A Book Review of The Princess Bride
An Evaluation of William Goldman’s Enchanting Fairy Tale Novel
Mar 28, 2009
A large portion of the American population has seen and loved the film “The Princess Bride”. However, few of those people know that the story is based on a book with the same title by William Goldman. Like the movie, the book is uproariously funny and heartwarming, and the reader will wish that the story would go on forever.
Westley and Buttercup
The Princess Bride is about a young milkmaid who is stunningly beautiful though she despises bathing and prefers to smell like her horse, Horse. She enjoys ordering their farm hand, Westley, around, and he always responds to her requests with the same three words: “As you wish”.
However, her feelings toward Westley change dramatically when she sees the Countess of Florin flirting with him. Judging by the intensity of her jealousy, Buttercup decides that she is in love with the boy, and immediately tells him of this newfound love. He responds that he has loved her for years, and they are poised to be the perfect couple—until Westley attempts to sail to America to make some money for their wedding and gets captured by the Dread Pirate Roberts, who is notorious for killing all of his victims.
The Bride
Several years pass, and Buttercup blossoms into a breathtaking, yet intensely sorrowful, young woman. Her increased beauty compels the Prince of Florin, Prince Humperdink, to take her for his bride, and future queen of his country. Before the wedding, however, Buttercup is abducted by a motley crew of Florinean hit men changed with the task of killing her and making it seem as if the job was done by soldiers of the neighboring country of Guilder, with whom the prince hopes to go to war.
The reader comes to finds that two of the three hitmen are not nearly as evil as they seem, they are merely down on their luck and in need of money and support. Nevertheless, all of the assailants are overpowered by a mysterious “Man in Black”, who steals Buttercup back from them in a surprising turn of events.
As Buttercup struggles to escape from the Man in Black, she learns that he is not such a mysterious figure after all. He is actually her beloved Westley, finally returned from the sea where she thought he had perished. Together they must fight against nearly impossible odds to save their relationship, as well as their lives.
S. Morgenstern
The Princess Bride is a joy to read, and it is extremely hard to put down. The characters all have unique and endearing quirks, and the reader enjoys every minute that he or she spends in their company.
While the storyline and characters are lovable, there are a few parts in the book where the reader can be easily confused or bored. For example, the introduction goes on for almost fifty pages, and the basic gist of this section (as well as many smaller sections scattered throughout the book) is that William Goldman did not write this book, he merely abridged a book penned by a man named S. Morgenstern. This catches the reader off-guard, and they begin to get the feeling that the author is an unreliable narrator, and is not being completely honest with them. However, if one knows that S. Morgenstern is just another character invented by Goldman to flesh out his charming story, then they can appreciate that his voice in the novel is not unreliable, it is instead a revolutionary and unique approach to modern literature.
The Princess Bride was first published in 1973 by Harcourt, Inc. ISBN:978-0-15-603521-7
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