Dear Princess Bride,
You were an action packed adventure, a thrilling love story, full of wonderful people, and someone I will not be quick to forget. I look forward to meeting you again.
With Love,
Hannah
P.S. Book Details
Author: William Goldman
Book Length: 456 pages
Book Genre: Classic Fiction/Fantasy
Publication Date: September 1, 1973
Awards: N/A
Synopsis: 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.
………………………………………………………….
Going into the book, I was a little nervous. When I watched the movie, I was a young girl. This story is one that has been with me for a while and has a lot of associative memories with my family. Yet, many of the reviews said this book was worth reading and lovers of the movie should not feel dissuaded. So, if you’re like me and haven’t read this book because you loved the movie, I would argue that is the exact reason you should read Princess Bride.
The premise of the book is, The author was read a book by his Dad when he was a child and loved it so much, but when he gave it to his own son it did not have the same reception. The author realized when his Dad had read him the book, he edited out all the boring parts. Then was born: Princess Bride (abridged version). To summarize, Princess Bride is a book in a book.
Goldman brings us all around England with swosh-buckling adventure and loveable characters. I was surprised how much Princess Bride the book and movie lined up. In some parts, it felt like I was reading the movie. Yet, in others, I felt myself growing nearer to the characters and understanding their choices more. For instance, I think Buttercup had a more interesting story in the book than in the movie. We get to see why she chose to marry (and the lead up of how she was found to be married off). She also had more personality, which made her more endearing to me.
I wondered if I would have liked the book as much if I hadn’t watched the movie. Some of the scenes really came to life, but it wasn’t my imagination doing the heavy lifting. I was simply remembering the movie. Regardless, I would recommend this book to lovers of the movie, to parents wanting an interactive and fun book to read aloud to children of different ages, or to someone who wants a lighthearted fast paced story.
To Books, With Love 