Book Title:  The Princess Bride:  S. Morgenstern's Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure:  30^th Anniversary Edition

Author:  William Goldman

Publishing Company:  Harcourt, Inc.

Year:  2007

# of Pages: 414

ISBN #:  978-0-15-603515-6

$15.00 USA “Higher in Canada” 

4 ½ Stars 

Reviewer:  Deborah Ground Buckner 

Back when I was in high school in the 1970s, I fell in love with the works of James Goldman, the engaging banter of England's King Henry II and Queen Eleanor in The Lion in Winter and the touching swan song story of Robin Hood in Robin and Marian.  Wanting to know all things Goldman, I was excited to learn there was another writing Goldman brother, William (though the two brothers were estranged for many years, up to James' death in 1988).  William Goldman was hot as a screenwriter in those days, winning an Oscar for his original screenplay of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and another for best adapted screenplay for All the President's Men.  So, when I found a novel by William Goldman, The Princess Bride (first published in 1973), I promptly snapped it up. 

Then, I was promptly confused.  To tell the story, Goldman created a complete fictional back story, of a long ago writer named Simon Morgenstern from the country of Florin (which you won't find in the atlas).  Goldman also created a fictional autobiographical story, of his own father coming from Florin and reading the book to him when he was ten.  Goldman retells the story of Morgenstern, but abridging it to relate “the good parts version.”   

And what good parts it has!  Is there anyone reading who doesn't already know the story of beautiful Buttercup, who spends her days riding her horse and tormenting Westley, the Farm Boy, who performs all her requests with the words, “As you wish”?  Is there anyone who didn't thrill at the image of Westley, returned as the Dread Pirate Roberts, the Man in Black?  Is there anyone who hasn't wandered about repeating, “Hello, my name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die”?  I read the book back in the days when such books could be leisurely enjoyed, before the onset of college, graduate school and a career made pleasure reading moments difficult to find. 

Cut to 1987.  I had just returned to my Jefferson City office on an autumn afternoon after court appearances in St. Louis.  Late on a Friday, while I was reluctant to begin a new project, my phone rang, a call from the man with whom I was in the process of falling in love.  He, too, had just returned from a court appearance, and suddenly we had a date we hadn't planned to have since neither of us had known what time we would be returning from our assignments.  A quick perusal of the newspaper revealed a new movie opening in town, The Princess Bride.  If we weren't already completely in love by that point, seeing this film together clinched it.  We were swept away by Rob Reiner's excellent directing and perfect casting of Cary Elwes, Robin Wright, Mandy Patinkin, Andre the Giant, Wallace Shawn, Chris Sarandon, and Billy Crystal, with Peter Falk and Fred Savage as the grandfather and little boy reading the story together.  Its romantic story, filled with humor and adventure, would push any couple over the edge, especially in the circumstances we saw it, spur of the moment, on an evening we had not thought we would be able to share. 

This 30^th Anniversary edition contains the entire story once again.  So, why purchase it if you already have an earlier edition?  Goldman himself asks this question in the beginning of his introduction, or at least he says he would have asked “Why are you buying this book?” except for the exciting new detail he can include in this new edition.   

Goldman reports on his visit to the Morgenstern Museum in Florin, taking his ten-year-old grandson (who may or may not exist—it's so hard to tell with Goldman's mix of fact or fiction) along.    He writes of first learning of the museum from Andre the Giant, during the filming of The Princess Bride.  Andre told of doing research for the role of Fezzik, including a visit to the museum.  With author Stephen King (a descendant of Florin) writing a letter of introduction to the Curator of the Museum, Goldman makes the trek to view the private papers of Morgenstern.   

This edition also includes Goldman's first abridged chapter of the sequel to The Princess Bride, entitled Buttercup's Baby.  As he explains in the introduction to the sequel, ongoing litigation with the Morgenstern estate has prevented the publication of this work.  The first chapter follows, and we can only hope Goldman fulfills the promise he makes in this edition (though he says he doesn't “make promises anymore”), that “before the (ugh) 50^th Anniversary edition comes into existence, Buttercup's Baby will be yours.”