Book Review: “The Princess Bride” by William Goldman

The Princess Bride by William Goldman

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


“The Princess Bride,” by William Goldman, was first published in 1973. It has since become a beloved story, better known as the movie by the same name that is now a Cult Classic. Before I go further, it is only fair to state that I love the movie. What’s not to love? A handsome young man, a beautiful maiden; a story of true love. Add to that the masterful writing, wonderful throw-away lines — “Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.” — Wallace Shawn, André the Giant, Billy Crystal; you simply cannot go wrong.

If one only knows the movie, however, I believe that one is missing out on the second story: Goldman’s incredibly clever backstory. The novel contains all of the elements seen in the movie. There is a somewhat jaded young boy, a father trying to engage the boy to read an old book, and the ensuing tale of adventure. This story was read to the narrator by his father. He is stunned, however, when his own son puts the book down after only one chapter. Why?

The reason the boy puts down the book is simple: it is boring. This brings us to the first facet of a literary put-one. The fictitious narrator, the ‘Author’ created by the author, discovers that the original text (a doubly fictitious text if you will) contains long and very boring passages which his own father skipped over whilst reading it aloud. The narrator discovers these very long, very boring passages relate to the politics of Florin and Guilder. Did I mention that these passages are long? Yes, very much so, and boring. So our narrator, the fictitious author, sets out to write an abridged version of the story, a version that has only the ‘Good Parts,’ a version that his won son will read and enjoy.

But behind that presenting tale, there is yet another elaborately fabricated yarn about the origins of the book itself. Fictitious countries are created, then made to seem real. The headaches of legal battles with an imagined estate of an imagined author punctuate the swashbuckling story that we are familiar with from the movie. Goldman breaks the fourth wall in such clever ways that the reader is not sure what is true and what is false. I hesitate to go further for fear of spoilers. Suffice it to say that there are entire dimensions in the novel that is missing in the movie.

Goldman’s joke was so effective, so convincing, that readers wrote letters to the publisher. Readers looked at current World maps, searching for the fictitious countries of Florin and Guilder. The author’s use of asides, of invented histories, makes for a romp of literary jest. It is a jest that I appreciated more and more as the book carried me away.

Reading “The Princess Bride” feels very much like reading two, or even three, different books. There is, of course, the original tall of sword fighting and true love, stripped down to only the good parts. There is the tale of the father attempting draw his son into something that the father valued as a young boy. Lastly, there is the funny and convoluted yarn of the Father/Author/Narrator struggling to give life to the original manuscript by S. Morgenstern. Yes, sorry, but there is yet another fictitious author lurking in the past, the originator of it all.

I realize that this may all sound a bit complicated. Guess what? It is, but in a way that is so marvelous and compelling I believe you will forgive William Goldman all of his many inside jokes. I highly recommend this novel, most especially if you love the movie version. The strange and clever backstory that Goldman weaves compliments the movie version, of which he was the screenwriter.






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