Review: The Princess Bride, by William Goldman

Description:

Beautiful, flaxen-haired Buttercup has fallen for Westley, the farm boy, and when he departs to make his fortune, she vows never to love another. So when she hears that his ship has been captured by the Dread Pirate Roberts (no survivors) her heart is broken. But her charms draw the attention of the relentless Prince Humperdinck who wants a wife and will go to any lengths to have Buttercup. So starts a fairy tale like no other, of fencing, poison, true love, hate, revenge, giants, bad men, good men, snakes, spiders, chases, escapes, lies, truths, passion and miracles, and ... a damn fine story. 

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2794395-the-princess-bride

Rating:

8.5

Review:

The Princess Bride, by William Goldman, is a thrilling, romantic, and hilarious tale of risk and high-adventure. The characters are each unique to themselves, and each one of them engaging for a different set of reasons. While the cut-ins do tend to get a little irritating, they expand the scope of the story further than just the tale itself, giving it a personal touch.

                I enjoyed reading The Princess Bride, just as I had enjoyed watching the film (in fact, for the longest time, I never even knew there was a real book, and so I bought a copy the second I found one). There are a lot of extra features in the novel that weren’t included in the film, or changed implicitly, as happens with most book-to-film adaptations.

                Let’s discuss, for a moment, the key aspects of this story.

Characters

The characters, as I have mentioned before, are all rather unique within this tale. A pirate who was once a farm-boy; a beautiful princess who has lost all hope of love; a team consisting of a Spaniard, a Giant, and a Sicilian; A spoiled Prince and his second in command, the six-fingered man; and, of course, the narrator himself.

                That is not to say there are not more colourful characters weaved throughout this story; there are, indeed, many more. And that’s just the thing! The story is so full of life, and character, that the flaws of one character are made up for by another.

                Take Princess Buttercup, for instance. To me, Buttercup seemed naïve and incredibly dense. She did not seem to redeem herself at any point throughout the novel. At first, I thought her character to be irritating, but her lover, Westley, made up for her vapid personality with his own.

                Westley’s character was lively and exciting, but he held a certain level of deadpan and morosity that showed him to be just as flawed as his lover. They complement one another; Buttercup being full of life, but dim-witted, and Westley being clever, but sarcastic.

                The same can be said of the rest of the characters, each complementing their partner/s where they prove inadequate.

Theme

Now, obviously, love and romance is a main theme introduced early into the story, but there is one theme that I’m concerned about. Some might say it is the moral of the story, and I don’t think those people are wrong. I just think of it differently.

I learnt recently that the theme is more than just a moral: the theme of a story tells of the human condition or history. So, rather than romance or adventure or who-done-it, the theme for this story is something reiterated throughout the novel: Life isn’t fair.

And it is a true enough sentiment, because life isn’t fair, under any circumstances. None of the characters featured in this story have any sort of fairness in their lives, just as no human being lives a life of fairness.

I personally adore this theme. It seems morbid in its pessimism, but it is a hard truth of life, and this makes it relatable. It doesn’t placate, it doesn’t offer useless praise or try to undermine authority. It simply is. A statement of fact that nobody, nowhere, can dispute.

End Note

While it did take me some time to finish, this book is definitely one of my favourites. There are places where I wanted to cringe, or cuss at the interruptions of the author, but those moments, I know now, are what spurned me to finish reading. Nothing written the way The Princess Bride was written is written without a purpose in mind.

                I enjoyed reading it, and I would definitely read it again in the future.

Quote

“…I also have to say, for the umpty-umpth time, that life isn’t fair. It’s just fairer than death, that’s all.” (p. 317)

Edition

Goldman, W 2008, The Princess Bride, Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, London

Review: The Little Prince

 Description:

The Little Prince is a classic of equal appeal to children and adults. On one level it is the story of an airman's discovery in the desert of a mall boy from another planet - the Little Prince of the title - and his stories of intergalactic travel, while on the other hand it is a thought-provoking allegory of the human condition. First published in 1943, the year before the author's death in action, this new translation contains Saint-Exupery's delightful illustrations.

