I have to say, I don't know if I've ever been so frustrated with a book. I went into The Princess Bride blind – I've never seen the film before.
There were some parts that were as great and iconic as I hoped they'd be but, for me, it's overshadowed by all the more disappointing aspects mounting up.
Now, I've seen another few opinions which agree that the metafictional aspect dragged the story but my god, I did not need to read 40 pages about why Stephen King was going to create the sequel when I thought that the end of PB wasn't for another 100 pages.
I didn't know that I'd picked up an anniversary edition with Buttercup's Baby at the end and I kinda wish I hadn't read it! I wanted to like the book and leave my reading experience positively, but it all felt so unfinished (and I know Goldman did this somewhat deliberately but it's ultimately built on all my other frustrations about the novel).
I love the actual story so much that I've come away a bit deflated by the way it's presented in the book.
Well, I guess the only thing left to do is to watch the film!
by Hullabaloo204
9 Comments
See the movie
Oh, dear 🤣
The movie doesn’t include the framing device and is a much more entertaining experience because of it!
Read the book after the film. This a scenario where the movie did it better.
I read the book about twenty years ago. Most likely different edition. I loved it. And unlike many, I’m not too keen on the film. Which I saw after I had read the book.
Sometimes I feel like I’m in the minority here because I loved the meta aspect, and I loved that Goldman kept adding to it over the years.
It truly is a book about a book.
But yeah, you’ll like the movie a ton more. It strips away most of the meta stuff and puts it in a far more simple framework.
There are a handful of differences even in the story part between the book and movie. Some things added, some things removed.
The book itself is political satire. As such, it’s a damn slog. The parenthesis and the footnotes are a lot. I have the anniversary edition and still haven’t finished it.
The movie is just the internal story of the book, well done and efficient story telling, and yes it’s better than the book.
Is this a kissing book?
I do love how all the supposed lawyers letters got released later!
You can definitely skip over nearly everything in the asides and parenthetical notes. Some of them are indeed entertaining, like the story of his quest to find a copy of the book for his son, but they go on way too long. Don’t ignore all of them, because some relate to in-universe content.