April Discussion: The Princess Bride by William Goldman (spoilers)
 

Let's discuss the April MobileRead Book Club selection, The Princess Bride by William Goldman . What did you think?

After I read the book, I saw the movie. I liked the movie better, but the book had its charms. Even though I knew from the start that the source book by S. Morgenstern was a pure fabrication, William Goldman is such a convincing liar that when he began to talk about the lawsuits from the Morgenstern estate and how they would all go away if he agreed to let Stephen King write the sequel, I nearly believed him. He wrote so convincingly about his non-existent psychologist ex-wife and obese son, that I was surprised to learn he actually had two daughters and no sons (although he and his non-psychologist wife did divorce in 1991).

I enjoyed it. I enjoyed the fictional part before the actual story started, and the story itself. The part about the Morgenstern Library and Stephen King left me scratching my head a little bit; Knowing that it was fictional, and not being able to separate fact from fiction, I didn't really see a point in including Stephen King in the narrative (it seemed to pull me out of the story somewhat).

Having seen the movie first, I also liked how the "Life is pain ..." was kept in the movie and used by Wesley instead of his parents. I can imagine how a writer would want to keep that line.

This is one of my all-time favorites. I'd read the book years before the movie came out, and was annoyed that the movie removed one of the best lines in the book.

I haven't seen the movie. Never even heard of it before this month!

I have only just started the book, and have only read the "introductions" and knowing it is all fake makes it extra funny!

I like the way Wesley is subtly tested by the author all along the way in the book. Each test helpd to re-inforce Wesley's worthyness as a person for Buttercup.

And the ending challenges you... Are you worthy of the fairy tale?

I didn't know until I read the copyright page...

I have to agree with others who having previously seen the film enjoyed that more than the book. I obtained the 30th Anniversary Edition as an ebook, which meant that there were two Introductions to plow through (for the 30th and 25th Anniversary Editions) neither of which added anything to the actual story for me.

The book is just a light, fun, and comic fairytale. Trying to make it more than that seems silly.

That's the one I got. I haven't seen such long preliminaries to a story since Bertrand Russell's long-winded introduction to Wittgenstein's Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus (which is actually a fairly short book). :eek:

Yes, I have the same version. I admit to be in two minds when I read the intro(s) as to whether it was genuine, fictional, or indeed a mix of both. I was particularly unsure about Morgenstern, and whether he genuinely existed. I eventually came to realise it must be made up, but I did find it fun to read, though I kept wanting the story for real to start.

I really enjoyed the humourous style that Goldman employs. Very much up my street. The story itself was fun and engaging, and I am looking forward to seeing the movie, if it is indeed better than the book.

I was a little confused over the inclusion of Buttercup Baby (in this edition, at least). Whilst I understand that it forms almost an epilogue function for the Princess Bride, it also raises more questions, and leaves more things hanging, than did Bride. For example - do Fezzik and the baby survive the fall from the cliffs? No small matter. I just wished he had taken it further and wrapped up some of the loose ends.

A worthy selection, all said and done :).

I also got this edition from the library. I got so bored reading the overly long introductions I haven't even started the book. Add me to the short list of those who had never heard of the book or seen the movie and don't plan to ever do so.

By the way, here's Fezzik (André René Roussimoff aka André the Giant) in another role. Before his actual death of congestive heart failure on 27 January 1993, he was killed in the ring by Jake the Snake Roberts on October 25, 1988 in Baltimore.

The spoiler is in place for those members who may have a phobia of snakes.



Yeah, I know it's a bit off-topic, but when else am I going to speak of two folks who were among my favorite wrestlers back in the day?

Sadly, his opponent in this match, Jake "The Snake" Roberts (real name Aurelian Smith Jr.), had a checkered personal history that included bar fights, drug abuse, and the charge of animal cruelty in 2004 for allowing Damian (the snake in the video) to starve to death in his garage.

Getting back on topic, according to Wikipedia, Fezzik was André "The Giant" Roussimoff's favorite role.

Perhaps the 40th anniversary edition will add a another chapter to further clear things up... :D

I think he's afraid of failure. That's why there's no Buttercup's Baby. He knows he hit a home run the first time out, and he fears the sequel wouldn't live up to everyone's expectations. That's as good a reason as any for a 39 year long writer's block.

First time out? Goldman had been a successful novelist and screenwriter for years before & after The Princess Bride. (He doesn't seem to have written novels after TPB hit the movies, though.

I knew he was a successful TV & movie screenwriter, but I think he considered The Princess Bride a bit out of his normal writing.

