Beastly by Alex Flinn

Flinn, Alex. (2007). Beastly. New York: HarperTeen. ISBN 978-0-06-087418-6

Once upon a time, in a land far, far away… er, I mean, Manhattan, lived a 9^th grader named Kyle Kingsbury who had it all – the looks, the smarts, the money, and the girl. But, that’s not all. Kyle Kingsbury had a heart of stone. Raised by a looks-are-everything TV news anchor father, Kyle was taught as a small child that “people wanted to look at someone hot instead of someone fugly. It was human nature.” When the new goth girl at school, Kendra, calls him “beastly,” Kyle vows to teach her a lesson. In a cruel attempt at revenge, Kyle asks Kendra to the Tuttle Prep school dance, when everyone knows he’s already promised to take the hottest girl at school. Mission accomplished. In a cruel display with his “real” date, Kyle publicly insults and taunts Kendra. Big Mistake. Later, Kendra reveals her true identity, as a witch, and transforms Kyle into “his truer self” so that finally he’s as ugly on the outside as he is on the inside. Within two years, he must find someone to love him or he’ll remain a beast… forever. When countless health practitioners can’t “fix” Kyle, his father banishes him to a 5-story Brooklyn brownstone with only a maid and a blind tutor for company.

Thoughtfully written from an adolescent boy’s perspective, Beastly by Alex Flinn uses hip language and slang words, as if taken right out of the hallways of a high school. When asked by Sloane Hagen, Kyle’s real date to the dance, about the “rumored” other girl, Kyle turns on the charm: “’Are you trippin’? Why would I ask some skank when I’m already going with the hottest girl in school?’ I put on my special “just for Sloane” voice. ‘We’re the perfect couple, babe.’” Amidst the typical young adult drama and banter, Flinn also infuses the story with 21^st century technologies, like cell phones, instant messaging, myspace, and chat rooms that actualize the plot and allow young readers to relate. The book actually begins in the “Unexpected Changes” chat group where BeastNYC, SILENTMAID, Froggie, Grizzlyguy, and the room moderator Mr. Anderson (Hans Christian?) are talking about their problems. These conversations are sprinkled throughout the chapters.

While Beastly might appear to be just another modern retelling of a fairytale, it’s more than that. It’s an exploration of privilege, prejudice, and the power of love. Flinn carefully crafts a multi-layered tale of transformation and realization, atop a veiled critique of a judgmental society. Feeling like a caged animal, Kyle ventures out at night, covered from head to toe in his winter clothes to conceal his hideousness. Along the way, he remains anonymous, wondering why passers-by don’t even offer him a glance. Then, he gets it: “In my heavy coat and scarf, I looked like a homeless person. That’s what they thought I was, the people on the street and the train. That’s why they hadn’t looked at me. No one looked at the homeless. I was invisible.” Readers will find Kyle endearing as he stumbles and struggles to uncloud his vision and see(k) Beauty beyond the walls of his New York castle.