The Princess Bride

The Princess Bride

By William Goldman

Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1973. 399 pages. Fantasy.

ISBN: 9780345348036

Reading/Interest Level: Ages 13+

Curriculum ties: N/A

Booktalk Ideas: High adventure!: With a pirate flag, introduce Wesley as the Dread Pirate Roberts, and tell his story up to finding Buttercup.

Challenge Issues: N/A

Challenge Response: First Defense File

Reader’s Annotation:

Pirates, giants, rodents of unusual size, and kidnapped princess are just a few of the things you’ll find within the pages of this hilarious adventure.

Plot Summary:

Buttercup is one of the world’s twenty most beautiful women and lives on a farm with her parents and the farm-boy, Westley. One day, Buttercup realizes that she madly loves Westley but he leaves soon after to travel to America and make a name for himself. Buttercup is devastated when she hears that Westley’s ship was attacked by the Dread Pirate Roberts and she vows to never love again.

Later Prince Humperdinck demands Buttercup’s hand in marriage but she is kidnapped by a group of interesting characters. As they sail away, they notice a black boat following them, and when the man in black finally catches up to them he rescues Buttercup and is revealed to be Westley. However, the story doesn’t end there because they must also avoid Humperdinck’s men who are trying to rescue Buttercup. Through the Fireswamp, lightning sand and rodents of unusual size, Westley and Buttercup must face the many forces against them so that they can truly be reunited again.

Critical Evaluation:

This novel has a little bit of everything, making an easy recommendation for anyone. There’s a love story, plenty of adventure, mystery, fighting, a cunning villain, and lots of humor. The main conflict of the story revolves around Prince Humperdinck’s desire to become king, as his father is on his deathbed. Humperdinck must marry and because he was slighted by the Princess of Gilder, he wants to frame them for kidnapping Buttercup. However the whole operation was orchestrated by Humperdinck and his men.

The reader hates Humperdinck even more when they finally capture Westley and Buttercup and instead of freeing Westley as promised, Humperdinck has him tortured. Humperdinck’s love of power and the cold hearted person it has turned him into is contrasted sharply with Westley who lived for quite a while as a pirate but because of his true love he never became a hardened person. Thus, Goldman really does show the reader that true love can conquer anything.

About the Author:

Goldman grew up in a Jewish family in Highland Park, Illinois, a Chicago suburb, and obtained a BA degree at Oberlin College in 1952 and an MA degree at Columbia University in 1956.His brother was the late James Goldman, author and playwright.

William Goldman had published five novels and had three plays produced on Broadway before he began to write screenplays. Several of his novels he later used as the foundation for his screenplays. In the 1980s he wrote a series of memoirs looking at his professional life on Broadway and in Hollywood (in one of these he famously remarked that "Nobody knows anything"). He then returned to writing novels. He then adapted his novel The Princess Bride to the screen, which marked his re-entry into screenwriting.
Goldman has won two Academy Awards: an Academy Award for Writing Original Screenplay for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and an Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay for All the President's Men. He has also won two Edgar Awards, from the Mystery Writers of America, for Best Motion Picture Screenplay: for Harper in 1967, and for Magic (adapted from his own 1976 novel) in 1979.

-from GoodReads.com author page-

Justification of Selection:

This is a famous title that was later turned in to a film which became a cult classic. The adventure will appeal to the male readers, while the love story will draw in the girls. The witty humor will make readers of all ages laugh.