The Princess Bride: S. Morgenstern's Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure

by William Goldman

William Goldman's modern fantasy classic is a simple, exceptional story about quests--for riches, revenge, power, and, of course, true love--that's thrilling and timeless.

Anyone who lived through the 1980s may find it impossible--inconceivable, even--to equate The Princess Bride with anything other than the sweet, celluloid romance of Westley and Buttercup, but the film is only a fraction of the ingenious storytelling you'll find in these pages. Rich in character and satire, the novel is set in 1941 and framed cleverly as an "abridged" retelling of a centuries-old tale set in the fabled country of Florin that's home to "Beasts of all natures and descriptions. Pain. Death. Brave men. Coward men. Strongest men. Chases. Escapes. Lies. Truths. Passions."

• ISBN10: 0156035219
• ISBN13: 9780156035217
• Publish Date: 8 October 2007 (first published May 1975)
• Publish Status: Out of Stock
• Out of Print: 25 January 2012
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Harcourt Children's Books
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 512
• Language: English

Reviews

[leahrosereads]

This is good, fine, enjoyable.

The movie is better.

[dragononabook]

This is such a fabulous book, I've been reading it ever since I was a child and it has never lost its magic.

[Whitney @ First Impressions Reviews]

Some may see it as inconceivable but I liked the film version of The Princess Bride more than the book.  I felt that the book was too and short and the plot felt rushed.  As I love the dialogue in the film, I found myself searching for favored scenes or quotes that are shown in the movie ("Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.")  The Princess Bride is still a good book and worth the read if you're a fan of the film, however I prefer watching a young Fred Savage being told the story by Peter Falk.

This review was originally posted on First Impressions Reviews

I really enjoyed picking up this book. I originally did not realize that the metafictional aspects present in the movie actually came from the book. I look forward to reading other works of metafiction. Also, this book has given even more support to my hypothesis that watching the movie before reading the book enhances the experience if they're both good (and not too much is lost in translation). See Fight Club and Blade Runner for other examples.

[annieb123]

A million stars. I love this book with all my heart. I LOVE this book. I've reread it I don't know how many times and there's always something new to love. I only wish I could find one millionth of Goldman's facility inside myself. It's never going to happen, but that's okay.

Re-read for the 2016 popsugar reading challenge. 3 love this book.

[Amber (The Literary Phoenix)]

The very best part of this book is its tongue-in-cheek storytelling style, a writing choice which sets this otherwise cliché and traditional story apart. You have a selfish beauty, a noble pirate, a psychopathic prince... all tied in with rhymes and the writer complaining about his wife, judgements of political satire, and the best (or perhaps worst) story of true love of all time. This book is such a fun read for any fan of the film especially, or even any fantasy reader. It's not the best book, but I've read it thrice now and will read it again, so that speaks for itself.

[teachergorman]

I’ve been watching and rewatching the film since childhood, but I’d never gotten around to the novel. It was nice to find that the film I love got the novel right and added to it well, but it was also good to find that there were some cool things in the novel that didn’t make it into the film. The framing device in the novel is even better than in the film, in some ways, because though we don’t get the interruptions that are so great in the film, we are presented with an abridgement of a novel that never existed, and a justification for that abridgement that is truly heartwarming. Of course, the best part is Goldman’s comic voice, and that’s here and just as successful as the film. If you like the movie, read the book!

Much different than the movie, which I simply adore, but it still has the thrills I enjoyed watching. A fun read to waste a lazy day on.

[nitzan_schwarz]

~From a comment I wrote about this book to a friend, not an actual review!: I felt like both the book and the movie were great, but different. I loved the story inside story of the book. Goldman writes it in such an excellent way that at a point, you're no longer sure if everything is fiction. I mean, I knew such a book couldn't really exist but the way he wrote it made me hesitate and wonder; "maybe it did? Maybe it IS real?" Which I think is where the greatness of this story lies. Besides, the conversations are amazing."

[Angie]

One of my favorite movies turns out to be one of my least favorite books; funny how that happens.

I hate being interrupted by "author's notes" every few pages, especially when a lot of them aren't even relevant to the story! It just made the story feel really disjointed. I started skipping those pretty early on, because I just wanted the fairytale! I have to admit that Goldman coming up with this whole hearing the story from his father, then attempting to read it to his son, and then taking it upon himself to publish a version with only "the good stuff" thing was really clever. It was just executed horribly.

Watch the movie, it's 1,000,001 times better. The characters are actually likable in the movie, too. In the book they're all annoying, self-absorbed, or dumb. Except Inigo; he's awesome. Overall, this was more of a 2-star book, but since the dialogue was identical to the movie which made me smile, it gets an extra.