Beauty by Hubert is the ultimate comment of society. Women, beauty, power and more all come to a head in bloody battles, violent and several sexual situations such as rape, borderline incest, and more horrific things than the last. This is not a Happily Ever After Fairy Tale, this is the bloody reality of pain, hunger, obsessions, lust, greed and cruelty.
When Beauty wins a wish from a fairy she helps escape from being trapped in the form of a toad, she sets off events that will end in war, murder, suicide, betrayal and sex. All because she wants the ultimate beauty and therefore will have true love. She realizes that the people you think you should trust (family, your local church official, your spouse, your lover) could turn on you all because of greed, jealousy, fear and lust. It becomes a hell of a horrible misadventure. There are politics and espionage and it is just one wicked journey to understanding the concept and consequence of beauty, greed, not being true to yourself and then ultimately taking control of your own destiny.
And you’ll walk away with emotions not just because of the words but those gorgeously created images. They are colorful, bold, dark, and busy. They illustrate the story of a naive girl who is uneducated and gullible. They hold many details and pieces in those colors and lines that make the tone of things. Partly because the book is older, I think some images were faded, but still there is a punch to them as they do not shy away from the adult themes.
One of the main issues I had with things is that it is in an oversized, almost coffee table sized book. This makes things look like it is a picture book, but I would not give it to anyone under the age of 14 and that is seriously pushing it. I would be more likely to say 18 plus only as while things are not gratuitously graphic, we do see things such as the man forcing himself on Beauty, we see the people beheaded, the sexual acts, voyerism and more. The concepts and content can be triggering and upsetting.