INCONCEIVABLE
Are you kidding me? Why haven't I read this until now? This should be a staple book for 7th-9th grade. When I finally become king of America, I'll require it in every classroom. Sword fights! Pirates! Thieves! Monsters! Adventure! Action! And, I suppose, love.
It's the third installment of 1970's month. Although it was published in that decade, it's a timeless classic, and a shoe-in for inclusion in the vaunted SHELF OF FAME.
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| And these guys! Inconceivable! You killed my father, prepare to die! Anybody want a peanut? |
This is an all-timer, and not just because of the movie, which continues to captivate; but it is part of the equation of success. If I ever trick someone into having a kid with me, this will be the first movie s/he views, and probably the only one until s/he is old enough to appreciate Godard and Eisenstein and pretend s/he is smarter and deeper than me.
Where to begin praising this book? Probably the beginning. William Goldman is a clever fellow, and his vitae is long and storied, but this The Princess Bride (TPB) is his best, by far. Part of what makes this book so great is that Goldman himself wrote the screenplay for the movie, with most of the scenes inserted verbatim, which makes imagining these scenes unfolding all the better as I read; the faces and voices were there. Some might say that seeing the movie first, then reading the book is going to taint the experience of the book, but I argue that in this case, it's enhanced. For one, THE SAME GUY wrote both. Second, it's his vision of the book in film form. Third, by virtue of 1 and 2, the story is not butchered for popular consumption, nor are key details changed that enrage the people who like to bemoan how movies ruin books, like this lady.
If you clicked the link, you'll notice that the author leads off with The Scarlet Letter. As I started TPB, the first comparison that came to mind was The Custom House, the horribly dull introduction to Hawthorne's work. It's what, 43 pages? All he had to write was, "Hey, I found this story of Puritan scandal in a trunk in a stuffy old attic. It's pretty good. Let's read it together." UUUUGGGHHHH I remember having to read that turgid glacier of an introduction in high school. What a drag. Conversely, Goldman sets up the story of TPB with actual fanfare and meaningful context. This exposition of how the story came about is long and slow-paced, but is much more engaging than The Custom House. However, there is some material about staring at some actress in a swimsuit that made me uncomfortable. (Here, the italics indicate that I am one whose comfort zone is expansive, and that usually it takes something extreme to, as they say, get my goat.) Probably because I want kids to read this book. Now I'll get angry emails and calls from parents who think I am promoting perversion. Goldman saves the introduction with the discussion of his father reading the (fictional) S. Morgenstern classic book to him as a child, and Goldman's lifelong desire to publish an abridged version. There's some satire here that will fly over a kid's head, but I got it. Yay me. This part of the introduction, and the periodic interjections by Goldman throughout the story, are transferred to the film in the grand-dad / grandson moments with Peter Falk and Fred Savage.
After the introduction, the story begins in earnest. For the sake of pacing in the movie, the personal histories of the main characters are jettisoned, and in the book they provide much-needed new information that gives us a deeper understanding of Prince Humperdinck, Inigo, Fezzik, and Buttercup. And my goodness, how fascinating these histories are! I'm thankful for them, as they provide excellent fodder for discussions of character motivations and developing rounded, full personalities within a book.
Then, there is the narrative. It's like watching the movie again, with some slight, but not debilitating, differences. It moves right along, as Goldman promises, and his interjections and certain parts of the abridgments are entertaining. I worried that he would get too cute with them and bring the story to a screeching halt over and over, but it's tastefully done, and he wisely chooses the right spots.
I WOULD NOT SAY SUCH THINGS IF I WERE YOU
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| I wanted my room to look like this when I was a kid. And I wanted Peter Falk to read bedtime stories to me. I never got what I wanted. |
- Father-son relationship
- The importance of stories in our culture/childhoods
- Standard tropes of fairy tales
- The role of true love in stories
- Loneliness and friendship
- Solidarity and betrayal
- Finding one's place in society
- Passing the torch (in lots of ways)
- Nagging wives (introduction only)
- Death and Life
- Life isn't fair
- The eternal presence of pain
There are more one could tease out and analyze, I'm sure, but I don't work for Spark Notes, so forget about it. With the wealth of themes, motifs, and symbols within this story, one could run the 8/9 gamut of literature standards in this one book. If I could go back in time and hypnotize my English teacher into scuttling The Scarlet Letter and replacing it with TPB, I would. I'd also kick myself for using time travel so frivolously. I want to use this in a literature class to deconstruct fairy tales and fantasy books, so that the kiddos and I can examine and make fun of them, and by doing so, understand them. It's like bullying, but with a purpose.
There is not much more I can add to the extant literature about this book and film combination. That many people appreciate it and hand it down through their generations demonstrates that some of us still have taste and decency, but also that we're proving Goldman's point of the importance of stories that are shared across families and generations as a way to connect, to bond, and to establish common mythology, but also common values.
What's most impressive to me about Goldman is the ease and brevity with which he creates a fictional world. They're the Cliffs of Insanity because...they're the cliffs of insanity! We can fill in the rest. The rodents of unusual size? Sure, they're real. When reading fantasy, we do suspend disbelief, and Goldman plays with that, but everything seems so logical, especially in the way that he categorizes and ranks things throughout the book - most people will probably remember the most powerful kisses narration by Peter Falk near the end of the film. Goldman throws in similar silliness with timing the invention of certain things and ideas, which, in the world of The Princess Bride, makes sense, but in our boring old world, would be highly illogical, Captain.
It's the perfect mix of comedy, wit, drama, intrigue, and adventure within a timeless setting, without resorting to the scope and length of the 1000-page epics. I suppose that's why he's a celebrated author for a living and I post this drivel for free.
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| Mawidge. |
The frenzied ending might be my favorite part of the book. Here, Goldman gives us exact times for every single encounter and action and the story hurtles toward its inevitable conclusion. I remember thinking at one point, there are only 25 pages left in this book; how will Goldman pull this off? I'm irritated, but extremely curious. Now, the very end, in which Goldman gives his final commentary, leaves a cliffhanger, but is mirrored well in the movie, leaving us to question what happens after the story ends. Obviously, that is up to the reader, which is the power of literature and imagination. Do we want a happy ending? Should there be extended conflict? Will *shudder* there be a sequel? So, there's some satire around happy endings, which is fine. How would you expect something like this to end other than how it started - with a laugh.
Okay, I'll stop fawning now.
NEXT TIME, I YELL ABOUT
The fourth, and probably last, book in 1970's month. Let's just say that I hear this one A LOT!
BORING STUFF
William Goldman
1973 Del Rey
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