TITLE: Beastly: Lindy’s Diary
AUTHOR: Alex Flinn
PUBLICATION DATE: January 31, 2012
PUBLISHER: Harper Teen
PAGES: 144 pages
FORMAT: Ebook
SOURCE: Borrowed
RATING: 5 stars
I have been wanting to read this for a little while now. I adored Beastly (and several of Alex’s other works) and the idea of re-reading Beastly from Lindy’s perspective was hype enough to make me want to read it. And I wasn’t disappointed. This little novella is exactly what it’s advertised as, a retake of Beastly via Lindy. If you’re read Beastly, you already know the basic plot. Kyle is an asshat and Kendra curses him to live as a beast until he finds someone to love him. Lindy turns out to be that someone.
I loved seeing her side of things. She’s sweet and caring and really has a thing for Kyle, though she tries to hide it. She struggles to make ends meet, but you don’t really hear her complaining about her situation. School, work, tutor on the side, try to keep her dad out of trouble, and she manages it all gracefully. There aren’t many people who could in that situation. Seeing “Adrian” through her eyes was also interesting to read about. I loved that she knew that he loved her without having to hear him say it or be reassured continually that she was worthy of someone like him. Basically, she is a great change of pace over the sloppy, whiny, heroines that dominate YA.
Reading this did have a downside though. It highlighted all of the ways the Beastly film disappointed me. I like it well enough on its own, but when compared to the book, it’s fucking terrible. They changed so much, most of it for reasons I don’t understand. Yeah, I get that wearing a fur suit constantly during filming is a hassle, so I can kind of understand why they did that, though I don’t agree with the change, but changing Madga’s name? Changing Lindy’s appearance? Removing the magic mirror? So many senseless changes that he beauty of the story gets lost in it.
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