Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Princess Bride

In the spirit of Valentine's and to appease my short attention span mood, I've decided to read something light, passionate and romantic. I was cleaning up my e-books selection when I saw William Goldman's Princess Bride.

I've seen printed copies of this in the best seller sections of bookstores last year. But I didn't pay attention to it. But I admit I was a bit curious why it became a best seller though.

I was googling best titles for romance fiction last weekend and as always, Pride and Prejudice, One Day and A room with a view are some of the books that would always come up. I've already read those and I want something new. Just so happened I wasn't also not in the mood for classics. Something in likes of One Day or mass-romance novels would do. Then I found a best seller list that contains Princess Bride. Looking at my e-book collection and seeing the title included there, I figured it's already at my disposal. So the search was over.

After reading a few chapters, I realized that this is not your typical, heavy and romantic story. It is a love story with fun adventure. It could be read by teenagers before angst became such a big hit. It also injects a basic dose of magic realism that I mostly read from Allende and G.G. Marquez. Reading it reminds me of Stardust by Neil Gaiman. A stubborn, headstrong beauty, betrothed to a very distinct prince who loves hunting more than women, gets kidnapped by a band of syndicates with extraordinary characteristics. Little do they know that the soon-to-be princess is in love with their old stable boy who became a renowned fighter during one of his expeditions and has come to rescue her. I like it that the situations and characters are goofy and that they swear.

I haven't reached the middle of the story to know the much deeper conflicts and intricacies of the plot, but so far I am entertained. There's no drama here. It's a pure love story trying to find its way through a goofy adventure. It's also not your typical fairy tale. If you like reading Stardust, you'll probably like this one.




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