The Princess Bride

What a great read. I have been feeling under the weather for a couple of weeks and this book choice couldn't have been better. It's been a brilliant read and has kept me well and truly entertained. In fact I think I have been placed under a spell of ' a long and annoying cold ' whilst reading it.  You need to be ill to enjoy it.   This is similar to young William, who gets the original version read to him by his grandfather whilst suffering from pneumonia.  I hope that now I have finished the book the spell will be broken and I will finally begin to feel better!  

A few months back my friend Lucy asked me if I had ever watched the movie and when I said I hadn't she told me I should because it's so funny. When I was wandering round the £2 bookshop in Oxford I found this copy of the original book and remembering what Lucy had told me I bought it. I haven't been disappointed, it's been fabulous.

William Goldman wrote this in 1973 and the film was made in the 80s.  I'm so glad I have been able to read this book with absolutely no knowledge of the film. William Goldman is a genius of structure and plot.  Here he has created a world within a world  within a world with all the classic fairy tale elements kept in and all the boring sections cleverly removed.  

The introduction is William Goldman talking about his life. He mentions his screen play script for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance kid (true) and his psychotherapy wife and rather lazy son. (Found out now this is all false, he didn't have either. )  He talks about his memories of having the original version of The Princess Bride by S. Morganstern read to him by his grandfather. For about 15 pages I was taken in and then suddenly it dawned on me the introduction is totally imaginary and William Goldman  hasn't rewritten the old classic by Morganstern at all.  The whole wonderful recreation is his alone and he turns the art and craft of telling fairy tales on its head.  The satire is amazing  and so funny and works so well because Goldman obviously loves a great fairy tale. He scribbles amendments and notes and tells us when he has removed the boring bits and why.  It's all so clever and entertaining.

For people who don't know the story there is Buttercup the most beautiful girl in the world. Westly, the farm boy, her true love.  Prince Humperdink, the evil guy who she must marry and the great characters of Dread Pirate Robert, Vizzini the hunchback, Inigo Montoya ,the best fencer in the world who must kill the man with six fingers to avenge his father's death and Fezzik, the Turkish strong man. 

The story is based in the country of Florin and the action moves from the country to the palace to the  Mountain  of Insanity and the Fire swamp ( I loved the ROUSs, the rodents of unusual size.) At this point it's like Shrek on acid.

There is a turn to the dark side when Westly is tortured in the Zoo of Death but mostly this book is just so uplifting.  I even love how grumpy and self obsessed William Goldman seems to be in his introduction.  (A dig at self obsessed writers and artists the world over I believe.) 

I urge all my friends or anyone still reading this review to READ this book or watch the movie, or both.  I can't believe it has taken me so many years to do so and I am really looking forward to watching the movie.  As William Goldman also wrote the screen play I have heard there are hardly any changes.  In fact many fans think the film is even better. ( Most fans did watch the movie first though.) I'm looking foward to finding out what I think but I have a gut feeling that the book will  still be my favourite!  

A real gem and a book I will keep for ever and read again and again!

PS. have just found out that Inigo Montoya is played by Mandy Patinkin in the movie.  I will never look at Saul from Homeland in the same light again!