The Princess Bride question

https://www.hmhco.com/~/media/sites/p...

When I first read this book I actually fell for it. I truly started to believe that this place existed in Europe and that he really did experience this book being read to him. It was only maybe about halfway through that I finally started to catch on. How long did it take the rest of you?

Thank you so much, Julia!

He is totally messing with our minds...but that's how involved you become in the story! He's a marketing genius!

I read this book in 1979. I did send a letter to the address suggested in the book. I DID get a letter back. And (oh God) was it worth my while. I was 19 at the time so when I saw the envelope I was really excited. Today you don't send a letter by snail mail, but an email. Some people say that you must be stupid to believe there is a reunion scene; those people just don't understand Goldman's sense of humor. Please take a minute and write to tradewebmaster@harcourt.com , you won't be disappointed. Just for the sake of reading some more of Goldman's silly storied, do write.

Yes, I sent in for it back in the 90s. It was my first Easter egg.... this is before dvds, so that was a unique concept. I remember laughing my tush off when I read it, and donating it to the special collection of my high school library.

I think it Goldman was trolling.... if you Google it you'll see what some people found later.

I think he just loved messing with people's heads. Such a great writer.

My mom sent in for that scene; i think they sent her a letter saying "goldman cant cut thru the copyrights to send his scene" which continued the ruse of the book.

I did write for that scene back years ago. I doubt I still have it. It basically said what Lucy reported. It said that the scene was stuck in copyright limbo and the Morgenstern estate wasn't allowing it to be released. He was just totally messing with our minds. Here's a link to the complete letter: http://splitsider.com/2012/01/the-pri...

There is no reunion scene, just as there is no S. Morgenstern. Goldman wants you to understand that ideally there is a reunion scene, but for the sake of the story, it is not necessary to describe it in detail. We get to know Westley and Buttercup so well that we need only to imagine it.

Edit: My newest 2017 edition of The Princess Bride has both the mailing address as well as an asterisk that leads you to a website that re-directs you here: http://www.hmhco.com/~/media/sites/pr...
I imagine this is the same letter some of you may have gotten in the mail.

Way back when, I sent for and received the reunion scene. Typical Goldman, funny and wondrous and droll.

I still have the letter, tucked in my cheap paperback copy of the book. Just re-read it. It still makes me laugh.

this is brilliant. thank you everyone for finding/saving the letter