- Mass Market Paperback: 456 pages
- Publisher: Harcourt Children's Books; Reprint edition (26 Mar 2010)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0156035219
- ISBN-13: 978-0156035217
- Product Dimensions: 17.3 x 10.8 x 3.3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (76 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 959,673 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
First published well, in 1973 actually, this book spawned the Rob Reiner-directed cult film of the same name. It's a tongue-in-cheek fairytale of love, life, action, death and life again. Featuring the obligatory handsome Prince and supremely beautiful princess, it also boasts a Spanish sword wizard, the Zoo of Death, a chocolate-coated resurrection pill and lots of villains, who span the spectrum from evil, through even more evil to (gasp) most evil. And then there's Fezzik, the gentle giant addicted to rhyming.
William Goldman--who's won two Oscars for his screenwriting (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and All the President's Men), and has endeared himself to dentists and their patients planetwide through his novel Marathon Man--has always claimed he merely abridged this text, extracting the "good parts" from an inventive yet wordy classic by Florinese literary superstar, S Morgenstern.
It has, however, been whispered in certain circles that Morgenstern himself is a figment of Goldman's ultra-fertile imagination. Read Goldman's original and special Anniversary introductions and make up your own mind. Oh--and don't forget his explanation as to why he's only "abridged" the first chapter of the sequel Buttercup's Baby--which appears here for the first time--and why it took him so long to get round to it.
Completely delightful, suitable for cynics and romantics alike. Suspension of disbelief optional. -- Lisa Gee --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
PRAISE FOR "THE PRINCESS BRIDE" "[Goldman's] swashbuckling fable is nutball funny . . . A 'classic' medieval melodrama that sounds like all the Saturday serials you ever saw feverishly reworked by the Marx Brothers." --"Newsweek"
"One of the funniest, most original, and deeply moving novels I have read in a long time." --"Los Angeles Times"
"One of the funniest, most original, and deeply moving novels I have read in a long time." --"Los Angeles Times"
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
55 of 56 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
It gets better than this ? Inconcievable!,
By A Customer
This review is from: The Princess Bride (Paperback)
A long time ago - many years before Amazon I watched the movie and really enjoyed it...several years later in a second hand bookshop I got a copy of the book...and discovered everything I'd loved in the movie - AND MORE !!. Unlike most films they had stayed very true to the book - which is billed as 'the good parts version'. I'm now on my third copy - it gets lent to nearly everyone I know (at some time) - when they stop laughing I have to borrow it back from them and tell them to get their own (this is how I'm up to my third copy). Even if you've seen the film (which means you have the characters already firmly in your imagination as looking that way) lets face it your imagination can do things an awful lot cheeper than a movie budget - and in some cases probably an awful lot more believable ! Gives you an awful lot more background on Buttercup (and the ratings for the most beautiful women in the world), Inego, Fezzick, Westley and all the other characters that if you've seen the film you wil already love. And also the reason that someone is REALLY trying to start a war (which is not explained in the film - but I wont go into the who and why's here incase you haven't seen it !). Full of great catchphrases including the 'possibly' imortal 'Hallo my name is Inego Montoya - you killed my father prepare to die '. This is one book which does live up to everything it promises to be full of swordfights, logic games, dramatic locations - the zoo of death and the fire swamp to name only two. Heroes, Villans, a beautiful princess, miracles and of course....true love One of the VERY early (1970's - after Douglass Adams but before Pratchett and Asprin) attempts to mix humour and fantasy - and all those fairy stories you got told as children. It hasn't dated and may well have impoved with age...infact having talked about it I MUST read my copy again..I dont think I'm doing anything else I cant put off for an hour or two...... #heading for the bookshelves# Francesca
20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Hugely entertaining, but also passionate and poignant,
By Martin Turner "Martin Turner" (Marlcliff, Warwickshire, England) - See all my reviews (VINE VOICE) (TOP 50 REVIEWER) (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)
This review is from: The Princess Bride: S. Morgenstern's Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure (Ballantine Reader's Circle) (Paperback)
This is a post-modern fairy tale that manages to mix daft fun with a passionate and poignant outlook on life and a thorough knowledge of renaissance fencing technique.If you've enjoyed the film and are wondering about the book, then you are in for a treat and a surprise. The film (which is also great fun) is really no more than an excerpt from the book, which is part William Goldman autobiography, part 'hot' fairy tale, and part semi-historical novel. 'The Princess Bride' is a book within a narrative within a book. It's partly the story of how William Goldman tried to bond with his son. It's partly the (fake) story of how William Goldman himself learnt to read as a result of his grandfather reading him Morgenstern's classic story 'The Princess Bride'. And it's partly the story of the Princess Bride herself, with wise-cracking commentary by Goldman. The book is seamless. You can't establish where Goldman is gently teasing and where he is revealing his soul. In any case, the writing is utterly captivating. This is a book which works well on so many different levels. Whether you are a fan of humour, fairy-tale or swordplay, or all three or none of them, you are still certain to find a level at which this book demands your full attention until all the pages are done.
16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Simply the best.,
By A Customer
This review is from: The Princess Bride (Paperback)
What can be said about The Princess Bride? I've never been able to read a book so many times. I'm still not sure what it is about the book that does it. Goldman puts it best when he says "nobody writes books like that anymore." He was of course referring to the "prepare to die" scene. And i think thats what makes the book so good. It does take us back into the romantic age. As a young boy what can be more exciting than duelling dukes, saving damsels, storming castles and doing it all in a cool black outfit? And as a young girl what can more thrilling than true loves rescuing each other, beutiful princesses and dashing heroes? Yes the book has all this and more. When you read this book you become the characters. When a book does this you know it's something special. Everybody should read it.
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