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juushikaTitle: The Princess Bride
Author: William Goldman
Published: New York: Delray (The Ballantine Publishing Group), 1973 (2000).
Page Count:398
Total Page Count: 14,263
Text Number: 39
Read For: My own enjoyment
Short review: One of my favorite books (and films) of all time, The Princess Bride is a story of true love, adventure, pirates, sword fights, giants, royalty, torture, danger, heroism, surprise, and humor. Buttercup, deeply in love with Westley, is devastated when he dies at the hands of the Dread Pirate Roberts. Many years later, she is engaged to Prince Humperdinck, a man that she does not love, and is suddenly captured by Fezzik the strong giant, Inigo the Spaniard and expert swordsman, and Vizzini the cunning mastermind. As she is carried away the they are followed by the man in black, a sailor, climber, fighter, and incredible man with his mind set of capturing her for himself. The book contains everything that had to be cut from the film and, if possible, is even better. There is more backstory, a bit more humor, the full journey through the Zoo of Death to the Pit of Despair, and perhaps best of all it is told as a "good parts" abridgment of the original text by S. Morgenstern. I recommend this book to everyone. It's a fast-moving read, a lot of fun, and a true love story for the ages. I reread it myself fairly often, and I just love it.
My actual critique of the text stems mostly from the fact that this time I was reading from the 25th Anniversary Edition which has a new introduction and includes the first chapter of "the long-lost sequel," Buttercup's Baby. The original introduction/preface to the book, still included in this copy, chronicles the author's fictional experiences with the text, read to him by his father. The Princess Bride, he writes, he has never read in full—his father read it to him as a child, and when he discovered it on his own as an adult he found that his father had heavily abridged the text, omitting many pages about hat-packing, "satirical" reports of court circumstance, and, in the sequel, a lengthy essay on trees. He took it upon himself to rework the original into the abridged "Good Parts" version. Of course, there is no Florin, no Morgenstern, and no abridgment, but the non-fiction trappings of the text provide an immediately humorous setting and the opportunity for parenthetical, often humorous, from both Morgenstern and Goldman. It's effective, funny, and enduring.
The new introduction and the chapter of the sequel, however, carry the effect a little too far. For one, the humor of the "real world" setting is self-deprecating and awkward, which, while effective in small parts, becomes uncomfortable and laborious in the new larger chunks. With the additions, Goldman's "own words" now run on for a good 50 pages, and that's just too much. I got bored of it after a while, and I'm pretty patient with slow-moving text. I'm not sure that all of the additions are entirely in good taste.
That said, the rest of the text remains in all of its original glory, complete with snappy dialogue (although somewhat improved, I think, when rewritten by Goldman for the screenplay), amazing characters, and above all true love, and the comedy of the book, while very different from the comedy of the film, is clever and suits me just fine. The first chapter of Buttercup's Baby is slow to get moving and not really that wonderful for a snippet of long-awaited conclusion, but it's fun to read if you're already really familiar with the story. All in all, I highly recommend this text, though perhaps not this edition, to everyone. Almost everyone has seen the movie but far fewer have read the book, and there is so much in the written text, in particular character backstory and the Zoo of Death, that had to be cut from the film due to unfilmability (I just made up a word) and length. Trust me, the book is an easy and enjoyable read, the "intrusions" by Morgenstern and Goldman are both funny and heartfelt ("...life is not fair. Forget all the garbage your parents put out. Remember Morgenstern. You'll be a lot happier."), and after all, books are almost always better than the films they become. Just go read it. You won't regret it.
Author: William Goldman
Published: New York: Delray (The Ballantine Publishing Group), 1973 (2000).
Page Count:398
Total Page Count: 14,263
Text Number: 39
Read For: My own enjoyment
Short review: One of my favorite books (and films) of all time, The Princess Bride is a story of true love, adventure, pirates, sword fights, giants, royalty, torture, danger, heroism, surprise, and humor. Buttercup, deeply in love with Westley, is devastated when he dies at the hands of the Dread Pirate Roberts. Many years later, she is engaged to Prince Humperdinck, a man that she does not love, and is suddenly captured by Fezzik the strong giant, Inigo the Spaniard and expert swordsman, and Vizzini the cunning mastermind. As she is carried away the they are followed by the man in black, a sailor, climber, fighter, and incredible man with his mind set of capturing her for himself. The book contains everything that had to be cut from the film and, if possible, is even better. There is more backstory, a bit more humor, the full journey through the Zoo of Death to the Pit of Despair, and perhaps best of all it is told as a "good parts" abridgment of the original text by S. Morgenstern. I recommend this book to everyone. It's a fast-moving read, a lot of fun, and a true love story for the ages. I reread it myself fairly often, and I just love it.
My actual critique of the text stems mostly from the fact that this time I was reading from the 25th Anniversary Edition which has a new introduction and includes the first chapter of "the long-lost sequel," Buttercup's Baby. The original introduction/preface to the book, still included in this copy, chronicles the author's fictional experiences with the text, read to him by his father. The Princess Bride, he writes, he has never read in full—his father read it to him as a child, and when he discovered it on his own as an adult he found that his father had heavily abridged the text, omitting many pages about hat-packing, "satirical" reports of court circumstance, and, in the sequel, a lengthy essay on trees. He took it upon himself to rework the original into the abridged "Good Parts" version. Of course, there is no Florin, no Morgenstern, and no abridgment, but the non-fiction trappings of the text provide an immediately humorous setting and the opportunity for parenthetical, often humorous, from both Morgenstern and Goldman. It's effective, funny, and enduring.
The new introduction and the chapter of the sequel, however, carry the effect a little too far. For one, the humor of the "real world" setting is self-deprecating and awkward, which, while effective in small parts, becomes uncomfortable and laborious in the new larger chunks. With the additions, Goldman's "own words" now run on for a good 50 pages, and that's just too much. I got bored of it after a while, and I'm pretty patient with slow-moving text. I'm not sure that all of the additions are entirely in good taste.
That said, the rest of the text remains in all of its original glory, complete with snappy dialogue (although somewhat improved, I think, when rewritten by Goldman for the screenplay), amazing characters, and above all true love, and the comedy of the book, while very different from the comedy of the film, is clever and suits me just fine. The first chapter of Buttercup's Baby is slow to get moving and not really that wonderful for a snippet of long-awaited conclusion, but it's fun to read if you're already really familiar with the story. All in all, I highly recommend this text, though perhaps not this edition, to everyone. Almost everyone has seen the movie but far fewer have read the book, and there is so much in the written text, in particular character backstory and the Zoo of Death, that had to be cut from the film due to unfilmability (I just made up a word) and length. Trust me, the book is an easy and enjoyable read, the "intrusions" by Morgenstern and Goldman are both funny and heartfelt ("...life is not fair. Forget all the garbage your parents put out. Remember Morgenstern. You'll be a lot happier."), and after all, books are almost always better than the films they become. Just go read it. You won't regret it.
