reason.
Rating:
Summary: A moving and tearjerking novel
Review: I loved this collection of retold fairytales with heroines who deal with today issues like abusive fathers(in the story Wolf)as well as bringing to life the sorrows and triumphs in each woman's story. I loved this book...some of the stories were so moving that I cried. I would not recommend this novel for children under thirteen because the book deals with heroin, swearing and even a little rape. The book was one of the best that I've ever read, and if you are debating the issue of buying it, don't hesitate.
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