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I hate to say it, but this is a rare case where the movie was better than the book for me. I did enjoy getting some of his Dad and more of Inigo and Fezzik's backstory, but despite the fact that Goldman says that he has "always thought of himself as a novelist," this just feels like a very weird novelized screenplay. It's fun, and perhaps my experience was ruined by seeing the movie first many times. I just felt that the fourth wall shtick got very old very fast, and that it wasn't that funny to begin with. He really overstayed his welcome at the end with the "second abridgement," and his inventing of super hot younger women who are totally into him has aged like milk. I guess if you are into snark then you will be into it, I just think the movie works better because it removes the narrator into the much more heartwarming character of his Dad/Grandad.

Favorite quote: "Fencing. Fighting. Torture. Poison. True love. Hate. Revenge. Giants. Hunters. Bad men. Good men. Beautifulest ladies. Snakes. Spiders. Beasts of all natures and descriptions. Pain. Death. Brave men. Coward men. Strongest men. Escapes. Lies. Truths. Passion. Miracles."

"Sound okay I guess."

This book made me a fan of Dickens. His bewildering style is not my cup of tea, but I have finally come to respect and appreciate his talent. Don't try to write like him. I cried at the end.

I have been a fan of the blues since I was a teenager, and this is probably the first realistic and well researched construction of the real Robert Johnson. It is really incredible that it took until 2019 to understand Johnson as a man and not just a myth.

The title really makes sense by the end. Johnson never mentions the devil, or any kind of deal in the "Crossroad Blues." The myth is a phenomenon of folklore forging. He is, in fact, crying out to God in the song, but somehow the devil got all the credit for his playing.