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3.71 AVERAGE
3.71 AVERAGE
As translated by Edith Grossman and read by George Guidall, this is, simply put, the most sublime reading experience of my life so far.
I started listening more than a year ago, on long walks during the first of what would be five months of unemployment. I'd had the book on my shelf since it came out, in 2003, and was reviewed favorably (I just reread one of the essays that compelled me to buy the book; it's by Terry Castle, and it's a brilliant piece of writing by itself: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2004/01/high-plains-drifter/302858/), and now I, an uprooted print journalist, felt uniquely ready for a story about mad treks.
Over more than two months, I got through about 20 hours of the 40-hour unabridged audio production. And then I began my running season and stopped taking long walks, without having a job to drive to yet.
Flash forward to early March: I was almost a year into a new job and had finished an audiobook on my commute, ahead of schedule. I plugged in my phone and heard that I had actually started Book II of Don Quixote when I set it aside last year. So I started listening again, and I was reminded immediately that every minute brought amusement and pleasure.
I finished the book yesterday, appropriately just ahead of April 1, and I feel glad to have experienced it and, yes, a bit melancholy that it's over.
Nothing I could say about this book would be more insightful or original than what has already been written about it over the centuries. And nothing I can say will likely convince anyone to undertake the journey who isn't already inclined. Instead, I'll just say that I look forward to dipping into my print copy now and then for the rest of my life, to reading some of it aloud to my child someday, and to listening again to the audiobook when I need a kind of renewal.
I started listening more than a year ago, on long walks during the first of what would be five months of unemployment. I'd had the book on my shelf since it came out, in 2003, and was reviewed favorably (I just reread one of the essays that compelled me to buy the book; it's by Terry Castle, and it's a brilliant piece of writing by itself: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2004/01/high-plains-drifter/302858/), and now I, an uprooted print journalist, felt uniquely ready for a story about mad treks.
Over more than two months, I got through about 20 hours of the 40-hour unabridged audio production. And then I began my running season and stopped taking long walks, without having a job to drive to yet.
Flash forward to early March: I was almost a year into a new job and had finished an audiobook on my commute, ahead of schedule. I plugged in my phone and heard that I had actually started Book II of Don Quixote when I set it aside last year. So I started listening again, and I was reminded immediately that every minute brought amusement and pleasure.
I finished the book yesterday, appropriately just ahead of April 1, and I feel glad to have experienced it and, yes, a bit melancholy that it's over.
Nothing I could say about this book would be more insightful or original than what has already been written about it over the centuries. And nothing I can say will likely convince anyone to undertake the journey who isn't already inclined. Instead, I'll just say that I look forward to dipping into my print copy now and then for the rest of my life, to reading some of it aloud to my child someday, and to listening again to the audiobook when I need a kind of renewal.
Vond boek 1 echt super leuk, 2 iets minder dus daar bijna alleen maar de opgegeven hoofdstukken gelezen.
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
lighthearted
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Gah it took so long to read but I cried
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The first novel includes every type of emotion: humor, fear, joy, hate, lots of confusion and at the end definitely sadness. Still Don Quixote, Sancho Panza and their adventures are a pillar of literature for good reason.Everyone would benefit from reading about the world's greatest knight errant, as it is definitely an enjoyable adventure.
I did it. I actually finished. I was having serious doubts about my ability to push through this long, exceedingly repetitive book; and while I recognize that it is very old, and a classic, and impressive for its time, it is simply too long. To read an abridged version of this book would be sufficient. If I had not seen the play before I started this book and already had my interest piqued, there would have been another unfinished book in my sad gray pile.
“Finally, from so little sleeping and so much reading, his brain dried up and he went completely out of his mind.” (I felt almost the same way after reading your history, Don Quixote...).
I was sad Dulcinea did not play an actual part. And I was sad that Don Quixote denounced books of chivalry right before he died. What! What! Well then what was the point of all of that! I don't believe his madness was cured! It was such a silly, happy-go-lucky bed of tales and you know what?
I am just happy it is over.
“Finally, from so little sleeping and so much reading, his brain dried up and he went completely out of his mind.” (I felt almost the same way after reading your history, Don Quixote...).
I was sad Dulcinea did not play an actual part. And I was sad that Don Quixote denounced books of chivalry right before he died. What! What! Well then what was the point of all of that! I don't believe his madness was cured! It was such a silly, happy-go-lucky bed of tales and you know what?
I am just happy it is over.
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
"Señores," said Don Quixote, "let us go slowly, for there are no birds today in yesterday's nests. I was mad, and now I am sane….
he brought his will to a close, and falling into a swoon, he collapsed on his bed….This was the end of the Ingenious Gentleman of La Mancha….
The tears of Sancho and of Don Quixote's niece and housekeeper, new epitaphs for his grave, are not recorded here, although Sansón Carrasco did write this one for him:
Here lies the mighty Gentleman
who rose to such heights of valor
that death itself did not triumph
over his life with his death.
He did not esteem the world;
he was the frightening threat
to the world, in this respect,
for it was his great good fortune
to live a madman, and die sane.
he brought his will to a close, and falling into a swoon, he collapsed on his bed….This was the end of the Ingenious Gentleman of La Mancha….
The tears of Sancho and of Don Quixote's niece and housekeeper, new epitaphs for his grave, are not recorded here, although Sansón Carrasco did write this one for him:
Here lies the mighty Gentleman
who rose to such heights of valor
that death itself did not triumph
over his life with his death.
He did not esteem the world;
he was the frightening threat
to the world, in this respect,
for it was his great good fortune
to live a madman, and die sane.
This book starts great, but gets old pretty fast as it is esentialyl the same joke repeated over and over.