Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

הנסיכה הקסומה by William Goldman

21 reviews

oldmanrupee's review against another edition

adventurous funny lighthearted fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

A wonderful adventure, all the fun of the film and more, except for one thing: my least favourite character is the author.

Goldman has semi-autobiographical, semi-fictional parts inserted into the story throughout, detailing how the story was actually written by the fictional author S. Morgenstern, the book was supposedly read to him as a child by his father, and how Goldman "abridged" the book into what it is now when he found out his father apparently only read the good bits and the "actual" book was full of needless political exposition. 

That's all fine and good in theory, because who doesn't like a bit of meta-text, but the problem is that Goldman himself comes off as an incredibly self-centred, angry, and unlikeable man in these sections, especially when he describes his relationship with his ex-wife and son (trigger warning for fatphobia/body image discussion). Now because it's semi-fictional autobiographical inserts in and around a fantasy story, it's hard to say if it's an intentionally bad self portrayal or not, but either way it was bad enough to make my review drop a star.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Torture, and Death of parent

Moderate: Fatphobia

lauramcc7's review against another edition

adventurous funny lighthearted fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Alcohol

Minor: War

sweetchocolatez's review against another edition

funny lighthearted relaxing fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, Blood, and Death of parent

Moderate: Grief, Addiction, Kidnapping, Blood, Alcohol, Violence, and Torture

Minor: Fatphobia and Suicide

sadiaa's review against another edition

adventurous emotional

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Blood, Emotional abuse, Torture, Violence, Medical content, Murder, Body horror, Death of parent, Grief, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

niamphoone's review against another edition

adventurous funny lighthearted reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Alcoholism, Antisemitism, Kidnapping, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, and Suicidal thoughts

bookish_bry's review against another edition

adventurous funny fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

I really enjoyed The Princess Bride. The framing of the narrative as an abridgment of some huge classic novel was pretty fun (though it could be a tad annoying at bits). It's a fun story and I loved most of the characters. It was also pretty quick to read despite the fact that it was 400 pages.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, and Torture

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts

elizlizabeth's review against another edition

adventurous funny tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

Conflicting thoughts because the cynical approach of the "annotations" contrasts so heavily with the plot that it made me lowkey hate the annotator and wish Princess Bride were a real unabridged book I could read. As a satire it works really well and ages fantastically, I legit felt that a bitter little twitterman was commenting on an age old classic and ruining it in the process.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Death of parent, and Confinement

snazzysie's review against another edition

adventurous challenging funny inspiring lighthearted tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

I've loved the movie "The Princess Bride" ever since I was little, but the book has been on my shelf for a while. I suppose I was almost scared to read it as I had such high hopes considering the influence the movie had on my childhood. I can say it certainly lived up to my expectations for it. The fast paced, action, romance, and even humour-filled pages made for an enjoyable and nostalgically comforting read. Although I was at first a little confused by the narration choice, the satirical 'abridgement' was soon not lost on me. 
The couple we were supposed to be rooting for was more insufferable in text than I had expected, their conversations and Buttercup's inner monologs often leaving me cringing. However, the entertaining plot points and the storylines of and friendship between Inigo and Fezzik kept me invested. This is a cleverly written book and it has all the ingredients to make for a perfect classic story.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcohol, Blood, Death, Violence, Torture, and Murder

Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, and Animal death

jacob_dion's review against another edition

adventurous lighthearted fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Violence, and Misogyny

abbyluvsfrogs444's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny inspiring tense medium-paced

• 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

3.0

This would've been better without all of Goldman's stupid interruptions.

Obviously this is a fictional story and S. Morgenstern did not exist.

I had a very hard time enjoying this book when Goldman kept interrupting himself to add some useless fact or tell a story about his childhood. I skipped the first 42 pages cause he just rambles on. I just wanted the story of Buttercup and Westley. I don't care if you think he was a genius for how he writes this, I found it insufferable. I would've rated it two stars but I did like the story (minus Goldman being annoying). 

Bottom line: THE MOVIE IS BETTER!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Torture, Blood, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Gore, Kidnapping, and Misogyny

Moderate: Body shaming, Classism, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Sexism, Suicide attempt, Alcoholism, Fatphobia, and Grief