A captivating book indeed. A book gifted to me by a friend of mine, a book that I came across as I was just wandering around in Barnes and Noble and caught my eye. It sounded like a fairy tale with all elements in it - action, adventure, love, betrayl, cruelty, greediness, etc. No wonder it was made into a movie.
William Goldman publishes an abridged version of this S. Morgenstern's classic, where he has his animadversions inserted all over the place reciting anecdotes when he has heard this story as a kid from his father and as he recites the same to his grandchild.
The story is based on the land of Florin that existed somewhere between Sweden and Germany, before Europe was formed. Buttercup, the central female character, is beauty-personified from her birth to a poor farmer family but a tom-boy (loves horse-riding) till love strikes her. She falls in love with Westley, a handsome farm-boy. It's then she realizes that Westley has become a farm-boy to be close to his love. It's then when life takes a turn resulting in Westley becoming a pirate and Buttercup forced to sham princesshood after getting engaged to Prince Humperdinck of Florin.
Why does a prince marry a banal person? Because he doesn't want to marry a bald princess of neighboring country, Guilder, to settle ages-old enmity. Interesting things happen when Buttercup is kidnapped by neighboring state to avenge the insult suffered at the hands of Prince Humperdinck.
Various interesting characters evolve. Count Rugen is a cruel six-fingered count, assistant to the Prince in all his cunning plans. He helps the Prince in rescuing Buttercup when she is kidnapped. Will the princess be rescued?
Inigo (an excellent spanish swordsman who lives to avenge his father's death), Fezzik (a mighty and most adorable giant who loves rhyming words) and Vizzini (an evil plan master/executor) together kidnap Buttercup. But what are their intentions?
And then there is Miracle Max (a miracle man) who is thrown out of King Lotharon's (father of Prince Humperdinck) palace as he fails to cure the latter. Will he be able to prove his capabilities ever?
A must-read for all masala-movie/fairy-tale lovers as the story progresses from the Cliffs of Insanity to the Zoo of Death. Simon Morgenstern does a good job in building all the fictious places in Florin while educating his readers with Florinese history too.
Once done, do not forget to read about William Goldman. You would be shocked to know that William Goldman is an amazing fiction writer himself. I would caution enthusiastic readers to sustain from reading this link before the novel. :)
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