The Princess Bride by William Goldman is a satirical romantic fairy
tale. A young girl named Buttercup falls in love with the farm hand
Westly. After she declares her love to him, Westly leaves to seek his
fortune promising to send for her. When Buttercup receives news that
Westly's ship was attacked by a pirate that is known to leave no
survivors she is inconsolable. When the local prince learns of
Buttercup's beauty he orders her to marry him or face death and seems
not the least bit concerned that Buttercup will never love him. Shortly
after the engagement Buttercup is kidnapped as part of a conspiracy to
start a war.
I found the story a bit hard to get into at first but it picks up
after the first couple of chapters. I would say that I didn't find the
book to be quite as funny as the movie, but I think that's just because
the actors really bring out the humor with the inflections of their
voices and the way they say the lines. I found it really enjoyable
though to read the background stories of some of the characters that
they really don't go into in the movie. One thing about the book that's a
little annoying is that the author as a narrator often interrupts the
story and goes off on tangents. Some of it is amusing and often starts
out as sort of relating to what is going on in the book, but tends to
end up far off course before you return to the actual story. Overall I
really enjoyed the book and would recommend it to anyone who has seen
the movie or anyone who enjoys humorous fairy tale like stories with
plenty of action, adventure, and romance.
One final thing I want to mention is that there is no unabridged
version of this book. No matter how much the author tells you that he
abridged a story originally written by S. Morgenstern, don't believe
him. This is merely a humorous plot device and there is no such person
as S. Morgenstern(though the author has used it as a pseudonym in other
works). Many details of the author's life in the introduction to this
book are also completely fabricated.
I've been a book worm for pretty much my whole life. I've read many types of books over the course of my life, but currently the sorts of books I enjoy the most are fantasy and science-fiction. I particularly like it if these genre's are mixed with comedy like the style of Douglas Adams and Terry Pratchett. I definitely can enjoy more serious fantasy and science-fiction though. I also enjoy vampire books, but not quite as much as I did when I was younger.
This blog is mainly for my book reviews, but I also post quotes and other random book related things. If you'd like to know more about the books I've read and am planning to read, I'm a member at several different book sites, and links to my profiles are listed under My Pages.
This blog is mainly for my book reviews, but I also post quotes and other random book related things. If you'd like to know more about the books I've read and am planning to read, I'm a member at several different book sites, and links to my profiles are listed under My Pages.
Tuesday, April 8, 2014
Review of The Princess Bride by William Goldman
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