World Famous Comics: The Princess Bride: S. Morgenstern's Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure
The Princess Bride: S. Morgenstern's Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure
By: William Goldman Publisher: Harvest Books Average Rating: Binding: Mass Market Paperback Label: Harvest Books Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 512 Publication Date: October 08, 2007
William Goldman’s beloved novel has sold over one million copies. A movie, released twenty years ago, perfectly captured the spirit of the book and has introduced new fans to its pages ever since. In 1941 a young boy lies bedridden from pneumonia. His perpetually disheveled and unattractive father, an immigrant from Florin with terribly broken English, shuffles into his bedroom carrying a book. The boy wants to know if it has any sports. His father says, "Fencing. Fighting. Torture. Poison. True love. Hate. Revenge. Giants. Hunters. Bad men. Good men. Beautifulest ladies. Snakes. Spiders. Beasts of all natures and descriptions. Pain. Death. Brave men. Coward men. Strongest men. Chases. Escapes. Lies. Truths. Passions. Miracles." And the little boy, though he doesn’t know it, is about to change forever. As Goldman says, "What happened was just this. I got hooked on the story." And coming generations of readers will, too.
And coming generations of readers will too.
Amazon.com Review: The Princess Bride is a true fantasy classic. William Goldman describes it as a "good parts version" of "S. Morgenstern's Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure." Morgenstern's original was filled with details of Florinese history, court etiquette, and Mrs. Morgenstern's mostly complimentary views of the text. Much admired by academics, the "Classic Tale" nonetheless obscured what Mr. Goldman feels is a story that has everything: "Fencing. Fighting. Torture. Poison. True love. Hate. Revenge. Giants. Hunters. Bad men. Good men. Beautifulest ladies. Snakes. Spiders. Beasts of all natures and descriptions. Pain. Death. Brave men. Coward men. Strongest men. Chases. Escapes. Lies. Truths. Passion. Miracles."
Goldman frames the fairy tale with an "autobiographical" story: his father, who came from Florin, abridged the book as he read it to his son. Now, Goldman is publishing an abridged version, interspersed with comments on the parts he cut out.
Is The Princess Bride a critique of classics like Ivanhoe and The Three Musketeers, that smother a ripping yarn under elaborate prose? A wry look at the differences between fairy tales and real life? Simply a funny, frenetic adventure? No matter how you read it, you'll put it on your "keeper" shelf. --Nona Vero
Romance and adventure and political documentation! There are so many times whilst reading this book that I just wanted to roll my eyes like no other... but then again, that's part of the charm of this nearly surreal, satirical fairy tale that still manages a heart of gold.
The set-up is that this is an abridged version of a much longer, much more serious novel (not true, but it makes it a lot of fun). We get the "good parts", a wonderfully melodramatic story of piracy, princesses, murder, and the like.
The humor is off-beat, hilarious, and surprisingly sweet. The characters are quirky, vibrant, and always endearing. Even the tongue-in-cheek notes-of-the-"editor" are a must-read.
It's a conspiracy with a great story, and is definitely a modern classic.
Great story, questionable reading. I'm a fan of Rob Reiner's work, but his reading of this classic leaves quite a bit to be desired, in my opinion. He reads too fast and with little differing inflection, making it difficult at times to tell when he ends one character's line and starts another. This fantasy would have benefitted from a voice that could handle multiple characters and perhaps someday we'll even get a version with a full cast and music.
Still, it's clearly a story that means a lot to him and to its listeners and readers, so his pace and reading style don't entirely distract from the experience...a very worthwhile purchase.
True Love and High Adventure Indeed! This story is so charming and delightful. There is definitely something for everyone - humor, true love, fencing, kidnapping, the fire swamp, and the zoo of death. There is so much more detail and humor that was left out of the movie, that it was a real treat to read. Definitely a classic adventure story!
Real Fantasy I was afraid to read this book and avoided it for many years. I so dearly love the movie and I just didn't want to be disappointed either way. If the book was better, as is usually the case, then my movie experience would be tarnished. If the movie was better then I'd be wasting my time with the book.
Well nevermind to all of that, because I LOVE this book and now the two separate entities will forever positively reinforce each other in my mind. There are some significant changes from the movie which should help separate them.
I love the inclusion of the character, "William Goldman". Oh, he's not a character you say? He's the author? Well he's one of my favorite parts of this book. I love the interaction between the characters, especially Fezzik and Inigo who throughout the book had me in all kinds of tears: of laughter, of joy, of sadness.
I read every word of "The Princess Bride" and I'm usually a big skimmer and skipper.
my love has faded in time. The first time I read this book, I loved it, fullstop. The second time I read it, I was pretty angry about being tricked, but it was still awesome. Reading it all these years later as an adult, I noticed how sexist, racist, and lazy this book is. Don't get me wrong- enough of it is still entertaining that I didn't try to set my copy on fire, but it's not nearly as good as I remember it being.
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