Beast (a book)

I can't believe one month of 2010 has already gone by!  I only managed to read one book in January, but that's better than none.

A friend thoughtfully got me two books by Donna Jo Napoli, one of my college linguistics professors, for Christmas. One of them was Beast.

Have you ever had the pleasure of reading a book by an author you know? Other than textbooks, this was my first time and I found it to be quite a unique treat. A professor whose terseness in emails and written comments bordered on comedic (favorite thing she wrote on my homework: "God you're good!"), Donna Jo had been hiding her talent for writing beautiful, poetic prose. Her heart and passion shine through here, as in everything she does.

Beast is a telling of the classic Beauty and the Beast fairy tale from the Beast's point of view. The Beast's true identity is the young Prince Orasmyn, a Persian and devout Muslim with a passion for the arts and a dislike of violence. When he is turned into a lion, he must reconcile his new feline existence with his religion and values, deal with loneliness, and figure out how to win the love of a (human) woman to break the curse.

To be honest, I can't tell you how much of this tale is original because I have never read another version of Beauty and the Beast. But this might be the only one to weave together feline angst, Persian folklore, bits of Farsi and Arabic, and a lion mating scene! Though I wasn't entirely happy with the character development, I loved the feel of this book and found it a thoroughly enjoyable read.

By the way, if you're interested, Donna Jo is a prolific writer of fiction for all ages. She has written several other books about fairy tales, but I plan on trying some of her other stuff next.

P.S. Don't you think the tufts of hair go nicely with my ears?