Status
Available
Call number
Collection
Publication
Doubleday (1991), Edition: 1st, 412 pages
Description
With the critically acclaimed novels "The Gate To Women's Country, Raising The Stones," and the Hugo-nominated "Grass," Sheri Tepper has established herself as one of the major science fiction writers of out Time. In "Beauty," she broadens her territory even further, with a novel that evokes all the richness of fairy tale and fable. Drawing on the wellspring of tales such as "Sleeping Beauty," Beauty is a moving novel of love and loss, hope and despair, magic and nature. Set against a backdrop both enchanted and frightening, the story begins with a wicked aunt's curse that will afflict a young woman named Beauty on her sixteenth birthday. Though Beauty is able to sidestep tragedy, she soon finds herself embarked on an adventure of vast consequences. For it becomes clear that the enchanted places of this fantastic world--a place not unlike our own--are in danger and must be saved before it is too late. "From the Paperback edition."… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member mdbrady
For the “Real Help” group reading the books recommended by the Association ofBlack Women’s Historians in response to the book and movie The Help.
A mesmerizing novel. Following the stream-of-consciousness of the narrator, Straight draws the reader in. The early chapters are like seeing what
The book is set in first decades of the 1800s in the sugar-cane country around New Orleans.
Although the United States obtained the region in 1803, the planters and their culture remained French for years, making the book a subtle variation of our images of slavery in this country. Moinette is a “gift girl,” the daughter of an African-born mother and a white sugar buyer who visited the plantation. She is very intelligent and observant, as well as full of unanswerable questions and contradictory thoughts. She wonders who she really belongs to: her mother, her owner, the African gods, herself.
The extremely tight bonds between Moinette and her mother are reveled early in the book, and these ties will sustain Moinette long after she is sold off the plantation. The other early relationship critical for Moinette is with the daughter of the plantation family whom Moinette is assigned to serve. The two women are close in age and share interests, but tension between them is strong. Moinette learns to read and accumulates scattered information from the rather unattractive, bookish girl, and they agree “not to hate” each other as a means of mutual survival.
After Moinette is sold off the plantation where she was born, she is very slow to form attachments to other people. She learns how to take care of herself by revealing only what whites want to see. Men use her body without touching her emotionally. She shies away from a man of mixed lineage who loves her and wants to help her escape slavery. At first she is even hesitant about loving her son, in part because he is a quadroon male and particularly vulnerable in a society who wants its quadroons to be female. Only gradually, and not until she is forced to part from him, does she become aware of the closeness she feels toward him. The book follows her life through her successes and the vulnerabilities that plague her and her loved ones even after she gains her freedom.
Susan Straight respects her subjects enough to research them thoroughly rather than simply reproducing stereotypes. In addition, she writes about them with sensitivity, creating a complex, conflicted character in Moinette. I had not known of her before finding this book on the Real Help list, and I am glad to have it recommended. Now I want to find the other books by Straight.
I recommend this book heartily. This is less a story about slavery than a story of how a woman survives as a human being in a world that dehumanizes her and those she loves.
A mesmerizing novel. Following the stream-of-consciousness of the narrator, Straight draws the reader in. The early chapters are like seeing what
Show More
was happening through a veil of Spanish moss. Part of what slavery means for Moinette, the narrator, is a constant state of uncertainty.The book is set in first decades of the 1800s in the sugar-cane country around New Orleans.
Although the United States obtained the region in 1803, the planters and their culture remained French for years, making the book a subtle variation of our images of slavery in this country. Moinette is a “gift girl,” the daughter of an African-born mother and a white sugar buyer who visited the plantation. She is very intelligent and observant, as well as full of unanswerable questions and contradictory thoughts. She wonders who she really belongs to: her mother, her owner, the African gods, herself.
The extremely tight bonds between Moinette and her mother are reveled early in the book, and these ties will sustain Moinette long after she is sold off the plantation. The other early relationship critical for Moinette is with the daughter of the plantation family whom Moinette is assigned to serve. The two women are close in age and share interests, but tension between them is strong. Moinette learns to read and accumulates scattered information from the rather unattractive, bookish girl, and they agree “not to hate” each other as a means of mutual survival.
