The Totally Geeky Guide to The Princess Bride [Paperback]

MaryAnn Johanson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 8, 2006

Princess Bride, film, movie, criticism, analysis, geek, cult

Product Details

• Paperback: 92 pages
• Publisher: LULU (August 8, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1847287395
• ISBN-13: 978-1847287397
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #465,760 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

35 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars If you are a fan of the book... don't buy this, July 13, 2008

By 

M. Kooiman "nerdette" (Richardson, TX USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Totally Geeky Guide to The Princess Bride (Paperback)

I was very disappointed. I had selected the next book for our monthly book club and it was The Princess Bride". I was looking for a good reference book that would aid in the discussion of "The Princess Bride", saw this online and bought it. It wasn't a good reference book. Instead, it was chapter after chapter of the author repeating her favorite lines and scenes from the movie. There were a few snippets of famous people talking about the movie including some from the actors in the movie. I didn't find anything else in the book vaguely interesting. Anyone who's read "The Princess Bride" and seen the movie knows the movie is good but is missing some of the best of the book (i.e. the zoo of death, Inigo and Fezzig's history and what Miracle Max REALLY thinks is as good as true love and it's not an MLT).

I read the first few chapters of the "Totally Geeky Guide to the Princess Bride" and couldn't read any further. I skimmed through the rest, read the quotes from the actors,etc. and then donated the book to a charity book sale. It was just a big advertisement for the movie and, think about it, if I bought this book then I'm already a fan of the movie and/or the book.

If you're a big fan of the movie, I recommend you buy The Princess Bride: S. Morgenstern's Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure and read it. William Goldman wrote this book first and later the screen play that everyone has come to love.

53 of 69 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars I was dissapointed..., September 14, 2006

By 

Daniel delSobral (Eastern Massachusetts) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Totally Geeky Guide to The Princess Bride (Paperback)

with this book. My sister gave it to me because she knew I was a big fan of the movie.

The book doesn't really have a point - to me, it came across as a collection of arguments why the author thought Princess Bride was a great movie - almost like a term paper written about the Princess Bride that had been published.

This wouldn't have been a problem, except the author's reasons for thinking the movie was great were different from mine. Her thesis seemed to be that the movie's story about true love resonates better because it is told within the context of cynical characters and cinematic convention defying screenplay. I actually sort of agree with her point, but I think she misses three more important reasons: it has an *excellent* cast, it has a great soundtrack, and the screenplay is very funny.

I'm interested in what other people think about the book, but for me, it fell flat. I don't feel like I learned anything new from it, and for whatever reason, the author seems to have a different basis of appreciation for Princess Bride than I do, so most of the book seemed off-target.

17 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars My review...again, October 5, 2006

By 

Grim Reality (Illinois) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Totally Geeky Guide to The Princess Bride (Paperback)

I sent in a review for this a couple weeks ago, but it was never posted.
I'll try again, but I wonder why they never posted the first one.
I've been familar with Mary Ann for awhile now, from reading her Blog and Film reviews. I knew going in what to expect.
She writes from the perspective of the "true" geek. Someone who spends far too much analyzing a movie like The Princess Bride. I enjoyed the book, and her take on things, but it is not for everyone. My wife, a person who loves the movie as much as I do, put the book down after expecting something "lighter"(aka not geeky, despite the title).
Mary Ann writes from a well-informed perspective. I like that.
Personally, I never thought this much about the movie before. I just liked it for all the base reasons. It's fun, smart, witty, etc. It was interesting to look at it on a deeper level.