So through some act of divine intervention (by which I mean I was perusing my old books to find a suitable passage for an AP Comp assignment), I picked up my copy of The Princess Bride. I got this about 4 years ago during the summer after my 7th grade year. I read it for a Creative Writing summer class. And it was pretty good but definitely not one of my favorite books ever.
So I browsed through it (again, looking for a passage for AP Comp), and I realized that William Goldman's a pretty good writer. Heck, he's kind of witty even.
And that's how I started re-reading The Princess Bride.
Before I get into the fun details of The Princess Bride, let me just say that you've probably heard of it in some way shape or form. "Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die." Ring any bells? Giant monster rats. Poisoned chalices. The usual. Well, if you've never read the book, chances are, you've seen the movie. Which, if memory serves me correctly, wasn't that bad. Although, I watched it when I was 8, and back then, nothing was bad.
Anyways, I'm still trekking through the exposition. And Goldman has just introduced The Princess Bride as a "classic tale of true love and high adventure" written by one S. Morgenstern. So we're taken through a short prologue about Goldman's life (I'll admit it; I skimmed this part because it does not have true love or high adventure), and we finally get to the good stuff.
So Goldman/Morgenstern introduces Buttercup. Our female protagonist. She's really pretty. In fact, she's so pretty, that she's maybe in the top 20 prettiest women in the world. But only based on potential. She gets prettier with age. Anyways, she has this farm boy. She calls him, fittingly enough, Farm Boy. She orders him around, and he replies with, "As you wish." Buttercup and family are visited by a Countess who happens to have much interest in Farm Boy. This makes Buttercup incredibly jealous and realize her love for Farm Boy (who's real name is Westley). And as it turns out, he loves her back. Yay. Rejoice. But not for too long, because Westley is leaving for America to seek his fortune. That is. Until the ship he's on is attacked by pirates. Thinking Westley is dead, Buttercup swears to never love again.
Though the beginning to The Princess Bride is almost romantic to a fault, I do enjoy William Goldman's references to the list of the most beautiful women in the world and Buttercup's ascension to the top of this list. And okay, I also kind of like the cheesy, lovey-dovey lines (reference: "...if your love were a grain of sand, mine would be a universe of beaches" (54)). I mean, they're dopey, but this is also one of the greatest romances of all time. So you can afford to be a little dopey.
Anyways, looking forward to reading a book that I haven't read in years. Maybe I'll appreciate it more this time around.
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