After Moinette is sold off the plantation where she was born, she is very slow to form attachments to other people. She learns how to take care of herself by revealing only what whites want to see. Men use her body without touching her emotionally. She shies away from a man of mixed lineage who loves her and wants to help her escape slavery. At first she is even hesitant about loving her son, in part because he is a quadroon male and particularly vulnerable in a society who wants its quadroons to be female. Only gradually, and not until she is forced to part from him, does she become aware of the closeness she feels toward him. The book follows her life through her successes and the vulnerabilities that plague her and her loved ones even after she gains her freedom.
Susan Straight respects her subjects enough to research them thoroughly rather than simply reproducing stereotypes. In addition, she writes about them with sensitivity, creating a complex, conflicted character in Moinette. I had not known of her before finding this book on the Real Help list, and I am glad to have it recommended. Now I want to find the other books by Straight.
I recommend this book heartily. This is less a story about slavery than a story of how a woman survives as a human being in a world that dehumanizes her and those she loves.
Show Less
LibraryThing member RealLifeReading
Ugh.
So apparently I wrote a couple of paragraphs about Sherri S. Tepper’s Beauty not too long after I read it. And I just read it and now have no idea where I was going with it.
And the problem is, the indifference, the disinterest. Because with a book you love, it’s so easy to write a gushy,
So.
Beauty is the story of well, Beauty, that is, of Sleeping Beauty fame but manages to escape her fate and does some time traveling. There’s some bits in the land of Faerie, the future, and even melds into some other fairy tales. So it pretty much fits the Once Upon A Time categories.
It was an ok read, as you can probably guess by now. It was a little weird, but a little clever how the rest of the fairy tales fit into the bigger story. And there was just a little too much heavy-handedness as Tepper tries to put her agenda across. However, Tepper has some interesting ideas and I’m curious to see what her other books are like. Perhaps more SF and less fairy tale-ish?
Ah the neutral review. Never very interesting to read, is it?
So apparently I wrote a couple of paragraphs about Sherri S. Tepper’s Beauty not too long after I read it. And I just read it and now have no idea where I was going with it.
And the problem is, the indifference, the disinterest. Because with a book you love, it’s so easy to write a gushy,
Show More
full-throttled love fest. And with a book you hate, it’s also pretty easy to fling it against a wall and rant your head off. But with the indifference, there’s a struggle to move the cursor forward and fill that page. So what happens is that drivel such as this is used instead.So.
Beauty is the story of well, Beauty, that is, of Sleeping Beauty fame but manages to escape her fate and does some time traveling. There’s some bits in the land of Faerie, the future, and even melds into some other fairy tales. So it pretty much fits the Once Upon A Time categories.
It was an ok read, as you can probably guess by now. It was a little weird, but a little clever how the rest of the fairy tales fit into the bigger story. And there was just a little too much heavy-handedness as Tepper tries to put her agenda across. However, Tepper has some interesting ideas and I’m curious to see what her other books are like. Perhaps more SF and less fairy tale-ish?
Ah the neutral review. Never very interesting to read, is it?
Show Less
LibraryThing member the1butterfly
This was my first Sheri S. Tepper book, which I picked up because I found out it was a retelling of "Sleeping Beauty." I liked it so much that I read all her other books, even though none of the others are fairy tale retellings. This book goes back and forth in time and even into an imaginary world
Show More
and faeryland, and the main character faces a minor gigantic task- save the world from environmental destruction by protecting yourself while being dragged through time and space and even into hell. It's a stunning protest against the humans-first view so many people have, and a stern warning against overpopulation. Show Less
LibraryThing member heidilove
it's okay. in classic tepper style, the best i can say about it is the fodder she presents for discussion is rich indeed.
