The movie and the core of this book are nearly identical—scene by scene, line by line—and both are wonderful. Memorable characters, quotable lines, a bit of adventure, a bit of comedy, a bit of romance, and a lot of satire. Inconceivable!
Where they differ is in the intro and outro. The movie has a short intro and outro featuring Fred Savage as cute kid stuck in bed due to being sick and Peter Falk as his grandfather, there to read him a book to make him feel better. The book’s intro and outro have the same basic setup—the kid is William Goldman himself and instead of a grandfather, it’s his father reading the book—but also includes a lot of meandering, non-sensical tangents and weak jokes, and drags on way too long (~80 pages combined). The book also has lots of “interludes” where William Goldman speaks directly to the audience, which are somewhat hit or miss.
So, overall, the movie is the better, more polished experience. The book is good too, but only if you skip the intro/outro.
Rating: 4 stars
Yevgeniy Brikman
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