He also wrote another book supposedly by S. Morgenstern, The Silent Gondoliers about why the gondoliers of Venice no longer sing.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Silent-Gon...5100545&sr=8-1

I don't know if there are any Germans reading this thread, but if:

Von der "Brautprinzessin" gibt es eine wunderwunderschöne ungekürzte Hörspielfassung, die von Jochen Malmsheimer und Bela B. (Ärzte) gelesen wird und die sich auch als kleines Geschenk für die Kiddies gut eignet (meine Tochter hat sie zig, zig-mal angehört, und mir hat's auch jedes Mal neu wieder gefallen).

I really enjoyed getting the back stories of various characters, especially Fezzik and Inidgo. I liked the ending of the movie more than the book, but the book's end more closely fits "Life is pain."

I am terrible at remembering movies. I can remember seeing this movie in the theater - where, when, even with who, but nothing about the plot. I'm sure I watched it on video many times back then too! So I was looking forward to reading the book, and I really enjoyed it.

I borrowed the 30th anniversary edition from the library as well. I didn't read it in order from Page 1 to 284. I skipped the introductions. I started with the beginning of the story. Then I read Buttercup's Baby. Finally, I read the 25th anniversary intro followed by the 30th anniversary intro. I think I enjoyed it better reading it in that order. I started with the intro until I realized it had spoilers. Also, it is difficult to appreciate the content of the intros without reading the story first and enjoying it.

The intro of the 30th anniversary edition helps with this loose end. I enjoyed the writing style too. I initially wasn't sure why this book was nominated as a humor selection.

I do wish I had done this also. I tried again to read this book and probably read about 20 pages before giving up. Since it was a library loan I doubt I'll ever read it.

I did enjoy what there was of Buttercup's Baby. I wanted more. It was getting interesting when it stopped.

The author notes/injections gave the book a different feel then the movie. What I liked about having seen the movie before reading the book is that the movie is that the movie is so well cast, that it was nice to be able to imagine the movie characters while reading.

Some of Goldman's interjections did go on for a little long. It was good overall though. Well worth having read it. But in this case, I suggest seeing the movie and then reading the book.

I finished the book today. I especially enjoyed the introductions and the "author notes". Much more than the "actual" fairytale. Although the fairytale was amusing, the author notes is what really made the book funny.
I even enjoyed the (extremely long) introductions (I have the 30th anniversary edition so tehre were two of them)
I can't say it made me want to see the movie, even though I'm sure it's very enjoyable.

I enjoyed The Princess Bride. It has been described as a "revisionist" fairy tale, and I suppose it is that, as Goldman treats the various conventions of the fairy tale very much tongue-in-cheek. While I think he does go overboard in the process on occasion, by and large I think he gives a great deal of entertainment. Certainly, it is a very original approach and I am very glad that I read it.

The film tends generally to be more conventional and makes the most of the swashbuckling and monster scenes. The gentle satire is aimed at the old swashbuckling films of the Errol Flynn variety and in its own way it works just as well as the novel. The fact that Goldman himself write the screenplay adaptation from his book is one of the reasons both approaches work so well.

I wouldn't be without either.

If I can open up this thread again, I just finished the The Princess Bride.

I read everything in the 30th anniversary edition except for some of the torture paragraphs. Liked it? Not really, but it gives a lot to think about.

Reading through the thread, I see that my ideas about the book are hardly mentioned. If somebody can show me I'm wrong, maybe I'll look back on it more fondly.

This novel is the story of being someone who abridges works written by others. As a screenwriter, that's what William Goldman does.

However, Goldman isn't, in the Princess Bride, writing a movie script. He is turning a literary classic supposedly studied by Columbia professors into a children's book. I can't get around the idea that he is either:

A. Showing self-loathing about how screenwriters like himself butcher their source material

or

B. Insulting the gullibility of those in his audience who will focus on the kids-love-it non-italicized parts and find them emotionally plausible despite the impossibilities (dead doesn't really mean dead, wed to an evil man doesn't really mean married).

As for the fairy tale, how can any adult be supposed to like Wesley and Buttercup. Do people remember how dumb Buttercup had to be to believe so long that the Prince actually let Wesley get away? And how evil Wesley had to be to be the Dread Pirate Roberts for even a short time?

One part of the anniversary material that I thought was important was when Goldman said how pleased he was to see a couple at the beach wearing "Wesley never dies" T-shirts. He sincerely doesn't want to be contemptuous of those who pay his bills. But can he help it?

I did not understand the references to Stephen King. Is it just a simple admission of jealousy for King's greater success? Or is Stephen King supposed to be just one more betrayer of literature who sold out to popular culture? Or is it that King=Morgenstern, in which case most of what I am saying here is wrong.

I've read one other Goldman book, The Season: A Candid Look at Broadway. He wrote that book for people like himself. And I liked it. None of the angst about the relationship between reader and writer.

I'll bet one person who knows exactly what the Princess Bride is about is his ex.

If one wants realism, might I suggest Animal Farm?

One reads fantasy to escape realism...

(There was no S. Morgenstein)