Read All About It

Just a short entry tonight; it's late and I'm tired.

I expect that every reader who finds his or her way here is well familiar with 1987's The Princess Bride; in fact, I suspect that a fair proportion of you could recite much of the movie from memory, as can I. It's a terrific little film that doesn't fail to turn up on everyone's short list of favorite movies.

However, I was in the camp among those who had never read the book. I noticed a new edition sitting on the Barnes & Noble shelves a few weeks ago and leafed through it--it appeared to be as charming as its cinematic offspring. Then I contemplated the fact that for work, I have to put in a certain number of "development" hours each year (which are supposed, legally, to be furthering my understanding of my field; in practice, it's another tangle of bureaucratic red tape to wade through), and that these can be (and have been by me) gotten by participating in or leading a book discussion. Suddenly fate and divine will collided, and I went and ate some lunch.

But shortly thereafter, I returned and purchased the book.

I can't recommend the book highly enough. It contains all the lyrical charm of the movie, though at much more depth, and is full of enough characters and incidents not covered in the movie that the reading, while delightfully familiar, also has some surprises and shocks, especially when it comes to the framing device.

Not to do disservice to Fred Ward and Peter Falk, but Goldman goes crazy with the "real world" aspects of producing the novel. The conceit is that, in fact, Florin and Guilder are real places in Europe; Goldman's father, who read him the story, is a Florinese emmigrant, and the whole book is actually supposed to be Goldman's translation and abridgement of a work of the same name by S. Morgenstern. It's all very convoluted and fascinating, as Goldman drags in such real-world presences as the Simon and Schuster publishing house, Arnold Scwarzeneggar, Andre the Giant (and the entire film crew, as well as the filming process), and Stephen King.

I can't tell you how excited I am to bring up the subject of metafiction in my book discussion. Not sure where it will go, but just being able to have such a conversation is fabulous. Trying to untangle the web of layers Goldman weaves is an engaging process and dizzyingly delightful. If you've not read it, do so at once! The next time we discuss The Princess Bride, if you can't tell me about the Zoo of Death, or the Green Recluse, or king bats, or Buttercup's baby, or the Scottish master Inigo trained with, then our conversation is over, friend.