27th July 2025

Having seen the film and the memes, I decided it was time to read the book. That said, it sat on my self for quite a long time before I picked it up, and I'm not entirely sure what it was that prompted me to read it now.

My copy is the 25th anniversary edition, which it turns out matters, becuase the opening and closing parts of the book vary between editions. Mine begins with a long introduction about the making of the film, before going into what appears to be the original introduction, before getting to the story. And my copy ends with an opening chapter of a sequel, but not all the detail that an even later edition apparently has.

Once the confusion of the two introductions was past, the opening of the book matches well what I remember from the film. Buttercup is beautiful, Westley works on the farm. And thus adventures ensue, interupted only by frequent asides from the narrator in a horrible-to-read italic typeface.

I found the narrative hard-going. It jumps wildly between characters, builds them up and knocks them down, judders between action and inaction, important detail and unimportant detail, and feels like it's putting little effort into keeping the reader hooked. This is not a book, from its length, that should have taken me over a week to read. But it's not a book that could keep my attention on it for long enough to devour big chunks in a sitting.

read more