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headinthepages's review against another edition
3.0
Moderate: Ableism, Body horror, Body shaming, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Sexism, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
rmesquirrel's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.75
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Fatphobia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
bearystarry's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
At least when he shuts the hell up the actual story is sometimes thrilling and interesting and romantic. But the sexism especially creeps into the main narrative as well, unfortunately. I definitely think the movie is better in most ways, but mainly in the framing device. Would've been awful to see some weirdo middle-aged man trying to cheat on his wife in LA instead of a child sick in bed listening to his lovely grandfather read him a story. Also was very surprised to read a racial slur. Extremely weird.
Graphic: Ableism, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal death, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Terminal illness, and Transphobia
Minor: Animal cruelty
tangleroot_eli's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Graphic: Body shaming and Fatphobia
Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, Child abuse, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail
kelseyr713's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
The story of The Princess Bride itself is great. I think the movie version is even better, one of the rare cases this applies. The best subplots that don't make it to the movie are Fezzik's backstory and even more of Inigo's. The Zoo of Death is a little tedious.
I mostly like the commentary by Goldman, who is not himself in the book but rather another character. But I don’t understand why he portrays "himself" so unsympathetically and would appreciate more context into the parts where he talks about "his" life. Some of it is real, but he invents a different wife and a different child, among other things, and isn't nice to either of them. The asides during the book are mostly funny though, and every time Stephen King pops up is great. He clearly has a lot of thoughts on the abridgment process, and this is an interesting way to explore those.
I also think it's interesting that the overall theme of the book, which he overtly mentions a few times, is that life isn't fair. Subverting a lot of fairy tales and perhaps inserting some of his own outlook.
Content warnings: a lot of fatphobia, a homophobic slur, an ethnic slur towards a Spanish person.
Graphic: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Confinement, Death, Fatphobia, Torture, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, and Alcohol
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Homophobia, Racial slurs, and Xenophobia