Book Reviews

Review by Miss Tammy

East is an adaptation of the classic story of Beauty and the Beast.  In this variation, Beauty is a young girl, Rose, who lives with her family on a small farm in Norway.  The beast is a giant talking polar bear.  The story is told from several different points of views and takes the familiar story in some unfamiliar directions.  Overall, East is an easy and entertaining read.

Review by Inkgirl

I love fairytales.  Beauty and the Beast is my favorite fairytale of all time.  It has been around for thousands of years and spans countless cultures with innumerable variations. 

I believe that East is the best retelling of Beauty and the Beast out there.  The book combines elements from many versions of the tales: from the Roman myth-Cupid and Phsyche, to the Western Europe-East of the Sun West of the Moon, to the Grimm's version-The Lady and the Lion, to the modern version of Beauty and the Beast.

This retelling is a historical fantasy (which is a wonderful subgenre), primarily set in Norway (extending to France and possibly even Canada) in the late middle ages. 

The twists may seem unfamiliar to some, but they are not.  They are taken from the many versions of this epic tale that has lasted from the dawn of Western Civilization.

The story is told from many points of view in first person (a very recent way of telling a story).  But the effect it creates is wonderful--with each characters voice spinning a different thread so that all come together as an intricate tapestry.

The characters are wonderful and distinct.  Ebba (Nyamph) Rose is a great heroine--not perfect, but not taking all of the obnoxious rebellious turns that many modern heroines take.  And all of the characters-Father, Brother, Sisters, Mother, The White Bear, and Rose-are likeable.  You care about all of them, with different pasts and struggles.

The only problem is that visual readers may have a hard time following all of the threads and that it might be a long read for younger readers. 

But all in all, Edith Pattou has taken Rose's love of weaving and woven a story-intricate and beautiful-combining history and the thousands of years of tradition that went into the making of this story.  She has become a story-weaver.  And when that is what you are, nothing is better than creating a work like this.