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The Princess Bride [Hardcover]

William Goldman
4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (464 customer reviews)

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Book Description

Nov 17 1998
Once upon a time came a story so full of high adventure and true love that it became an instant classic and won the hearts of millions. Now in hardcover in America for the first time since 1973, this special edition of The Princess Bride is a true keepsake for devoted fans as well as those lucky enough to discover it for the first time. What reader can forget or resist such colorful characters as

Westley . . . handsome farm boy who risks death and much, much worse for the woman he loves; Inigo . . . the Spanish swordsman who lives only to avenge his father's death; Fezzik . . . the Turk, the gentlest giant ever to have uprooted a tree with his bare hands; Vizzini . . . the evil Sicilian, with a mind so keen he's foiled by his own perfect logic; Prince Humperdinck . . . the eviler ruler of Guilder, who has an equally insatiable thirst for war and the beauteous Buttercup; Count Rugen . . . the evilest man of all, who thrives on the excruciating pain of others; Miracle Max. . . the King's ex-Miracle Man, who can raise the dead (kind of); The Dread Pirate Roberts . . . supreme looter and plunderer of the high seas; and, of course, Buttercup . . . the princess bride, the most perfect, beautiful woman in the history of the world.

S. Morgenstern's timeless tale--discovered and wonderfully abridged by William Goldman--pits country against country, good against evil, love against hate. From the Cliffs of Insanity through the Fire Swamp and down into the Zoo of Death, this incredible journey and brilliant tale is peppered with strange beasties monstrous and gentle, and memorable surprises both terrible and sublime.

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From Amazon

The Princess Bride is a true fantasy classic. William Goldman describes it as a "good parts version" of "S. Morgenstern's Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure." Morgenstern's original was filled with details of Florinese history, court etiquette, and Mrs. Morgenstern's mostly complimentary views of the text. Much admired by academics, the "Classic Tale" nonetheless obscured what Mr. Goldman feels is a story that has everything: "Fencing. Fighting. Torture. Poison. True love. Hate. Revenge. Giants. Hunters. Bad men. Good men. Beautifulest ladies. Snakes. Spiders. Beasts of all natures and descriptions. Pain. Death. Brave men. Coward men. Strongest men. Chases. Escapes. Lies. Truths. Passion. Miracles."

Goldman frames the fairy tale with an "autobiographical" story: his father, who came from Florin, abridged the book as he read it to his son. Now, Goldman is publishing an abridged version, interspersed with comments on the parts he cut out.

Is The Princess Bride a critique of classics like Ivanhoe and The Three Musketeers, that smother a ripping yarn under elaborate prose? A wry look at the differences between fairy tales and real life? Simply a funny, frenetic adventure? No matter how you read it, you'll put it on your "keeper" shelf. --Nona Vero

Review

'A swash-buckling comic fantasy fairytale adventure my favourite book in all the world' Waterstone's Guide to Kid's Books --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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Customer Reviews

Most helpful customer reviews
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent... some people are so stupid. Dec 22 2003
Format:Hardcover
This is an excellent book, as long as you don't go into it wanting a conventional fantasy novel. At some points during the reading, you will realize that Goldman did not write the book intending for it to be a pure fantasy, but perhaps more of a satire of reality. His entire point in writing it was to show readers that they are in the real world. The characters and happenings are so far fetched because Goldman wants us to realize that life isn't a fantasy.
If you've seen the movie, read the book to get more out of the story. If you haven't seen the movie, read the book and then see it. If you've already read the book, why are you looking at reader reviews?--I mean--buy the movie.
Oh yeah... there are plenty of reviews here saying that this book is so horrible because Goldman cut hundreds of pages out of S. Morgenstern's original Princess Bride. Do not pay any attention to these reviews... these people have been misinformed. S. Morgenstern was a fictional writer invented by Goldman. He is just a character in Goldman's story. This story is not abridged, as it may seem(The 'Good Parts' Version). It is just a tale that Goldman made up, or maybe his father made it up, or maybe his father's father... the point is, the tale was never WRITTEN anywhere else until Goldman came along, so you are not missing anything in reading THIS version. Please do not go and try to find S. Morgenstern's original... that would be an impossibility, as well as a waste of time.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars No age limit required Aug 2 2008
Format:Hardcover
The Princess Bride was released in '74, way back when I was 14 years old. My father tossed it to me after he had finished it and told me I would like it. I liked it so much I was one of the many (suckers) who sent away for the reunion scene between Westley and Buttercup that Goldman offered on page 153 of the paperback. Heck, I was 14, I wanted more of the story, and if all it was going to cost me was a stamp....
I'm 48 years old now, and I still read this book every once in a while; it never gets old. Sometimes I find myself skipping ahead a little, then I remember Fezziks logic "fool, fool, back to the beginning is the rule."
No matter the genre of books you prefer, be it horror, mystery, sci-fi, and no matter your age, you must, MUST read this book. It has been in my top 10 since I was 14. My 8 year old son wants to read it which I think is fantastic, because he'll have 6 years on my first reading it.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Not just another pulp novel (spoilers!) Jun 23 2004
By nsim
Format:Mass Market Paperback
A witty and elegant subversion of the fantasy genre.

