Reviews

Beauty by Sheri S. Tepper

lievedebs's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

suzemo's review against another edition

2.0

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 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.

riotsquirrrl's review against another edition

3.0

Really the only reason that this book gets 3 stars is because I read it a decade ago and still remember it fairly well, especially Tepper's version of dystopia.

karenreads1000s's review against another edition

3.0

Interesting. The beginning was slow, but we'll woven by the end. Makes me sad. We are so destructive. Good reminder to care for nature. Mentioned as feminist, but I didn't see that.

bookish_wendy's review against another edition

3.0

This was not a book that I would normally pick up on my own. I read it as part of my book club.

Worth reading, interesting. A bit muddled and ambitious in its scope but not enough to detract from enjoying it.

fluffernutter's review against another edition

4.0

I loved the first third, liked the second third, then kept reading to learn how it ended. But I enjoyed some parts so much that I'm giving it 4 stars. I wish Tepper could have maintained the feeling when she first jumped centuries.

annick's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad medium-paced

2.75

This was a near perfect five star when I first read it in 2002. 

I  reread it twenty years after I read and loved it. For years I would tell people this was one of my top five favourite novels. But this reread was a disappointment. I don’t think this is as amazing as I did as a teenager. I enjoyed the parts with Puck esp from page 398 onwards. 

I can’t help but notice the absence of BIPOC characters. I think this shows the age of when it was published (1991) and I hope good editors nowadays would notice how non western cultures are marginalised in the second half of the tale (when Beauty visits Faery and Baskarone, and when she and the Bogles act to preserve beauty on Earth). 

I’m nonetheless grateful for the story and how ideas were presented. The book made me ponder many things, including the impact of inter generational traumas. As a teenager it galvanised my interest in protecting the environment and noticing the flaws in western fairy tales. 

this book is no longer one I recommend in my top five favourite novels. But it still is one I’m glad to have read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual violence, and Stalking

Moderate: Body horror, Emotional abuse, Sexism, Transphobia, Violence, Kidnapping, and War

meavedouglass's review against another edition

1.0

I found this book to be disjointed and disturbing with no real resolution. It mixed science fiction and fantasy in an awkward manner and the author spent waaaaaay too much time hitting the reader over the head with politics.

hilse's review against another edition

I started this book well over a week-and-a-half ago: I still haven't made any progress. (Note: I quit on page 140.)

The initial premise was quite nice. I liked Beauty's voice; while Tepper didn't seem to be doing a radical reinterpretation of the fairytale, it wasn't offensive either.

Then Beauty time-traveled. Tepper nearly lost me there, but completely alienated me with her preachy environmentalist and feminist themes. Yes, the present Western world is patriarchal and materialistic. But it is not as bad as Tepper describes.

Finally, the whole 'fairy godmother' thing never captured my interest. Oh no! A Dark Lord that's evil. I couldn't bring myself to care.

thejenjineer's review against another edition

3.0

What a weird book. It kept flouncing from genre to genre, but not gracefully. I don't know. I liked some parts, disliked others. I didn't like how it was all strung together.

And I kept saying "chimichanga" in my head every time they mentioned "Chinanga".