Reviews with content warning for Racism - Don Quixote

the original version of 'he plays too much video games'.

In all seriousness, this was actually worth reading despite its length. The story was really funny and clever, and I loved reading about Don Quijote's shenanigans! Being shorter would have made the book better, though — I would delete all the unnecessary character stories that didn't involve Don Quijote (towards the end there were quite a few of these instances).

Obviously this books comes with some misogyny and racism (I mean, what would you expect from 16th-17th century Europe?) but there were some surprisingly modern takes as well; here are my favourite ones:
1. women don't owe men sex or any other kinds of attention
2. prostitution would be safer if it was practiced under legal conditions
3. capitalism is bad

it was a fun ride, but I'm also glad that it's finally over.

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lynxpardinus's review against another edition

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adventurous funny

2.25

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mihai26's review against another edition

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adventurous slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

This was such an incredibly hard book to finish. I can understand and appreciate the metafiction parts, but besides that, I could not stand the plot or the characters. It is filled with too much misogyny and racism, the story did not spark any emotions, neither the tragedy nor the comedy parts. I acknowledge the time this novel was written in, but it is honestly not worth any reader's time unless you are studying literature.

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bookishplantmom's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging funny slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

This story follows the self proclaimed knight errant Don Quixote and his squire Sancho Ponza as they get up to all kinds of ludicrous activities trying to fulfill the duties of their station in life. I chose to hybrid read this to help me along in this lengthy story. It was surprisingly enjoyable for what it is. I found some passages quite funny but also melancholy at times. I kept thinking about how cruel people can be when they aren’t the ones impacted by a situation. It also got me thinking about how that cruelty remains very much part of human interaction. Also while there were some racist and sexist moments in the book it wasn’t nearly as violent as I was bracing for which I’m pleased about. Overall I’m glad I read this.

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