Leigha's Little Library

I did not think I would have to start this review with a trigger warning, of all books, but here we are. Trigger Warning: Suicide (There is a line in this that really rubbed me the wrong way.) Fat shaming a child.

---

About the suicide, the line is "She had never seriously contemplated suicide before. Oh, of course she’d thought about it; every girl does from time to time. But never seriously. To her quiet surprise, she found it was going to be the easiest thing in the world."

Every girl does? What is that even supposed to mean? This line makes suicide sound like a silly fad, a phase that "every" girl goes through, but only when she is feeling emotional.

Every few chapters, the author, William Goldman (who is pretending not to be the author) breaks the fourth wall and talks about his life and why he cut this and that from the "original" novel. In a lot of these fourth wall breaking segments, he talks about his "fat" son and "cold" wife, he even talks about almost being tempted to cheat on his wife. I get that he is trying to go for a style and pass this novel off as something some great S. Morgenstern wrote, but what is the point in talking so horrible about your son and wife? Is that really how you treated your family? Please tell me those parts were fiction, too.

I skipped the last part "Buttercup's Baby." So in that sense, I DNF'd this book. This is a rare case where the movie is better. Oh sure, I liked this book. It had the same heart as the movie, but Goldman's interruptions really ruined my enjoyment. I don't think I want to read anything else by him.

Don't fat shame your children, please. Don't body shame, in general! This line comes from the book: "Oh. Daddy, I'm ugly and I've got no friends and all the girls laugh at me and make fun because I'm so fat."
I had to blink back tears myself -- because it was all true, y'see." (Goldman talking to his son.) Why is this even relevant to The Princess Bride? I don't get it! This is gross. Just gross.

I have a bad relationship with food because all through my childhood, my stepdad mocked my weight, doctors put me on diet pills at 16...etc. Guess what, I look back and I wasn't even obese, bigger than the average kid my age, maybe, but not big enough for diet pills, or big enough to "diet". What is "too big" and what is normal? As a child, I shouldn't have been thinking I was wrong because I had a few more pounds than other classmates. Now I'm an adult with body image issues, weight "problems", depression, anxiety and I always put myself down, hate on myself.

Thinness does not equal happiness. Fatness does not equal sadness. Goldman said that now his son is ripped and gorgeous and now he is popular. What kind of message does this send to anyone?

Also, I want to point out, I did not really care about the way Fezzik is treated as not smart just because he is a large guy.

Sorry I went on a rant here.