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A review by tinyelfarcanist
The Princess Bride by William Goldman
5.0
Right after finishing this book, I watched the movie because I saw it on The MOVIE was BETTER list. It’s not.
The book begins with (fake) Goldman rediscovering his favorite childhood book: Princess Bride by (fake) S. Morgenstern, and finding out it was longer than he remembered, so he decides to make an abridged (“good parts”) version.
We read about his (fake) childhood, (fake) sad life and (fake) annoying family. (Real and fake) Goldman teases us with the promise of a deleted scene by mailing the editor, which some (real) people did, but never got due to (fake) legal issues. This was one of my favorite parts of the book and it wasn’t included in the movie.
The satire on the fantasy genre is excellent: we get villainous villains, perfect (and arrogant) heroes, princesses of extraordinary beauty, dim-witted but good giants, unusually large beasts, and so on. It was great until half the story, where there’s an unnecessary subplot that breaks the narrative rhythm and adds nothing. I was hoping the movie would cut it but just skimmed it and somehow made it worse.
What the movie does better is giving clearer explanations by rewording some dialogues. For the Princess Bride story, it’s pretty much the same, scene by scene, plus bad acting.
The book’s 25th-anniversary edition includes the abridged version of the first chapter for the Princess Bride’s (fake) sequel: Buttercup’s Baby, also by (fake) S. Morgenstern. Praised by (fake) florinese connoisseurs, the sequel is said to be even better than the original work. It is.
(Real) William Goldman trolls us once more with a sneak peek to a sequel that never existed and never intended to. He even mocks (fake) Morgenstern’s audacity to start a sequel risking the beloved characters’ lives and wondering how the (fake) author would solve those situations later in the (fake) book.
I was a little disappointed halfway because I was enjoying it so far. The ending was good, but not good enough to balance the boring rising action. The bonus Buttercup’s Baby story made up for it and got this book my 5 stars.
The book begins with (fake) Goldman rediscovering his favorite childhood book: Princess Bride by (fake) S. Morgenstern, and finding out it was longer than he remembered, so he decides to make an abridged (“good parts”) version.
We read about his (fake) childhood, (fake) sad life and (fake) annoying family. (Real and fake) Goldman teases us with the promise of a deleted scene by mailing the editor, which some (real) people did, but never got due to (fake) legal issues. This was one of my favorite parts of the book and it wasn’t included in the movie.
The satire on the fantasy genre is excellent: we get villainous villains, perfect (and arrogant) heroes, princesses of extraordinary beauty, dim-witted but good giants, unusually large beasts, and so on. It was great until half the story, where there’s an unnecessary subplot that breaks the narrative rhythm and adds nothing. I was hoping the movie would cut it but just skimmed it and somehow made it worse.
What the movie does better is giving clearer explanations by rewording some dialogues. For the Princess Bride story, it’s pretty much the same, scene by scene, plus bad acting.
The book’s 25th-anniversary edition includes the abridged version of the first chapter for the Princess Bride’s (fake) sequel: Buttercup’s Baby, also by (fake) S. Morgenstern. Praised by (fake) florinese connoisseurs, the sequel is said to be even better than the original work. It is.
(Real) William Goldman trolls us once more with a sneak peek to a sequel that never existed and never intended to. He even mocks (fake) Morgenstern’s audacity to start a sequel risking the beloved characters’ lives and wondering how the (fake) author would solve those situations later in the (fake) book.
I was a little disappointed halfway because I was enjoying it so far. The ending was good, but not good enough to balance the boring rising action. The bonus Buttercup’s Baby story made up for it and got this book my 5 stars.