The Princess Bride

The Princess Bride

Author: William Goldman

Over Christmas 2018 I bought a copy of William Goldman's The Princess Bride. Being a huge fan of the movie, I was overly excited to sink my teeth into the book. In my opinion, when a movie is based on a book, the book tends to be much better and in this instance, that opinion proves to be true.

All of the wit and humor from the movie comes directly from the book. All of the memorable lines from, "My name is Inigo Montoya, you killed my father. Prepare to die!" to "I thought you were this great mighty thing and yet he gains" are captured in the book. There are more jokes, more laugh-out-loud moments, and more exciting adventure, than what I thought possible. 

One aspect that I absolutely loved was the back story of Inigo and Fezzik. The characterization is much deeper in the book (as in most books) and you get a better understanding of what brought these two unlikely friends together in the employment of a scoundrel like Vizzini. Goldman beautifully tells the story of how Inigo became the greatest swordsman in the world and how Fezzik the Turk became a legendary fighter. This backstory adds a rich layer to the humor and plot.

A feature of the movie that varies greatly from the book is the Zoo of Death. The movie did a complete makeover to this portion of the book. The terror and multiple life and death situations that Fezzik and Inigo face just to find the Man in Black is completely absent from movie. I understand the time constraints, but it would have been great to see it on film.

With the Zoo of Death also comes an understanding to the depravity of Prince Humperdinck. While the movie characterizes him as the bad guy, he doesn't seem that bad of a guy. Any doubts to the decrepit moral character of the Prince is squashed in the book. His bloodlust is only sated by building the Zoo of Death where he keeps Westley among other terrible and deadly creatures from around the world.  

Overall, if you like the movie, I would highly suggest picking up a copy of the book. I can assure you that you will not be disappointed.

You can find the beautiful illustrated copy that I picked up here: