The Rose and the Beast by Francesca Lia Block is an early 2000s reimagining of classic fairy tales set in “modern” Los Angeles. Block adapts nine of our most famous European fairy tales, each from the perspective of the young woman at its center. Some are narrated first-person and immediate, some are told in a more fable-esque tone. Each title is just a single word, and while some titles clearly indicate the tale they’re retelling, a couple are vague, which was fun to figure out as the story unraveled.
Block uses the fairy tales to showcase a wide scope of experiences a young woman in the new millennium might encounter: more intimate feelings like jealousy, family, and inadequacy are paired with time-specific references like drugs and clubs and the music scene. Sometimes situation and character is presented with a modern sensibility (The Big Bad Wolf is an abusive stepfather, the Sleeping Beauty is an opioid addict) and other times the magic is literal and symbolic (Thumbelina is indeed thumb-sized, the Beast is an animal).
It’s a lovely collection! Sometimes the tales feel very rooted in their era (which isn’t a problem as a Class of 2000er), but others are loose enough to grow with time. My favorite ones are “Rose,” which uses Snow White and Rose Red to explore how someone’s first boyfriend changes a best-friendship, and “Ice,” which recasts The Snow Queen as an It Girl and somehow manages to condense the sprawling source material while keeping the spirit of the story.