**********

It astonishes me that some of the reviewers below never figured out that the book of which this one purports to be an abridgment /doesn't exist./ There never was an S Morgenstern, nor were there kingdoms of Florin and Guilder (the names of medieval coins, not countries.)

/The Princess Bride/ is a novel about the relationship between a sick boy and his grandfather. The grandfather emigrated to America as an adult. During the boy's confinement, the grandfather reads him their fictitious ancestral country's national novel, cutting and reworking as he goes to transform it into a straightforward adventure story the boy will enjoy. The problem of teaching a child born in America to identify with his national heritage is a difficult one; after all, people from the old country smell funny, eat weird things, talk with accents, and don't know anything about baseball. I imagine that Goldman himself comes from an immigrant family. In that light, this book is in part his response as an adult to his memories growing up, and it is warm and engaging.

But Goldman manages not to let this turn into treacle by combining it with an adventure story so good that they made a movie out of it. The scenes with Fred Savage in the movie are not extraneous, they're vital to the book's unique quality: naive self-consciousness. It's a book that's basically about someone reading a book (take that, postmodernism,) but it uses the metatextual conceit to add to the story by giving it a deeper social significance rather than to detract from it by making it the object of games with meaning. We accept both the realistic world of a boy coming to terms with his family and heritage, and the fantastic world of ROUSes, Holocaust Cloaks, and Humperdinck's life-suctioning machine.

You can read this book simply for the adventure story, which is what many people appear to have done, but in my opinion, there's a better novel written around the adventure story than in it. Whichever you prefer, I suppose.

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Most recent customer reviews
1.0 out of 5 stars BUYER BEWARE!!!
This is a review of this particular listing not the book. The book is fabulous. The listing is not.

This listing is for more than one book. Read more
Published 4 months ago by ~
5.0 out of 5 stars Even more quirky than the movie!
I had already seen the movie before I read the book. In order to fully appreciate the movie, you've got to read this quirky, comical, and unique book. Read more
Published 5 months ago by AGW
5.0 out of 5 stars Romance
This was a well written book that has so many layers of meaning, but the plot is good just as a light read as well.
Published on Dec 27 2010 by Tina Townsend
4.0 out of 5 stars great once you know the truth
i loved this book. i saw the movie in school, and got the book a few years ago for christmas. I put of reading it for a while, cause the abrigment description parts started to bug... Read more
Published on Oct 16 2006 by bibliophile girl
5.0 out of 5 stars A New Point-of-View
As I read the other reviews, I have to laugh to myself. The first time I read this book, the interjections drove me crazy. Read more
Published on Sep 17 2006 by an avid teenage reader
5.0 out of 5 stars too enjoyable to pass up
one of my favorite books of all time! this book doesn't need to be critiqued, it just needs to be enjoyed. hilarious, exciting, and romantic all at the same time.. Read more
Published on Sep 6 2005
4.0 out of 5 stars I totally fell for it... for a while.
I loved the movie (1987) so when I saw the book in my favourite used bookstore, I thought I'd pick it up to see how it compared. Read more
Published on Aug 30 2005 by Jason Harris
5.0 out of 5 stars great book
This is truly a wonderful book. It is full of imagination and humor, lots of zany humor. Even though it is a very lengthy story you forget all about its length ( I didn't want it... Read more
Published on Jun 23 2004 by lolly
3.0 out of 5 stars Use it to indoctrinate the young
Let me be very clear: I did not have any exposure to The Princess Bride in any of its forms until the tender age of 20. Read more
Published on Jun 22 2004 by Touche LaRue
4.0 out of 5 stars good, but...
I picked up this book because the book's description grabbed my interest - bolding characters' names and whatnot. Read more
Published on Jun 17 2004
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