January Book Study: The Princess Bride

Well I guess I'll start this by saying I've seen the movie countless times but never read the book until now. After reading about half of the story and then going back and reading the intro's I got very confused and I had to stop and look up to see if this was really real.

It's not, by the way.

The author does such a good job of presenting it and that's what makes it such a fun read so far.

I'll post again when I actually finish.

I couldn't find my copy, but I got one at the library. I want to finish the fantasy book I'm on before I reread this one...

The presentation is a bit odd. I think the way the movie made it a story in a story worked well for the film adaptation.

Speaking of, are we discussing the movie openly or should we put potential movie spoilers in white and not quote the white text?

The ending of the book SPOILER! DO NOT READ ON IF YOU THOUGHT I WAS JUST RAMBLING...


was a dark twist. When I reread it I'm going to see if this fit some elements of the story, or was thrown in as a to hell with the HEA (Happily Ever After)...

Sai said:

Every time Goldman talked about how he had to edit such-and-such part out, I would grumble and promise myself that someday I would find an English translation of 'The Princess Bride' that was unabridged and faithful to the original author's vision.

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I saw the movie countless times before I had even heard of the book, and I remember being so excited about finally getting to read the story that started it all...until I got to the part where Goldman talked about editing out some 50-page section during which all the author discussed were the various trees of Florin, and I finally realized the movie was, at least in terms of the overall package, superior to the book (oh, how it hurts to say that!).

Not to say that I didn't enjoy the book -- I did, and the overall setting of the world is far more humorous and applicable to the plot than was presented in the movie version (the backstories of the characters were particularly well-done). But I can only imagine what Hollywood would have/must have thought, looking at a story that plunges into intense discussions of flora without warning...that's not exactly marketable material for the action-craved audiences of America.

Do remember that Goldman wrote both the book and the screenplay, everyone.

I think it's interesting to see how he adapted the same story for each of the media. I mean, it's one of the rare times that someone who intimately knows the story the original author was telling did the adaptation.

DeleyanLee said:

Do remember that Goldman wrote both the book and the screenplay, everyone.

I think it's interesting to see how he adapted the same story for each of the media. I mean, it's one of the rare times that someone who intimately knows the story the original author was telling did the adaptation.

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True -- and if you think about it, he did it very well. The story was tweaked perfectly for the movie; not too much information, a tight plot, and the humor that makes the Princess Bride so memorable. But there were a lot of details Goldman left out -- they worked really well in the novel, but wouldn't have in the movie, and he was smart enough to see the difference.

So I've finished the book and I wasn't as satisfied with it as I hoped I'd be.

I guess since I'm such a fan of the movie I was hoping for just an extended version of that. And it delivered on some points, like the back stories for Inigo and Fezzik and the more detailed telling of how those two got Westley out of the Zoo. Plus, I liked getting to know Buttercup a little better as a character and not just the pretty damsel in distress.

But what bugged me was all the "interruptions" from Goldman. As i said before, it took me until about half way through the book to realize that all of this abridging stuff was fake and after that, it kind of killed it for me. I just wanted to read the story, really, I wanted a novel adaptation of the movie.

Looking back, I get the humor that Goldman was trying to put in, as a writer I see what's he's doing. I understand why he wrote it this way and why it got published. But since I've grown up with the movie and love it so much, I truly believe the movie is better than the book. And the only saving grace is that Goldman did write both and that's why the movie is so good.

So by the end, the book was kind of "meh" for me. and now i feel like i'm going to be shot for not liking it

Kricket said:

So by the end, the book was kind of "meh" for me. and now i feel like i'm going to be shot for not liking it

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I won't shoot you, because I felt pretty much the same way. We'll both be against the wall.

Love the movie, years ago I started to read the book but never finished it. Didn't care for the book.

The first part of the book makes me giggle every time.

Which first part?

I'm about a third in. The foreward or whatever started interesting and I settled in to read it, ready to enjoy the narrative voice. It quickly became dull and painful and I was too stubborn to skip to chapter one. It's been harder to enjoy the interruptions...

Also, I skipped to the end. After a fitting 'and they lived happily ever after' aside in italics, the 'real' ending is told- the one I referred to above. It ends with Inigo's wound reopening, and Westley relapsing, and a horse throwing a shoe, etc.

The italics bit after that seems gratuitous. Yes it's a story in a story but I think ending with the real end after hearing the father's ending would have been fine. Let the reader end with the escape scene, not ramblings on love and cough drops.

Otoh, life being fairer than death is a nice end note.

The parts where they're talking about the most beautiful women in the land, as well as some of the young Buttercup angst.

This thread has me very curious what I would think if I reread The Princess Bride (can't find a copy, unfortunately). On one hand, I read it quite a long time ago when I was fairly young. On the other hand, I read it before seeing the movie and while I liked the film version it's not a classic for me in the same way it is for many people.

I grew up watching this film, and loved it. I always wanted to be Inigo rather than Buttercup...

Reading the novelisation and seeing how Goldman used the story-within-a-story-within-a-story angle annoys me. It just seems so...snarky, I think is the word. In the immortal words of Miracle Max: "Ooh, look who's so smart!"

Is the book really improved by all his 'authorial addenda'? I don't think so... Pulling your readers out of the story is avoided by most writers for a reason. There's subverting conventions...and there's being 'smart' for 'smart's' sake.

Anyway, the point is...Do you by any chance happen to have six fingers on your right hand?

No extra digits here (except on my freaky new chickens)!

I finished a few days ago, and my thoughts:

The book doesn't really pick up until chapter five 'The announcement'. There are some good bits from the earlier chapter, but after that 'prologue/intro' I was ready for the story to get rolling.

The dialogue: Genius. This is the only consistently solid part of the whole book. Sure it helped that I had the movie to give each character a distinct voice, but even so you could see the dialogue was the strong part. The prose, italics or not, did not shine as the dialogue did, and it some parts it was just clunky.

Also, I think Fezzik was stronger in the movie by far than he was in the book. Just little things made him seem less well rounded than he was in the movie. The actor did well to bring Fezzik to life.

So, supposedly, we can all write to Harcourt for Goldman's scene where Westley and Buttercup reunite. Maybe it's on the internet, who knows. But, before I return my library book, here's the mailing addie:

Hiram Haydn
Harcourt Brace Jovanovich
757 Third Ave
New York, New York 10017

Anyone got an email addie for such?

Aside from that, that was a LOT of author intrusion towards the end of chapter five for 'Now I won't show you them all happy lovey dovey'


Also in chapter 5: The scene where Buttercup abandons Westley after they leave the fireswamp and are captured is much colder in the book. I would have loved to see this dialogue in the movie to darken it up a bit. In short, Westley says:
"We were talking of love, madam." There was a long pause. Then Buttercup said it:
"I can live without love."
And with that she left Westley alone.

Ouch.

Overall, I think the book could have used more depth and a little more drawing out of the dark themes. It's such a contrast with love, and a kid being read to, and the HEA that never actually happens (since there's a dire cliffhanger instead). The movie probably would have been ruined by including more of the dark elements (overall it's a farcical romp), but I think the book should have been more.

But still worth rereading. As someone above noted, the added backstory and such is nice.