As it happens, I never met Donna Jo Napoli during my time at Swat, so I have no personal connection there. I do have friends who like her personally, and (so I understand) like her writing, so I approached Beast with something like eagerness. And although I was initially disappointed, the book turned out all right in the end.
It’s the backstory of the Beast (as in Beauty and) as a Young Adult novel. The problem is that I didn’t like the stuff before he became a beast at all, wasn’t impressed with his becoming a beast, and was only moderately entertained by the middle bit where he learns to live as a beast. The last bit, though, after Beauty comes, is really good. So if by some chance you pick up the book, Gentle Reader, and get halfway or so having the same reaction as YHB, it will likely repay perseverance.
On the other hand, if you are absolutely looking for a book about an Islamic youth turned into an animal, and the love that develops between him and a woman who doesn’t realize he’s a transformed human, then I think you are better off with Judith Tarr’s A Wind in Cairo.
Thank you,
-Vardibidian.
Does the book work if you simply start reading halfway through?
I’m pretty well done editing my music collection to get rid of intros and songs that I don’t want to listen to. Maybe now it’s time to start on the books, chapter by chapter…