The Princess Bride:
S. Morgenstern’s Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure
The “Good Parts” Version Abridged by William Goldman
I’ve loved the movie adaptation of The Princess Bride practically my whole life. It’s always been cherished. I picked up the book….well I don’t even know how long ago and finally decided to read it.
Apparently S. Morgenstern put a great deal of Florin history and satire in his story, such as spending 56 pages on the Queen packing, traveling, and unpacking, meeting with a princess of Guilder, her packing, them traveling back and unpacking. Well, William Goldman has cut out all of this and just included the ‘good parts’. Call me silly, but I was probably a good halfway through the book before I went to look up something online and discovered that S. Morgenstern only exists as a sort of pseudonym/literary device for Goldman. It’s entirely his creation. Hooray for me not knowing what’s up! Anyhow, I thought that was incredibly interesting and pretty brilliant of him!
I LOVED this book and will certainly be reading it again. I always knew I would.
Inigo and Fezzik are just as they are in the movie. Most of my favorite lines are there such as, “I only dog paddle” and “Inconceivable!”
Of course some of the story details are a little different, but nothing so much as to really change the story for me.
One big difference is that we really see how Buttercup goes from not caring at all about Westley to what we see in the movie. The transformation is fantastic! I loved that extra insight into her character. There’s a bit more development to Inigo and Fezzik as well =)
I don’t really know what else to say about it other than if you enjoy the movie, you’ll absolutely enjoy the novel as well!
I would very much love to see if Goldman delivers on finishing his ’sequel’ Buttercup’s Baby. Supposedly it was set to be ready for the 35th anniversary edition in 2009. The first chapter is included in the book edition I own and I hate cliffhangers!
