Since Bella’s plight is such an unlikely one (who, after all, ever complains about being too pretty?), I do not expect readers to identify much with her literal experience, but I think, in many ways, the essence of her struggle is a universal one. The remainder of the book follows her slow journey to self-acceptance - and eventually, also, to love - as she attempts to determine what makes a thing beautiful, and why. And so, when the opportunity arises to escape her life in favor of a dangerous and possibly suicidal quest to take her father’s place in a monster’s castle, Yseult is more than happy to take it. She has lived her whole life in the shadow of her exceptional good looks, struggling fruitlessly to be known for her other talents and qualities, only to be condemned at long last to an arranged marriage she wants no part in. But unlike other Beauties, Yseult is already tormented when she reaches our beast, René.
In the book, Bella - or Yseult, as the reader will eventually know her - takes on the bewildering adventure we all know so well, exchanging her life for a magical coexistence with someone who looks for all the world like a monster from under the bed. In addition to being a new take on the classic tale, the story is essentially an exploration of inner beauty, and what makes a person admirable or good. My novel - which has been rechristened “Beautiful Monster” since last year - is, as you said, a retelling of Beauty and the Beast. I’m so glad you liked what you read last year, and thought of doing this interview. Hanna: First, thank you! Thank you for having me here, and for giving me the opportunity to share my work with your community. Can you tell us more about your novel and where it goes from the end of the excerpt? What sorts of themes do you explore and what do you hope the reader will take away from the experience? I love the original and fresh take on the good-sister/bad-sister dichotomy: that personality can be shaped in response to parenting styles and favoritism. Here, Bella is her somewhat whimsical father’s favorite by the mere accident of being born the ‘prettiest’, and her sisters are ‘greedy’ and unpleasant because they’ve been taught through experience to demand expensive gifts from their father as proof of his love.
You had taken the classic tale of “Beauty and the Beast” and given it a really lovely reinterpretation: instead of the usual fairy-tale characterization of the heroine being perfect and good while her ‘ugly’ sisters are horrible and evil, you deeply and carefully characterized every member of this classic tale.
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I wouldn't recommend this short story - the price is low, but even free things take time to read and this story just isn't worth it.Īna: Hanna, an excerpt from your novel “Ephemeral” was submitted in the ABNA 2010 contest.
The whole conceit just feels very thin and flimsy, and the short story seems to have been hastily slapped together, with a handful of spelling and grammar errors in the process. And, in true short story fashion, there's no dealing with her previous unhappiness at her old job - that sense of unfulfilled ambitions evaporates as soon as she realizes that the pay is as good as it is, and you'd really think that an intelligent character could have figured out comparative salaries prior to all the job-hopping. Instead, the focus is not on her profession but rather her boredom with it, and in predictable short story fashion, she quits at the end of shift one day, walks out and finds another job (no previous experience required, apparently), only to find that the hours are longer and the pay worse than her previous, easy-breezy high paying job in the sex industry, so she walks out of her new respectable job and happily back into her old one. It's not what I would consider "erotica" - the dominatrix angle is extremely thin and barely dealt with, and there's not enough reading material on the main character's profession to fill the time while you boil an egg. I'm not sure who this short story is supposed to appeal to.
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