5 Stars Source: Audible
NOTE: I'll be honest: If you are not a fan of The Princess Bride, you probably will not be interested in anything I have to say. Now that I have that out of the way, let's dig in!
Brief Synopsis: Actor Cary Elwes (who played Westley in the movie The Princess Bride) delivers a fantastic behind-the-scenes account of the making of the cult classic film. Filled with his own personal stories, as well as many additional stories from other contributors to the film, this is a delightful tale of friendship and movie making.
Thoughts: Let me take you back to the year 1987. My 7th grade science teacher, Ms. Bruck, would read her to classes (yes, that's right, READ BOOKS in SCIENCE!) every Friday IF everyone had their homework turned in. Not only did I discover Stephen King in her class (she read us the short story Gray Matter and while I absolutely loved it, I'm sure many a student was a little traumatized. Gotta love the 80s!) but she also read us The Princess Bride. This story was so dear to her heart that she read it to every class, although due to the nature of kids turning in homework consistently, not many classes actually finished the story. My class was one of the fortunate ones. Imagine my delight when the movie came out the following year! I couldn't wait to see how this momentous story would be translated to the screen! For better or worse, I quickly realized it was...well, very different than the book. Over the many years I have learned that it really doesn't matter how different the two are--I just decided to treat them as two entirely different entities and that has made all the difference; I love both equally.
Flash forward to this year's Spring Break: the hubby and I had a long drive to San Diego and needed the perfect audiobook. The first one we tried was definitely not cutting it so I suggested this one and now I'm just mad we wasted so many hours on that other one! My husband also had this same science teacher so he shares my love for this story. We've watched it probably yearly with our kids and know all the lines. Listening to Cary share all the special stories was beyond delightful! It was like listening to a dear friend talk about a beloved adventure and we just ATE IT UP! Not to mention hearing all the other cast voices--there are plenty of excerpts from other cast and crew members and almost all of them lent their voices to this version (so make sure to LISTEN to this one!). Seriously, I don't think I've ever been so sad when a story ended--I just wanted to stay with these friends around the fire forever.
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