LibraryThing member lenoreva
As I was browsing in a used bookstore one day, I was attracted to this book by the cover and the simple title. Over the past 10 years, I have gone back to this book again and again. I fall in love every time! The romance between Beauty and Giles is one of the most beautiful I have read anywhere. I
Show More
am fascinated by time travel, fairy tales, and the struggle to discover identity, and Tepper skillfully weaves all these and more into a simply wonderful story. My only caveat: some of Tepper's ideas are very liberal, but don't let that stop you from discovering this priceless book. Show Less
LibraryThing member starless_
My first forays into the fantasy genre. The book was a pretty easy read; I skipped some parts because it was rather lengthy but still caught the storyline. Interesting way of linking up many of our favourite childhood fairy tales together. Good book to spend a few lazy afternoons reading.
LibraryThing member jlizzy
Creative and wonderful fairytale for adults
LibraryThing member EmScape
From the fourteenth century to the twenty-first; from medieval England to the imaginary land of Chinanga; from the Faery land of Ylles and even into hell itself, Beauty's journey spans myriad settings and covers some very important issues. Beauty is ostensibly the Sleeping Beauty of legend, but the
The writing is simply delightful, strewn with little in-jokes for those familiar with history and legend. One of my favorites is the description of a nunnery named The Sisters of Immaculate Intentions. Several times while reading, I was so tickled I had to stop and read sections aloud to my husband.
Beauty herself is really the only well-developed character, but so many other enchanting (pun very much intended) characters sidle through the story that you don't really notice that none of them are terribly dynamic or fleshed out.
Although some parts are sort of lagging in between the eras of Beauty's life, I very much enjoyed every moment I spent reading this book. I strongly encourage every fan of science fiction, fantasy or social justice to read this.
Show More
legend is re-imagined in a delightful and thought-provoking manner. I cannot summarize the plot further without giving away so many delightful surprises; in fact, I think the first sentence of this review is almost too much of a spoiler.The writing is simply delightful, strewn with little in-jokes for those familiar with history and legend. One of my favorites is the description of a nunnery named The Sisters of Immaculate Intentions. Several times while reading, I was so tickled I had to stop and read sections aloud to my husband.
Beauty herself is really the only well-developed character, but so many other enchanting (pun very much intended) characters sidle through the story that you don't really notice that none of them are terribly dynamic or fleshed out.
Although some parts are sort of lagging in between the eras of Beauty's life, I very much enjoyed every moment I spent reading this book. I strongly encourage every fan of science fiction, fantasy or social justice to read this.
Show Less
LibraryThing member sturlington
Beauty is a sprawling novel that traverses time and space, incorporating childhood fairy tales, the apocalypse and a significant environmental message. The main character is Beauty, a young girl living in the 14th century, who discovers that her mother is a fairy and that a curse has been placed on
What Beauty doesn’t know is that she is carrying something extremely valuable inside her chest, something that her fairy godmother and the angels desperately want to protect. Beauty doesn’t go along with their plans to spirit her away to an imaginary land, instead stumbling on a group of time travelers from the “21st,” as they call it. They take her to a time when magic no longer exists, where she learns the ultimate fate of humanity. And that’s just the start of her adventures.
A summary of all of the novel’s events would probably require several thousand more words. Suffice it to say that Tepper deftly weaves elements from fantasy, science fiction, mythology, Christianity and fairy tales to create an enthralling, if fanciful, tale.
Show More
her so that she will fall asleep for 100 years on her 16th birthday (sound familiar?). Beauty, an independent, headstrong woman well ahead of her time, is having none of that and so escapes the fairy curse using an enchanted cloak.What Beauty doesn’t know is that she is carrying something extremely valuable inside her chest, something that her fairy godmother and the angels desperately want to protect. Beauty doesn’t go along with their plans to spirit her away to an imaginary land, instead stumbling on a group of time travelers from the “21st,” as they call it. They take her to a time when magic no longer exists, where she learns the ultimate fate of humanity. And that’s just the start of her adventures.
