The Princess Bride
This book met the criteria in my reading challenge of “a story within a story.” Because it is two stories, and I had mixed feelings overall, I feel like I need to break it down by each story.
The frame story is the author discussing how much the novel The Princess Bride means to him because it has been read to each child in his family as they grow up and has become a tradition. He talks about how he has taken the original book by S. Morgenstern and abridged it to “the good parts.” He also makes side notes through out the whole novel as to why he cut certain things out, and whether he agrees with the original author on how he wrote the story, etc. I REALLY was not a fan of this whole story line. I found it distracting from the main book when he would interject opinions amidst action. The movie does a perfect job of keeping the small interruptions by the grandfather and grandson that remind you of the frame story, but does it seldom enough for it to be charming. The other part that really confused me, after doing some research, is that the “original” author (Morgenstern) doesn’t really exist. It is a farce by Goldman to tell the rest of his story. It is well done, but left me VERY confused as to what was real and what wasn’t by the end.
Now for the actual story line of The Princess Bride. I LOVED it. It follows almost word for word with the movie. So if you loved the classic film, then you are bound to like this portion of the book. I also loved this section of the novel because there are extra tidbits of information that you never get in the movie. You get to hear about HOW Inigo Montoya’s father died when he was younger, and how Inigo travels the world to learn his fencing skills. You also get to learn about Fezzik’s childhood and why he doesn’t have confidence in himself. These are the details that I’ve always felt make a novel better than the film, and you get some of that with this one as well.
Overall, I think that the movie is better than the book (and I don’t say that lightly!). The screenplay is close enough to exactly what happens in the book, and the actors who were cast truly bring the book to life in a way the words on the page failed to this time. Now…I’m off to watch the movie again…for the Nth time.
Malia's Pizza Rating
A thai pizza, I mean it! Anybody want a peanut?