loopyker's #CBR7 Review #08: The Princess Bride by William Goldman

"IF YOU ENJOYED THE MOVIE, YOU'LL CERTAINLY ENJOY LISTENING TO ROB REINER, THE MOVIE'S DIRECTOR, READ THE BOOK."  was what the online library listing promised me.  They even shouted it.  They couldn't have been more wrong.

I would like to be really clear about this.  I don't want to get yelled at.  This is a review for the audiobook.  Very different from the movie.  I love the movie.  It became an instant favourite when I saw it over 20 years ago.  I've enjoyed it many times since.

I also read the book many years ago.  It was disappointing.  Some of my favourite lines from the movie are not in the book. But, there is more back-story detail added which can be entertaining.  If there wasn't the comparison, I would probably have thought it was a good book.  But, I would wonder what the big deal was with the fans of the movie, if I went only by that.

So, with this in mind, I already had lower expectations for the audiobook.  But Rob Reiner directed this popular movie.  Surely he must know how to read it well.  No, no he does not.  Which is ironic.  The story starts as someone reading the book to a sick boy.  Peter Falk does this well in the movie.

In the movie the boy rolls his eyes at the idea of being read a fairy-tale type book.  But, as fans of the movie know, even though on the surface it has romance and a princess (to-be) and a prince, this is a story for any age and any gender.  There are heroic challenges and fights, good versus evil and "true-love" with a little magic thrown in and mostly, with a lot of humour for both young and old.  It is just a lot of fun.

However, you would not know it by the way Rob Reiner reads it.  He rushes through much of it like he has something else to do and just wants to get this over with fast.    It is so rushed it can be hard to follow even who is talking without the appropriate pauses or even subtle voice differences.

A huge disappointment.  This is one of the few times where, without a doubt, I recommend the movie over the book.  And with even less reservations, I recommend both over the audiobook.  Don't bother with the audiobook.  Anyone who just listens to that will miss what the fans like in the others.

1 star for the audiobook
3 stars for the book
5 stars for the movie


Title: The Princess Bride (audiobook)
Author: William Goldman
Narrator: Rob Reiner  (movie's director)
Publisher: Phoenix Books, Inc. (Feb 06, 2007)
Duration: 2 hours, 32 minutes

Other formats: paperback/Kindle ebook
Print Length: 480 pages
Publisher: Mariner Books; Reprint edition (October 8, 2007)
(original published by Harcourt Brace Jovanovich (USA) 1973)
ISBN-10: 0156035154
ISBN-13: 978-0156035156
Kindle ASIN: B003IEJZRY

Note: A lot of formats say "abridged".  This is part of the joke, that William Goldman says he is abridging another book.  It makes it confusing to know if there is a real abridged version of William Goldman's work.

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Rating system:
1 star (didn't like); 2 stars (OK); 3 stars (good); 4 stars (very good); 5 stars (favourite)

Also check out Cannonball Read for a variety of book reviews from many others.

loopyker's #CBR5 Review #01: Cinderella's Secret Diary: Lost (Book 1) by Ron Vitale

Disclaimer: This was given as a free e-book to interested CBR5 readers. This in no way influences the outcome of my review.

I was excited to accept the free e-book of Cinderella's Secret Diary: Lost since both young adult fantasy and the retelling of fairy tales are amongst my favourite genres and I'm always happy to discover more. This story also includes a little taste of historical fiction - another of my favourites.

As the title suggests, this book is written in first person from the viewpoint of Cinderella's diary a few years after her marriage to the Prince. They are very far from living "happily ever after" at this time and Cinderella is very unhappy with her marriage and her whole life in the castle where she is under great pressure to produce an heir for the Royal family. She is dealing with big decisions about her life, marriage and motherhood. Hints of political intrigue around England and Napoleon are also entwined with the magical elements of fairies and witches.

It all sounds great to me in theory, but fell short of my hopes in practice.

Personally, I have kept a diary at different points in my life. I use the writing to get my emotions out and organize my thoughts. Regardless of my age at 16 or 40, they inevitably end up as venting about some heartbreak of unrequited love or conflicts with friends and family. They are an emotional release and not intended as writings that would interest anyone else. The full first half of this book has exactly that feel. While I could understand Cinderella's frustrations, I did not feel connected to her and didn't even like her. (Just as I wouldn't really expect anyone to like me much if all they knew of me were pages and pages of my internal venting!) It was mostly just depressing. It also kept the other characters very two dimensional since they didn't have voices of their own.

It takes a lot for me to stop reading a book once I've started - I always hope it will get better. That rarely happens, but in this case it did. For the second half of the book, while confusing at times, the story got fleshed out more as Cinderella is actually working on improving her life, instead of just complaining about it. She grows as a woman, learning about herself and learning a little about the world - both terrestrial and magical. But it still lacks much depth.

This improvement was enough that I am willing to continue onto the second book in the series, Stolen, which was also provided as a free e-book for review. If I wasn't already given it, I would not have gone to the second one though, and it will not be a high priority to get to in my list now.

I'm really not sure if younger readers would appreciate the book more or not. The author designates this books as suitable for ages 15 and up. I read a lot of juvenile and young adult fantasy and it is my opinion that a good book written for these ages can be enjoyed by anyone older too.  Lost just doesn't hold up to that for me and I suspect many experienced readers of any age will tire of it before they get to the second half. But, it may be suitable for young adults who just want an easy read.

On a technical note, Lost could use some proofreading to fix up some spelling and grammatical errors. I'm not too bothered by that kind of thing, but there were enough for me to easily notice. I'm not the type of reader who usually notices errors unless I'm thinking to look for them, so I probably missed many more. However, I have also seen much worse by other authors and don't think the average reader will be much distracted with the current level of errors.

There are also a couple of lines that at first look like typographical errors, but are only backwards writing. This may be confusing for some less experienced readers. It also means that those lines won't translate to an audiobook, if that possibility was ever considered in the future.

For those really interested in fairy tale retellings with strong heroines, my opinion is that your time is much better spent on some of my favourites by Robin McKinley:  Spindle's End   (Sleeping Beauty), Rose Daughter  (Beauty and the Beast) and The Outlaws of Sherwood   (Robin Hood).

Cinderella's Secret Diary: Lost (Book 1) by Ron Vitale

Available in Kindle and paperback versions

Print Length: 197 pages