The Princess Bride by William Goldman Life isn't fair, but it's fairer then death!
First of all, if you haven't seen the movie yet, DO!
Secondly, there never was an S. Morgenstern.
I love Goldman's style of writing, it's almost like sitting down with him and hearing the story straight out of his lips. All the little asides and parentheses make me smile and add so much more background.
Most of the movie lines are right out of the book. Since Goldman did the movie as well he remained true to the original spirit. There are two notable differences; shrieking eels replace the sharks and the whole Zoo of Death vanished.
I actually like the theatrical aspect of the eels in the water rather then sharks, everyone knows about the sharks, so to have huge eels coming out of the water and screaming is something a little different and fun. (I am not a water person so this doesn't inhibit me anymore then anything else. I simply do not swim.)
As to the missing Zoo of Death, I do wish that they had really gone into it but I can see why G. cut it out, can you imagine how much more money would have been spent and how much longer the movie would have been?
The Zoo of Death brings me to Prince Humperdinck. I like the book character better, he is more evil, more powerful and so is the more worthy opponent. In the movie he is more of a snobby, weakling.
One of my favorite scenes in the book is the Princess Noreena of Guilder losing her hat. "Madam, feel free to flee!" I can just see the large Banquet Hall and the wind making the candles sputter and go out, the Prince turning red with fury as the sheen of her bare head gleams in the dim light!
I have never really liked Princess Buttercup, her love of Horse is the only reason I can somewhat tolerate her silliness. A woman of action am I so it is with impatience that I endure her lack of will to do something in scary situations.
I know that the ending is very unorthodox, I like it that way. For me I know that they all lived somewhat happily ever after.
I think that Humperdinck actually marries Princess Noreena because his mother finds out about his plot to destroy Guilder and threatens him with publicity unless he makes amends and provides her with grandchildren.
Westley and Buttercup sail away and live happily in ignorance of the fact that she is beautiful but dumb and he is handsome and intelligent but a somewhat bloodthirsty pirate.
Inigo and Fezzik write poetry books for children under the name Dr. Suess.
The Albino becomes the Head Gamekeeper for the London Zoo (this was after London remember.)
Yes, this book is strange and somewhat silly but I love it. Probably because of it's eccentricities. The movie is one of my all time favorites, the cast is brilliant and truly bring Goldman's characters to life. "As you wish" is an age old situation but in this book it has a few comical and interesting twists as well as many colorful people and alot of different stories.
I hope you enjoyed it.
posted by Sky @ 10:45 AM
4 comments
4 Comments:
I just finished reading the book this morning...having finished half of it while sitting in a doctor's office. (Looong waits.)
I read this book several years ago - for a book club that Bonnie led, actually. It was nice to revisit.
I didn't know that Goldman was also involved in writing the screen play for the movie. It's quite obvious that the movie follows the book. I was thinking I might want to watch it again after reading it, but that was pretty much taken care of in the reading!
I, too, greatly dislike the charachter of Buttercup. She's so ....blonde. (With begged pardon from the blondes!) The majority of the wit definitely falls to Westley.
This book is fun for a revisit every so often - spaced from the movie, of course.
And here you have my indepth review! Thanks for the laughs, Sky. (They were great for the waiting game.)
This book is a classic! Alas, I will never be able to fully appreciate the book on its own because I will always view it through the lens of the movie - but considering the movie, that may not be such a tragedy, after all. I always rank this as one of the five cases in the world where the movie is actually better than the book, so let me try to make this a book review rather than a critique of the two's differences.
First, I always liked the Buttercup character. Maybe because I saw the movie first and therefore based my impression of her on the character as portrayed therein. I didn't think she was a dumb blonde; on the contrary, I love that initial scene with Westley where they discover their love. Yes, it's cheesy and even Westley admits that she's 'not the brightest' or some such, but it's so hilariously done. Like a spoof of a romance novel. 'But even twenty minutes ago was nothing to what I feel now...'
The Zoo of Death was perfectly ghastly, but I'm just as happy to have that left out of the movie. Eels were better than sharks, too.
The intrusions of the narrator started to get annoying. I didn't feel that his explanations of why he had to cut two hundred pages of Florinese history were all that amusing. I DID enjoy all the random timeline comments, though.
One thing I really appreciate about the book is all the background on the characters. I like knowing Fezzik's and Innigo's history, and it took me reading the book before I finally 'got' the whole rhyming thing.
The ending is entirely unsatisfactory. Why can't he just have them end happily ever after and be done with it?? Of course, because this is a spoof of a fairy tale. I much prefer how the movie ends up, and I like to imagine that that's how the book turns out, too.
I am still plugging through this, and enjoying the way that it is written. One thing is itching me sore however, his interjections! I wish that he wasn't so involved with his own book like this! It was funny at first, but I am starting to get annoyed -
On another note, I am sadly finding myself caught up in quotes from the movie - I am even hearing the Sicilian's voice behind his words in the book! hee hee - I am almost finished :) This is a fun one -
How rare a treat is it that BOTH book and film are quality, quality, quality! I adore this book. No end of humor.
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