A summary of all of the novel’s events would probably require several thousand more words. Suffice it to say that Tepper deftly weaves elements from fantasy, science fiction, mythology, Christianity and fairy tales to create an enthralling, if fanciful, tale.
Show Less
LibraryThing member hrissliss
While her prose was beautiful, the book was also preachy. Incredibly preachy. I even agree with most of what's being said (except for the part about how anyone who writes about the dark part of the psyche is a TOOL of the DEVIL) and I found it irritating at times. For the most part, though, very
Show More
good. 6/10 Show Less
LibraryThing member omnia_mutantur
Sweet, over the top fairy-tale retelling. i could all but feel the tears that were supposed to be swelling.
LibraryThing member suzemo
This is easily one of the weirdest books I've ever read. And to be honest, I want to shake Sheri Tepper and scream "What the hell was that?!"
The protagonist is Sleeping Beauty (who escapes her curse, narrowly) who is the mother of Cinderella, who is the mother of Snow White. There are a few other
This book is very eco-feminist, with warnings of how we're destroying the world's Beauty (get it?) and the dangers of overpopulation and overconsumption.
There's even a rape that kinda comes out from left field.
I just think that Tepper was trying to do too much in this book. It's like she was just spitballing on paper, threw in everything but the kitchen sink and then called it a novel.
The pacing is extraordinarily uneven, many plot/concepts seemed to die a premature death, and there were more than a few times I put down the book because I was bored.
I like Tepper's work - but I was disappointed in this one.
The protagonist is Sleeping Beauty (who escapes her curse, narrowly) who is the mother of Cinderella, who is the mother of Snow White. There are a few other
Show More
fairy tale/mythology characters thrown in there as well. It takes place in Medieval England, the 20th century, the 21st century, Faery, and imaginary land (Chinanga), and Hell.This book is very eco-feminist, with warnings of how we're destroying the world's Beauty (get it?) and the dangers of overpopulation and overconsumption.
There's even a rape that kinda comes out from left field.
I just think that Tepper was trying to do too much in this book. It's like she was just spitballing on paper, threw in everything but the kitchen sink and then called it a novel.
The pacing is extraordinarily uneven, many plot/concepts seemed to die a premature death, and there were more than a few times I put down the book because I was bored.
I like Tepper's work - but I was disappointed in this one.
Show Less
LibraryThing member lquilter
I read Beauty around the time it was released, in the early 1990s, and it haunts me to this day. The dystopic elements were not per se unique -- I think I've seen most of them in other works -- but they were woven together in one of Tepper's more compelling visions, and fully utilizing her work in
Anyway, I recommend this book for its hopeful horrors.
Show More
the horror genre. Strikingly, Tepper critiqued horror writers for creating so much, well, horror and ugliness, and at the same time she was herself writing horror. Anyway, I recommend this book for its hopeful horrors.
Show Less
LibraryThing member StigE
I didn't like this book at all.
I thought the protagonist too passive, the world too inconsistent and confusing and the theology misplaced. The latter may have been intended by the author, but I did not want it in the book I wanted to read.
This book and I will probably never be friends.
LibraryThing member ritaer
rewrite of Sleeping Beauty as eco catastrophe and feminist quest
LibraryThing member satyridae
Wow, this one could have come straight from the fever-dreams of Andrea Dworkin. What starts out as an interesting variant of the Sleeping Beauty tale soon changes into a truly horrifying dystopian screed against humanity, particularly the male wing of same. I got about 220 pages in when I had to
Show More
start skipping ahead to keep from running screaming into the night. This is so bleak and hopeless that I can't recommend it. There are some images I can't seem to get out of my head, and I'm heartily sorry. Show Less
LibraryThing member Linyarai
This book was really weird. The mixture of fairy tales had potential, but overall it felt chaotic and messy.
Awards
Locus Award (Finalist — Fantasy Novel — 1992)
Mythopoeic Awards (Finalist — Adult Literature — 1992)
Best Fiction for Young Adults (Selection — 1992)
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
1991
Physical description
412 p.; 8.4 inches
ISBN
0385419392 / 9780385419390