Rating:

9

Review:

The Little Prince has been one of my favourite stories for a long time now. Full of childhood innocence and the consequences of leaving that innocence behind, it is a lovely story of a young prince and his responsibilities -or, if you'd rather, it is a tale of a man stranded in the desert who finds himself enamoured with the innocence of a small boy. The Little Prince speaks of his journeys across the galaxy, and of his dear flower. His meetings with all the pomp and circumstance of the lonely King; the Businessman that owned it all in his numbers; and a whole slew of other characters that both intrigue and frustrate by turns.

The reason I enjoy The Little Prince so much, I think, is because it's written with such care, so as to be easily understood by its younger readers, while holding a deeper meaning for those more mature. An interesting and highly delightful piece of literature.

Quote:

“And now here is my secret, a very simple secret: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.” 

― Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince

What's on my Shelves?

Review: To Kill a Mocking Bird, Harper Lee

Description:

"'Shoot all the Bluejays you want, if you can hit'em, but remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird.'

Atticus Finch gives this advice to his children as he defends the real mockingbird of this classic novel - a black man charged with attacking a white girl. Through the eyes of Scout and Jem Finch, Lee explores the issues of race and class in the Deep South of the 1930's with compassion and humour. She also creates one of the great heroes of literature in their father, whose lone struggle for justice pricks the conscience of a town steeped in prejudice and hypocrisy." -Vintage Classics.

Rating:

8 ½

Review:

When I was in year 10, I had one of the best English teachers I can remember. There were so few teachers that I can speak of with anything even remotely close to admiration or respect, and she was one of them. She baked for our class each week, and always kept to the theme of our readings. So, when it came time to read To Kill a Mockingbird, we were all quite intrigued as to what she would make (well, at least, I was intrigued. I have a feeling nobody else liked her, but year 10 students are actual heathen and shouldn't be relied upon to be good judges of character). She baked us corn bread and told us the history of Alabama and the rights of black slaves during the time the novel was set.

Now, you may ask what this has to do with my actual review of the novel, and I guess I should tell you.

That year was the first year I ever read To Kill a Mockingbird. The way my teacher spoke highly of the novel only made me more interested, and I blitzed through reading it, even though it meant I'd have to read it twice, I didn't care, by that point. I was in love with the story.

Recently I picked up the book again, though I had figured that over time the narrative would have lost some of its charm. I was wrong, because I still absolutely adore it, and I have an even greater understanding of both the events in the novel, and how well they can be compared to the events of today.

On to the review!

To Kill a Mockingbird is a treasure trove of moral discussion. The story of showing kindness and general human decency to fellow humans who have been persecuted, for nothing other than who they are, is one that I don't think people really interact with enough.

The novel raises important questions that are still relevant today, as to persecution of the 'other'. In asking these questions, and sharing the opinions of the characters, Lee shows great foresight in her writing, and an understanding of human nature that is apparently still missing in many a politician today. 

In her novel, Lee explored the discrimination of class within society, as well as the bigger problem of racial discrimination. She also explores the corruption of the court system, and how prejudices are sometimes more important to people than justice. She uses the perspective of a child -the most prominent example of innocence- to explore these things, with the help of wise old Atticus Finch. There is a lot that I could say about Atticus, but I'll save that for another post.

As it stands, Atticus does have quite a few important quotes that could still be considered relevant today. That in my mind is what makes To Kill a Mockingbird such a terrific novel; the fact that, even now, it still manages to portray the faults that are so prominent within society, and -I dare say- the human race.

I loved this book so much, for so many different reasons. It's heart-warming, it's humorous, and it's fairly easy to follow, as most of the important things are explained.

To finish this post, I would like to leave you with an example of the wisdom Lee has shared through her character, Atticus:

"There's nothing more sickening to me than a low-grade white man who'll take advantage of a Negro's ignorance. Don’t fool yourselves - it's all adding up, and one of these days we're going to pay the bill for it." 

- Atticus Finch, page 241 

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