The Princess Bride really is very, very good!

[nikolai]

I've finished this recently; and I'm talking about the book - which came first - not the film. The film's also good, but the book's even better.

I'm posting to encourage you lot to read it, or to share your thoughts on it if you've read it. What struck me is:

• It's very, very cleverly writen. Both in terms of the rhythms of the language used and the construction of the book with the use of interpositions.
• It's clearly a fantasy novel. But, it's not genre fantasy. I mean this in the sense that I've never seen it in a bookshop's fantasy section (it's always been kept with the "proper" books). In terms of theme, it's derived from children's stories and fairy-tales and is very far away from the heroic fantasy that's slowly killing the genre.
• What impressed me the most is the way it played with genre cliches. This (surprisingly!?!) reminded me of George R. R. Martin, in that they're both very cliched, but are very clever about knowing how far to take them and how work and subvert them.

I'll post more later, if I get a response...

http://www.randomhouse.com/delrey/promo/princessbride/

nikolai.

 

[trancejeremy]

Yes, it's a classic.

I'm not entirely sure it is a fantasy novel.

When I was in college, which is depressingly long ago (early 90s), I was amazed at how many people loved the movie and the book. Not just fantasy fans.

The movie is about as good as an adaption could get. A movie could never cover all the stuff in parentheses (which strongly influenced my writing style), so it could never be as good as a book, but it's very very good.

 

[Hypersmurf]

I will have to reread the book some time.

But I have to confess, I think the film is superb, and the book is... very good.

I may be prejudiced by having seen the film before I read the book. And that's obviously a situation I can't change. But I remember feeling at the time that I read it that the book suffered in comparison from a lack of... expression.

Now, it was years ago that I read it, and I might feel differently upon a second reading.

But there isn't anything in the film I would change. There are scenes in A New Hope I would have asked for another take on. There are parts of Return of the Jedi I would have preferred to have seen done differently, and likewise with all three LotR films. Pirates of the Caribbean has bits I'd like to tweak.

But I wouldn't change anything about the film of The Princess Bride.

I couldn't say the same about the book... at least, at the time that I read it.

-Hyp.

 

[Hypersmurf]

A movie could never cover all the stuff in parentheses (which strongly influenced my writing style)...

You don't truly appreciate parentheses until you've programmed in LISP

There's nothing quite like finishing a piece of code with

))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))

-Hyp.

 

[CCamfield]

I'm pretty sure I saw the movie first, I think it is exceedingly good - but I still think the book is better in places.

There's just so much more in it about Inigo and Fezzik. Maybe the film just doesn't have room/time for it, but I love those parts of the book. And the duel between Inigo and The Man in Black, if filmed as it was in the book, would probably be at least twice as long and even better!

P.S. If you liked The Princess Bride, you might also like One For The Morning Glory, by Steven Barnes.

 

[Orius]

I liked the movie better as well, and I saw the movie before reading the book, so I think that makes a difference. The movie just seemed more upbeat or something, where the book had a cynical tone to it that lessened my appreciation of it.

 

[TheAuldGrump]

Loved both. Great choices for the cast, well chosen sets, and while Ande the Giant was not quite how I pictured Fezig, where the heck could you get an eight foot tall Turkish actor? He was definetly close enough for folk.

I also enjoyed S. Morgenstern's other book The Silent Gondoliers.

And There are rumblings about a possible sequel in the works... As there have been for about ten years now.

And yes, I do realize that S. Morgenstern and Goldman are indeed the same person... Even if he does still claim otherwise.

The Auld Grump, have fun storming the castle!

 

[RC Hagy]

P.S. If you liked The Princess Bride, you might also like One For The Morning Glory, by Steven Barnes.

I will second that nomination, since you beat me to the first (It is John Barnes by the by... ).

Both are fairy tales on par with the Grimm tales (if not a little better in places). Where not everything ends up nice for everyone. Yet, you come away with a little something that leaves one satisfied.


Well for me at least.


Hagy
Stamford

 

[Spatula]

But there isn't anything in the film I would change.

Personally, I would have changed the movie's costuming and special effects budget.

 

[Hypersmurf]

Personally, I would have changed the movie's costuming and special effects budget.

Not me. I think they did just fine.

Although the clip of Inigo and the Dread Pirate Westley duelling with lightsabers is pretty cool

-Hyp.