The Princess Bride by William Goldman
My rating ✰3✰
Picture and quote from Goodreads
A tale of true love and high adventure, pirates, princesses, giants, miracles, fencing, and a frightening assortment of wild beasts – The Princess Bride is a modern storytelling classic.
As Florin and Guilder teeter on the verge of war, the reluctant Princess Buttercup is devastated by the loss of her true love, kidnapped by a mercenary and his henchmen, rescued by a pirate, forced to marry Prince Humperdinck, and rescued once again by the very crew who absconded with her in the first place. In the course of this dazzling adventure, she’ll meet Vizzini – the criminal philosopher who’ll do anything for a bag of gold; Fezzik – the gentle giant; Inigo – the Spaniard whose steel thirsts for revenge; and Count Rugen – the evil mastermind behind it all. Foiling all their plans and jumping into their stories is Westley, Princess Buttercup’s one true love and a very good friend of a very dangerous pirate.
“Buttercup’s Baby” is at the end of this edition.
This story is my favorite movie ever. My husband and I have watched it countless times and used to be able to quote it to each other non-stop. The book, however, was not my favorite. It took me a really long time to get through it. I even skipped the stuff at the end. This edition has 90 pages of more talking from Goldman and a chapter of something called “Buttercup’s Baby.” I just had no interest at all though. The movie is fantastic. This was just okay. I can’t imagine I’ll read it again. I didn’t like Buttercup at all. Everyone felt a little whiny. And the constant intrusions in the story by the author just made for an unenjoyable experience for me. I know it was supposed to be funny and a story within a story, but I mostly found it irritating. I can’t wait to watch the movie again though! The first time I’ve ever liked the movie more than the book.
