Belle

Eh, I have read other Retellings of Beauty and the Beast that I've enjoyed much more. This one had many things lacking for my taste.

This story is similar to the "Belle et la Bete" (the original French story) in that it gives more background to the characters that are there, but Cameron Dokey spends more than half of the book in background and setting up for the venture to the castle of the "monster" than Belle does in the castle with the "monster."

There is a lot more discussion as to what is Beauty vs. beauty in the beginning (that's what takes so much of the space in this small book). Belle, or Annabelle Evangeline, is the most un-beautiful of the three daughters--or so she thinks. Her sisters, Celeste and April, have opposite features are are still considered two of the most beautiful girls in the book. But aside from one being bossy and the other in love with one of her father's sailors there isn't much of a difference in the girls.

Dokey tried to make Belle different from the two sisters in giving her brown hair and she likes to carve wood (very unlike any of the other retellings I've read). For the character of Belle, yes she is headstrong and caring, but she acted like a lady of her age. This Annabelle doesn't seem much like the character I've come to love and that has made me dislike this book more than I would otherwise.

Also, I don't necessarily care for the way that it was written. The tone seemed very childish to me at many parts of the beginning, then when her father was retelling his story of the first encounter with the "monster at the heart of the Woods" the tone shifted to "this is an old story and I'm going to speak to you in an old language" kind of way. For example at the beginning she is describing her oldest sister Celeste by saying "As I'm sure I don't need to point out, Celestial Heavens  is quite a mouthful. "This doesn't fit the era of the novel at all and like I said seems very childish. Not to mention, very telling instead of showing--which is what most writers are trying to do. Then during the shift of tone: "'That settles that,' I thought. Forward I went, and I did not look back again." Who says "forward I went"? First we were going for modern, hip/youthful language, then we are back in old England speaking with Shakespeare or something. These are the types of shifts that I didn't care for throughout the story.

There were some scenes that I thought were good and that I was drawn into, but others that seemed very childish. It was almost like she didn't trust her reader to get it and make connections. Dialogue was choppy at parts that really drew me out of the story. Specifically dialogue between the sisters, which was a lot of the book actually.

So, yeah, this won't be a reread but I may try another of Dokey's books just to make sure it's the narrator's voice that is what I don't care for instead of the author.

UPDATE:
I tried to read Wild Orchid by Dokey and I only got 60 pages in. It seemed to have many of the same qualities that Belle did. A big similarity between the retelling of the Epic of Mulan and the retelling of Beauty and the Beast was that these girls were extremely unlady like especially for their time and place. I will give this to Mulan to a point. She was in a war and mascarading as a boy. But that doesn't mean being a girl is bad.

 There is this feeling I get from this Mulan retelling that being a girl is all hard work, boring work at that, and that boys get all the fun. The only way to have fun is by being a boy. I think this is very false. Dokey give very little to no reason why being feminine is okay. Both Belle and Mulan prefer the masculan arts over anything feminine and that really bugs me.

Like I said, I only got 60 pages in because it took forever to get anywhere in these stories. Most of the book is all preface to everything that is actually in the original story.

In my opinion, Dokey has much to be wanting in these retellings. I don't plan on reading anymore of her books.