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Author: William Goldman
Title: The Princess Bride
Genre: Fantasy, Romance, & Comedy
Pages: 398
Published: 1973
Where I Got It: My Shelf (B&N)
What happens when the most beautiful girl in the world marries the handsomest prince of all time and he turns out to be...well...a lot less than the man of her dreams?
As a boy, William Goldman claims, he loved to hear his father read the S. Morgenstern classic, The Princess Bride. But as a grown-up he discovered that the boring parts were left out of good old Dad's recitation, and only the "good parts" reached his ears.
Now Goldman does Dad one better. He's reconstructed the "Good Parts Version" to delight wise kids and wide-eyed grownups everywhere.
What's it about? Fencing. Fighting. True Love. Strong Hate. Harsh Revenge. A Few Giants. Lots of Bad Men. Lots of Good Men. Five or Six Beautiful Women. Beasties Monstrous and Gentle. Some Swell Escapes and Captures. Death, Lies, Truth, Miracles, and a Little Sex.
In short, it's about everything.
I had read this book eons ago. I barely remember much about it, but I LOVE the movie so I knew I had to buy this and give it a re-read.
This is for sure a MUST read book especially if you like the movie. There is so much more story plot, character development, background, and hilarity. Simply fantastic writing and story-telling.
I do go back and forth about how I feel about the author's "narration" mixed in. It did add some humor and complexity, but in some parts, it ruined the flow of the story. It is genius of the author to make it seem like an abridged version of the "classic", but it is his own classic. Clever, but if the reader doesn't know what is going on, then I can see how it is confusing. The movie did something similar and a part of me thinks it was done better.
There is so much going in this story: love, revenge, sword fights, giant rats, hilarity, torture, miracles, and etc.
*swoons* Ooooh Westley. I always forget how much I love him. Buttercup is a super snot at the beginning and I wanted to kick her, but she does get better. I still don't understand why she decided to marry that Prince. Maybe I am just a tragic person, but I would've just died alone in my own pool of misery. So yeah - I get why Westley was POed.
Now, the ending was brilliant. It does have that romantic POW, but it also spreads a serious message about how life really isn't a fairy tale all the time. What I loved about the book is the more "realistic" message it gives. Yes, it is a fairy tale but a realistic one. Hard to explain, but it was great.
Overall, I love this story. I love this book. I love the characters. A must read for everyone. I'll stamp it with 5 stars.
