The Princess Bride
by William Goldman · 1973
A farm boy, a princess, a Sicilian mastermind, and a giant get tangled up in true love, revenge, and a Zoo of Death, all narrated by Goldman as a 'good parts version' of a fake old adventure novel -- funnier and stranger on the page than the beloved movie lets on.
Worth reading? The Princess Bride the book is a different, weirder animal than the movie: Goldman frames the whole thing as his abridgment of a tedious 'original' novel by a fictional author, constantly breaking in with fake commentary about what he's cutting. That framing device is most of the book's personality, and the movie (which Goldman also wrote) leaves almost all of it out.
| Author | William Goldman |
|---|---|
| Published | 1973 |
| Publisher | Ballantine Books |
| Category | Fiction |
| Favorite quote | “My name is Inigo Montoya, you killed my father, prepare to die!” |
The Verdict
The framing device is the thing to know going in: Goldman presents himself as abridging a supposedly real, dull classic novel, cutting his father’s favorite parts down to “the good parts version.” It’s a total fabrication, and the book never breaks character about it – which is either the funniest part of the book or the part that throws first-time readers, depending on your patience for a joke that doesn’t announce itself.
Because Goldman wrote the film too, the adventure itself (Westley, Buttercup, Inigo, Fezzik, Vizzini) plays out almost exactly like the movie you already know. The book’s value-add is entirely in that surrounding commentary, and in more space for Inigo’s backstory than the film had time for.
If you go in expecting a straight novelization of the movie’s tone, the constant narrator interruptions might grate. If you’re in on the joke, they’re the best part of the book.
Read it if you loved the movie and want the layer of self-aware commentary the film left out. Skip it if you want a straightforward adventure without the metafictional wrapper – go rewatch the movie instead.
you loved the movie and want the framing device that didn't make the cut -- Goldman's fictional narrator, supposedly abridging a dull old classic, is most of the book's best jokes
you want the movie's exact tone -- the book is more self-aware and metafictional, constantly interrupting the adventure with fake editorial commentary, which some readers find delightful and others find distracting
Book Summary
Goldman presents the novel as his 'good parts version' of a fictional S. Morgenstern classic, cutting the boring political satire his father supposedly skipped when reading it to him as a kid, and constantly interrupting the adventure with fake footnotes about what's been trimmed.
Underneath the framing device is a fairly straight adventure: Westley and Buttercup's love story, Inigo Montoya's revenge quest against the six-fingered man, Fezzik's loyalty, and Vizzini's doomed cleverness, all played completely straight even as the narration winks at the reader constantly.
The metafictional frame lets Goldman have it both ways -- a sincere, romantic adventure story and a running joke about sincere, romantic adventure stories -- without either mode undercutting the other, which is a harder trick to pull off than the book makes it look.
Top 11 Lessons from The Princess Bride
- The fictional-abridgment framing device (Goldman claiming to cut his father's original 'good parts version' from a dull public-domain classic) is the book's real innovation -- it's an entirely invented conceit presented as literal fact.
- The book plays its adventure-story beats completely straight -- true love, sword fights, revenge -- while the narration around them is constantly ironic, and that tonal split is why the book reads as both sincere and funny at once.
- Inigo Montoya's revenge arc gets far more interior development on the page than the film has time for, including more of his training and his relationship with his father's memory.
- Goldman himself wrote the screenplay, so the film is unusually faithful to the book's plot and dialogue -- the biggest difference isn't the story, it's the missing framing device.
- The book's fake footnotes and editorial asides require you to accept a joke that isn't spelled out as a joke -- readers who take the 'abridgment' claim at face value initially are part of the fun, not missing something.
- Vizzini's death and the Battle of Wits scene work slightly differently on the page, with more of Goldman's narrator commentary framing just how clever (or not) the whole exchange really is.
- Goldman inserts himself as a fictionalized narrator with his own unhappy backstory -- a troubled marriage, a distant relationship with his son -- using the frame to comment on why he needed a story like this as a kid.
- The book plays the villain Prince Humperdinck as more overtly cowardly and less charismatic than his film counterpart, sharpening the contrast with the story's genuine heroes.
- Buttercup gets more interior moments on the page than the film has room for, including doubts about Westley that complicate the 'true love conquers all' surface of the plot.
- The constant cutting between the 'original' Morgenstern text and Goldman's abridging commentary is itself a joke about editorial authority -- about who gets to decide what counts as 'the good parts.'
- The Zoo of Death and the Pit of Despair sequences get more grotesque, lingering detail on the page than the family-friendly film versions of those scenes.
Top 5 Quotes from The Princess Bride
"My name is Inigo Montoya, you killed my father, prepare to die!"
William Goldman, The Princess Bride
"Life is pain, highness. Anyone who says differently is selling something."
William Goldman, The Princess Bride
"You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means."
William Goldman, The Princess Bride
"I know something you do not know. I am not left-handed either."
William Goldman, The Princess Bride
"Anything there is that I can do for you, I will do for you; anything there is that I cannot do, I will learn to do."
William Goldman, The Princess Bride
Frequently Asked Questions
Is The Princess Bride book worth reading if I've seen the movie?
Yes -- the book's framing device, where Goldman presents it as his abridgment of a fictional classic, is almost entirely absent from the film and is most of what makes the book its own thing.
What is The Princess Bride about?
A farm boy and a princess separated by circumstance, a Sicilian criminal mastermind, a giant, a master swordsman seeking revenge, and a series of increasingly absurd obstacles between them and a happy ending.
Book vs. movie -- which came first?
The book, by nine years -- Goldman wrote both the 1973 novel and the 1987 film's screenplay himself, which is why the dialogue and plot stay close across both.
Is the S. Morgenstern 'original' book real?
No -- it's entirely Goldman's invention, presented as fact within the book's framing device, which trips up some first-time readers.
Is The Princess Bride appropriate for kids?
Mostly yes -- it's a family-friendly adventure, though a few of the narrator's adult asides (about his own marriage and disappointments) are aimed more at grown-up readers.
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