SubscribeAction, adventure, and true love! What more could you want?
This is one of my favorite books. This must be my third or fourth rereading of it. I love the movie to death, and can’t even count the number of times I have watched it. It makes me happy.
The version of the book I just read is the 30th anniversary edition. It includes an introduction with details about how and why Goldman decided to write “the good parts” version of S. Morgenstern’s “classic tale of true love and high adventure”. When Goldman was a little boy, and very sick, his father read him this story. (Which is reflected in the movie version). This edition of the book also includes details about the much awaited sequel “Buttercup’s Baby”, (and even the first finished chapter). Fans of this story will enjoy all these little extras.
It’s very hard for me to imagine that anyone reading this does not know this story, and has not seen the movie at least once. But, just in case that is you, dear reader, here is what it’s all about. Buttercup lives on a farm with her parents, is stunningly beautiful, and completely ignorant of that fact. There is a guy who helps out around the farm, whom she calls “Farm Boy” and orders around for years and years. Eventually, Buttercup wakes up to the fact that she loves him, and that he loves her. (The book gives more details than the movie did). Instead of living happily ever after, Westley, (”Farm Boy”s real name), leaves, to make his fortune. He gets killed by the Dread Pirate Roberts, and Buttercup is completely heartbroken.
Years later, the Prince comes by, and out of the blue, asks Buttercup to marry him. They agree that it’s not at all important if she loves him or not (she doesn’t), and so, she accepts. What else is she to do, anyway? But, before the wedding takes place, she gets kidnapped by Fezzik (a giant), Inigo (a great swordsman), and Vizzini (a brilliant Cicilian dwarf). They are followed by a mysterious “man in black”, who just might be the Dread Pirate Roberts. The chase is on. Will the Prince save Buttercup, or will the kidnappers be able to put their nefarious plot into motion? Who is this “man in black”, anyhow? Will there be a “happily ever after”? You just have to read it to see.
If you are a fan of the movie, you will love this book, even though you already know how it ends. The movie was so well cast that you can still see the actors as you read the book. In addition to the extras before and after the story, the book includes lots of details that the movie left out. There is even a web site you can go to if you would like to read “the reunion scene”, (a scene left out of the movie, and also left out of Morganstern’s original text).
This is the book that brought us such great quotes as:
“As you wish.”
and
“Hello, my name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die!”
and
“Never get involved in a land war in Asia”
and
“You keep using this word. I do not think it means what you think it means.”
and the movie gives us:
“Have fun storming the castle!”
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I was disappointed as well. I spent over twenty minutes at the Random house site,searching for the chapter! Thanks for the info.
Kale
Ok, so i just read up to 186 pages in this book today even though I have seen the movie a countless number of times (I could recite it). And, I happen to read one of the lines listed at the end of the article. This quote: “You keep using this word. I do not think it means what you think it means.” is incorrect coming from either the movie, or the book. In the book, on page 102, it says: “You keep using that word! I don’t think it means what you think it does.” And in the movie, in the 6th scene, it says: “You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.”
Comment by Shelby 07.09.08 @ 4:44 pmLeave a comment
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Here’s a little update about the reunion scene:
The version of this book that I read says, on page 172, in a note at the bottom next to a little * that you can go to the website:
http://www.theprincessbride.org to read the reunion scene.
If you go there, you get redirected to:
Random House, which shows Random House’s customized error message.
No amount of clicking around on that site led me to the reunion scene. So, I resorted to google, and found this site:
A letter from Goldman This site explains some of the court problems involved in getting the reunion scene into print.
So…. seems like no one can read the reunion scene right now after all. How disappointing!
Comment by Jen 09.24.07 @ 2:35 am