Book #3 of 2006: The Princess Bride
OK, I am so gullible. After reading the opening of William Goldman's The Princess Bride, I went online to double check whether or not S. Morgenstern was a real author with a real version of The Princess Bride that inspired Goldman's abridged version. For those of you wondering, I'll let you do your own research to fulfill your curiosity (and by the way, I discovered on a message board that I wasn't the only one who did this).
But it really attests to how compelling Goldman is as a writer, the fact that so many of the world's readers are under The Princess Bride's spell. It is one of our favorite family movies, and I also enjoyed the book. It is almost the same, with some changes made here and there to minor details, and more history given on Buttercup, Fezzik, Inigo, and Prince Humperdink, which I appreciated. However, after about halfway through, the book is almost exactly as it is in the movie,which makes the book not as exciting of a read from that point on, although I found the spirit of the ending in the book much different, a bit darker, but still satisfying despite the questions it raises. However, in the edition I read, many of those questions were answered by the addition of the abridged "first chapter" of Buttercup's Baby (quite compelling!).
The Princess Bride is one of the few stories in which I like the book and movie equally, which would make sense since Goldman also penned the screenplay. That reminds me: the forward in the edition I read written by Goldman includes some great info on how the movie came to be and some touching stories about Andre the Giant, the wrestler who played Fezzik.
Next on the list, a recommendation I read somewhere in the blogsphere from Alexa, A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry
But it really attests to how compelling Goldman is as a writer, the fact that so many of the world's readers are under The Princess Bride's spell. It is one of our favorite family movies, and I also enjoyed the book. It is almost the same, with some changes made here and there to minor details, and more history given on Buttercup, Fezzik, Inigo, and Prince Humperdink, which I appreciated. However, after about halfway through, the book is almost exactly as it is in the movie,which makes the book not as exciting of a read from that point on, although I found the spirit of the ending in the book much different, a bit darker, but still satisfying despite the questions it raises. However, in the edition I read, many of those questions were answered by the addition of the abridged "first chapter" of Buttercup's Baby (quite compelling!).
The Princess Bride is one of the few stories in which I like the book and movie equally, which would make sense since Goldman also penned the screenplay. That reminds me: the forward in the edition I read written by Goldman includes some great info on how the movie came to be and some touching stories about Andre the Giant, the wrestler who played Fezzik.
Next on the list, a recommendation I read somewhere in the blogsphere from Alexa, A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry
posted by Philothea Rose at
11:54 AM
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