Hello Book Lovers!!!
I've just finished my second book for the Bout of Books ReadAThon and that was Beauty and the Beast. The Book of the Film! I really enjoyed this as I knew I would do. Beauty and the Beast is my favourite Disney film and one of my favourite films of all time.
If somehow you don't know the story of Beauty and the Beast (where have you been?!?!?) I'll write a synopsis for you now. This story is about an arrogant prince who lives in a castle and treats everyone in the castle terribly. One day at one of his parties, an old beggar woman enters the castle asking for shelter from the storm. The prince laughs and tells her her she is too ugly to be in his castle. But then she begins to transform into a beautiful enchantress and casts a spell on the whole castle turning the prince into a beast and all of the staff into animated objects because of the way the prince has behaved. (As we all know...'Beauty is found within')!
We then meet Belle who lives in a small village with her father Maurice. The villagers don't really speak to Belle as they find her strange from always having her head stuck in a book. The only people that talk to her are the librarian, the potter, her father, and of course the 'hero' of the village, Gaston. Gaston however is anything but a hero. He is an arrogant, self-centred piece of work and not someone Belle wants to be associated with. But Gaston has other ideas as he wants Belle to be his wife.
One day Maurice, Belle's father goes out into the woods on his way to an inventions fair on his horse Phillipe. But before long the two realize they are lost and as well as that they can here the howling of wolves approaching them. They manage to escape the wolves and end up at a huge castle. When they enter they don't expect that this will lead them to Maurice being captured and locked away by the beast.
Phillipe travels back through the woods to find Belle and Belle knows instantly that her father is in trouble. So she goes through the woods to the castle with Phillipe. Seeing her father locked up she soon finds out that whoever has locked him up has sentenced him to life there. But to save her father she swaps places with him not fully knowing what she has let herself in for.
The Beast is horrible to Belle and treats her terribly however the enchanted objects help Belle and make sure she has enough clothes and food. What Belle doesn't know however is that if she can learn to love the Beast then the enchantment on the castle will be lifted and the Beast will become a prince again as well as all of the enchanted object becoming human again.
I love this story like I said before and the book brought it to life just as much as the film does. I love the storyline and how magical it is and I love the atmosphere this story creates. I can also feel the magic within the words that are written and I think Elizabeth Rudnick adapted it to book form very well.
I also love all of the characters in this story, even Gaston who is awful! He is just so stupid that you can't help but love him at the same time. I also really love Mrs. Potts as she is such a mother figure to everyone, not just her son Chip who I also love and is my favourite character in this story. Cogsworth and Lumiere, the Clock and Candelabra are also fantastic characters. They are the comedy of the story and it just wouldn't be the same without them.
What is great about this story is you can enjoy it at any age. It is just as magical reading it at 23 as it was seeing the film for the first time when I was a very young child. I couldn't recommend this story more and I highly recommend you read the book and see the film as it really knows how to bring out the magic in the story as well as in the characters.
Rating /5
5
Happy Reading!!!
xHannahx
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