Customer Reviews

The Totally Geeky Guide to The Princess Bride

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

Reviewed by Shannon Bailes for Reader Views (1/07)

This book was a difficult read for me. First of all, I am not a Princess Bride fanatic, nor a geek, so I had to learn a bit about that before I even began. Therefore, anyone who chooses this book to read would have to know a little bit about The Princess Bride before they can even begin to really enjoy this book.

With that said, I did find it an enjoyable read even though I did not thoroughly understand everything that I was reading. The flow of the book is good, and the author does a good job of engaging the reader. The dry humor that comes from this book is right up my alley, but a person who does not enjoy that kind of humor may find that it is too pointed.

I particularly enjoyed the story about the exchange with Mandy Patinkin as I am an avid fan of his and have been for years. This exchange assisted me in relating to the storyline even better.

"The Totally Geeky Guide to the Princess Bride" was well proofread, better than most I have reviewed. While this is not a book I would choose to read, for a small population it would be quite fun. Being a Princess Bride enthusiast and a geek would tie this altogether for some!

Book received free of charge.

This is a fun little book, which is essentially just a long essay by MaryAnn Johanson. It explores the quirks of the movie, the Princess Bride, with some references to the original book by William Goldman. I enjoyed reading it, and it only took me one sitting to finish it.

I picked up this book for my wife who is a huge Princess Bride fan. She loved it! If you're the type of fan who quotes dialog from this movie, like she is, you will want this book.

I was expecting insider info on the book and the movie. This is a more, "you might be a princess bride geek if..." type of book.
Not a bad read, but not what I was hoping for.

Inconceivable that anyone would not get it, when seeing the Princess Bride. Reading this book was sheer joy, and it reconnected us with all the subtle nuances that we'd forgotten. You always remember "Hello, my name is Inigo...", but less well known is "Have fun storming the castle!"