A Book A Week: The Princess Bride by William Goldman

The Princess Bride: S. Morgenstern’s Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure, The ‘good parts’ version, Abridged by William Goldman. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich (Via Ballantine paperback) 1973.

I’ve seen The Princess Bride movie many times. It’s one of the few movies I’ve ever been willing to rewatch. I infected the Sonars with my love for the movie, and now they too will quote it for you on request. They particularly like Fezzik and Inigo’s rhyming.

But I had never read the book. This paperback has been hanging around our house for decades, and I’ve always wanted to read it, but just never got around to it. So I was put in a curious position. Usually I read a book first and it’s up to the movie to live up to the book and my imagination. In this case though, I knew and loved the movie, and it was up to the book to measure up.

I’m happy to say that the book is fun. In terms of the main plot about Westley and Buttercup, the story is very familiar, with only minor shifts to accommodate movie-plotting. But what I absolutely adore is the framing sequence about Goldman’s experience with the book as a child at his father’s side and trying to find the book for his own son only to be disappointed by the boring parts. In the movie, the framing story of the grandfather reading to the sick boy inadequately stands in for this hilarious device. The book is worth a read if only for the introduction and for Goldman’s narrative remarks throughout the story.