The Princess Bride
William Goldman · 1973
A fairy tale romance that earns its happy ending by nearly destroying everything several times. Westley and Buttercup's love is simple and absolute; the novel's ironic postmodern frame ("the good parts version") somehow makes it more romantic, not less. True love. You keep using that word. Goldman means it.
The case against
Goldman's frame, the fictional memoirist with the cold wife and the fat son he mocks, has aged into something sour; the interruptions that charm at first start costing momentum by the midpoint. Buttercup herself is a void, beautiful and barely sentient, which is a strange center for a love story. The fairy tale is sturdier than the metafiction wrapped around it.
Romance · the Pro canon
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