"The Rose and the Beast: Fairy-Tales Retold" by Francesca Lia Block (published 2001)



Francesca Lia Block’s “The Rose And The Beast: Fairy Tales Retold” is composed of nine tales that shimmer and sparkle with hope. Each story is very loosely based off of classic fairy tales such as “Snow White”, “Thumbelina”, and “Beauty & The Beast”. The book is melancholic in nature. While there are beautiful objects (“tall glasses of mineral water with slices of lime like green moons rising above clear bubbling pools”), beautiful people (“a singing stranger with golden hair tousled in his face and deep-set blue eyes and a big Adam’s apple), and beautiful backdrops (“the night was blue, like drowning in a cocktail”) – there is much suffering. Jealousy, rape, drugs, obsession, sickness… all these afflict the characters, and really, the common theme that ties the stories together is the idea that life can still be treasured in the face of tragedy. Snow, Rose Red, Rose White, Tiny, Beast – and all the rest of the characters – move from the traditional archetype to heart-wrenching, soulful creatures. This is an important book especially for that in-between time from childhood to adulthood when everything that is said and done is felt deeply enough to become a matter of life and death. Most wish, like one does wish in one of the stories titled “Wolf”, that there will be someone to tell us, “Here you go on this long, long dream. Don’t even try to wake up. Just let it go on until it is over. You will learn many things. Just relax and observe because there is just pain and that’s it mostly and you aren’t going to be able to escape no matter what. Eventually it will all be over anyway. Good luck.” On the surface this seems pessimistic… but maybe these thoughts are a glorious, magical disguise, leading onward into the light.

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