The Princess Bride
By William Goldman
First Published:- 1973
“Ah”, I can hear some of you saying, “I thought this was just a film. Didn't realise it was a book, too.” Yes, this is one of those rare occasions where the book and the film are both great, in very subtly different ways.
What’s It About?
Noted author William Goldman provides his translated abridgement (with commentary) of the Florinese classic, S. Morgenstern’s The Princess Bride - a tale of fencing, fighting, torture, poison, true love, hate, revenge, giants, hunters, bad men, good men, beautifulest ladies, snakes, spiders, beasts, chases, escapes, lies, truth, passion and miracles.
Background
William Goldman is one of those rare people who successfully balanced a career as an author and as a screenwriter, penning such films as Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid. Not only that but he was also very successful at adapting books into film, including his own works such as The Princess Bride and Marathon Man alongside other well-known films like The Stepford Wives, All The President’s Men and Misery (to my mind, one of the best Stephen King adaptations there is). He also wrote two fascinating books about his time as a screenwriter - Adventures In The Screen Trade and Which Lie Did I Tell? - both of which are great reads for anyone interested in what goes on behind the scenes.
Why’s It Good?
For those of you who know and love the film version, everything you love about that is in there and then a little bit more. The film’s conceit of the story being read by a grandfather to his sick grandson is here represented by Goldman’s “translation” of the original text and commentary on what he left out and why. The characters as you know and love them are in there (even Peter Cook’s speech impediment is in the original novel) but with the added benefit of some others being more fleshed out. In addition to that, you get some sequences that never made it to the film, such as Westley’s travails through the Maze Of Death.
For those of you that haven’t seen the film, it’s a wonderfully smart and funny fairy story that is both an affectionate homage to them as well as a being a complete piss-take. It’s a book that’s truly a delight to read and just writing this has made me want to pick it up and read it for what may be the fourth or fifth time (who’s counting?). If you’ve seen the film but haven’t read the book, do yourself a favour and pick it up. If you haven’t seen the film either, watch the film first - you’ll probably want to pick up the book afterwards anyway.
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