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Today, Fable and the Fable share our September book club episode - where we dive into The Princess Bride by William Goldman.

In addition to being fans of the movie since we were in our teens, we both had previously read and enjoyed this mad meta-adventure novel that inspired the film. So, this conversation is a revisit to a beloved story that neither of us had read for many years.

In this episode, we talk about some of the bold choices that the author made. The narrator is highly dislikable, there are parenthetical asides and italic notes from the character who is supposed to be abridging the original novel, and several scenes feature a significant amount of head hoping and slides through time. But, somehow, all of these choices make for a story that is self-aware, satirical, and rather brilliant.

He also has a fantastic grip on the elements that make for a great adventure. Creating suspense by revealing surprising information, but then holding back in other key areas. His characters are over the top and have significant flaws, but their stories pull you in and their unique quirks compel you to root for them to succeed.

This book felt to us like a risk, but a calculated one where the author knew what he wanted to create and did it without fear. And it absolutely paid off!

We hope you enjoy this episode! Keep reading, writing, and putting your voice out there!

Into the woods,

Fable & The Verbivore

Notes:

Fable references the “All is Lost” moment. Here is a link to more information on that:

• https://savethecat.com/about-the-beats/all-is-lost-means-all-is-lost

The Verbivore references a couple quotes from the book. Here is the full text of those:

• The Narrators Dad’s Description of the Book

  • “He held up a book then. “I'm going to read it to you for relax.”
    “Does it have any sports in it?”
    “Fencing. Fighting. Torture. Poison. True Love. Hate. Revenge. Giants. Hunters. Bad men. Good men. Beautifulest Ladies. Snakes. Spiders... Pain. Death. Brave men. Cowardly men. Strongest men. Chases. Escapes. Lies. Truths. Passion. Miracles.”
    “Sounds okay,” I said and I kind of closed my eyes.”

• Buttercup finding her voice:

  • “I say you are a coward and you are; I think you hunt only to reassure yourself that you are not what you are: the weakest thing to ever walk the Earth. He will come for me and then we will be gone, and you will be helpless for all your hunting, because Westley and I are joined by the bond of love and you cannot track that, not with a thousand bloodhounds, and you cannot break it, not with a thousand swords.”

Books Mentioned:

• The Princess Bride: S. Morgenstern's Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure by William Goldman

• The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (Chronicles of Narnia Book 5) by C. S. Lewis

• Dune (Dune Chronicles, Book 1) by Frank Herbert

• The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

• Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

• Save The Cat! The Last Book on Screenwriting You'll Ever Need by Blake Snyder

Movies Mentioned:

• The Princess Bride – Directed by Rob Reiner, Written by William Goldman

• Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid – Directed by George Roy Hill, Written by William Goldman

• Citizen Kane – Directed by Orson Welles

• Inception – Directed Christopher Nolan

Music from: https://filmmusic.io
’Friendly day’ by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)
Licence: CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)