Lesson Learned

Lesson Learned

Jessica Conrad

 

Beastly

Alex Flinn

Everyone, whether or not they like it, experiences change throughout their life. Life consists of a wave of changes, both good and bad, that often take us by surprise. Kyle Kingsbury, a spoiled, arrogant, charmer has his life altered forever in this Beauty and the Beast type of story. After showing his ugly character as someone who finds it “fun to kick the nerds, make them cry, then kick them some more”, to Kendra, a girl he stood up at the prom as a joke, he is transformed into a beast that is equally as ugly on the outside as he is on the inside (Flinn 30). This shows his character and his lack of appreciation for morality. Readers likely know someone like Kyle, who make the story realistic, since people like this do exist.

The only way for him to return to his normal self is to learn to love and be loved in return. Set in New York City, the lonely Kingsbury is the only one awake in the city that never sleeps. He stays awake stirring over about how hopeless his life seems, when a drug addict desperate for money breaks into his home. When Kyleーwho changes his name to Adrian to suit his darker persona better, justifying, “Kyle means ‘handsome’. I wasn’t”ーfinds the man, the man tells him he will send his daughter to live with Kyle if he lets him go (Flinn 122). Driven by his intense loneliness, he agrees and soon the daughter, Linda, is there living with him, his blind tutor, Will, and his housekeeper, Magda. Initially she hates him, but as time goes on she learns to feel comfortable with him and they become friends.

The message of this story to be kind and not focus on the exterior is very important, especially to teenagers. Perhaps knowing this, the author takes advantage of the digital aged setting, and inserts screenshots of an online chatroom featuring other people affected my magic the way the beast is. Personally, I am not a fan of those parts. I feel like at that point the author is trying too hard to be relatable, but I appreciate the attempt to appeal to teens.

    The story itself is very traditional in terms of fairytales, and at times it is very cliché and predictable. However, the setting makes it more interesting and takes away from some of the predictability since city life is often unpredictable. I find this story intriguing, yet the ending seems pretty obvious. Lovers of Disney movies would enjoy this book for sure. Although it is a modern setting, the lesson to “not judge a book by its cover” and to be open to love is timeless, especially in love stories and fairy tales. According to Odyssey, Disney type stories help teach children a lot of valuable lessons, including love and acceptance (https://www.theodysseyonline.com/11-lessons-disney-princesses-teach-young-children?sec=pop6&utm_expid=.53hHQ_sIS_GVYl9TPM4psw.3&utm_referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F). Acceptance is apparent in Beastly as well when Linda is afraid and Adrian stays up throughout the night to help her feel safe. He is happy to find out “she trusted me”, which shows she is learning to see past his beastly appearance and accept him (Flinn 205). Although not everyone who reads a book is looking to learn a lesson on morality, this book and others like it do a good job focusing on that. I have yet to actually finish the novel, but I plan to continue reading and see what the author has in store for the rest of the story, and I would encourage others to red it as well!