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thespiritoftheage's review against another edition
5.0
Outstanding. Complete, sincere (careful with that word when dealing with Byron), amusing, exciting, epic, engaging, charming. Unsurprisingly sexist and racist. All the elements a work part of the British Canon must contain. It was great fun reading this. Thanks Byron.
dvlavieri's review against another edition
4.0
This epic mockery, Byron writ
With excellent recourse to wit,
passion, war, and sharp satires:
Though by the end it tires.
We follow our hero, quite Byronic,
on adventures soaked ironic,
If you thought you knew Don Juan
For Byron's hero is a now one.
In Seville, with Julia love
Alight'd on his heart: a dove
(A dove? why that is just a pigeon!
alas-- rhyming is a fool's religion).
Anyhow, a dove alighted on heart,
And gave his innocence a start.
And by-and-by his Julia deary
Had a husband old and weary,
Who spoiled Juan's fun, 'tis true,
When discovered 'neath bed: his shoe.
And so his mother sent him to sea,
to see the World, not touch but see.
At see a storm quite fixed his fate!
A lack of food made them all irrate
And 'came mad with hunger none could sate
And poor Pedrillo the crew ate,
(Cannibalism is quite serious,
And to men's mind: quite deleterious!)
And so alone, Greek isle stranded
On shores of Haidee's heart he landed.
And Haidee showed him love true,
Capable with just love's two.
Until her dear, thought-dead father,
Preferred Juan for a slave, rather.
Then to the land of Turkey, went
Juan, where money on him spent
Made him a slave to Gulbeyez,
and also fit him in a dress.
She loved him dear, but he could not
Forget Haidee, not yet forgot.
And then abruptly Russia fought
the Turks and home with them brought
Juan for Catherine, queen of queans
Who gave him ample means.
But the weather wrought his health undone
And so was sent off to London.
At this point all became digression
and much slowed down the tale's progression.
A ghost and a fair lady pass,
And distract Juan from recherché lass.
But all with metaphysics clogged
And thus the story's bogged.
And then, alas, abruptly stopped,
Because poor Byron dropped.
With excellent recourse to wit,
passion, war, and sharp satires:
Though by the end it tires.
We follow our hero, quite Byronic,
on adventures soaked ironic,
If you thought you knew Don Juan
For Byron's hero is a now one.
In Seville, with Julia love
Alight'd on his heart: a dove
(A dove? why that is just a pigeon!
alas-- rhyming is a fool's religion).
Anyhow, a dove alighted on heart,
And gave his innocence a start.
And by-and-by his Julia deary
Had a husband old and weary,
Who spoiled Juan's fun, 'tis true,
When discovered 'neath bed: his shoe.
And so his mother sent him to sea,
to see the World, not touch but see.
At see a storm quite fixed his fate!
A lack of food made them all irrate
And 'came mad with hunger none could sate
And poor Pedrillo the crew ate,
(Cannibalism is quite serious,
And to men's mind: quite deleterious!)
And so alone, Greek isle stranded
On shores of Haidee's heart he landed.
And Haidee showed him love true,
Capable with just love's two.
Until her dear, thought-dead father,
Preferred Juan for a slave, rather.
Then to the land of Turkey, went
Juan, where money on him spent
Made him a slave to Gulbeyez,
and also fit him in a dress.
She loved him dear, but he could not
Forget Haidee, not yet forgot.
And then abruptly Russia fought
the Turks and home with them brought
Juan for Catherine, queen of queans
Who gave him ample means.
But the weather wrought his health undone
And so was sent off to London.
At this point all became digression
and much slowed down the tale's progression.
A ghost and a fair lady pass,
And distract Juan from recherché lass.
But all with metaphysics clogged
And thus the story's bogged.
And then, alas, abruptly stopped,
Because poor Byron dropped.
arabella505's review against another edition
5.0
Witty, masterfully-written, and absolutely funny: this poem was the whole package!
Before reading this, I thought The Prisoner of Chillon was Byron's best poem, but this easily tops that.
The best thing about the book, in my opinion, was its rhymes. Byron's rhymes simply made me respect him even more than I already did.
brilliant.
Before reading this, I thought The Prisoner of Chillon was Byron's best poem, but this easily tops that.
The best thing about the book, in my opinion, was its rhymes. Byron's rhymes simply made me respect him even more than I already did.
brilliant.
sanya986's review against another edition
3.0
I have to give it a three, only because I expected to learn more about the protagonist than the writer. Half of the book is some unrelated contemplating about the poetry, human nature, wars, women, politics...and it goes on and on. Even the author himself says that he often goes off the road in his story telling. But, however, I applaude to the fact that this is the most spontaneous work of literature ever, I think. When he sticks to the story, it is magnificent. But, there were things that I didn't quite understand, until the very end of the book ( which didn't even end )...only then I started to relate to the book, and so I promised myself that I will read it again, and hopefully fall in love with Byron's poetry. Yes, I will definitely give it one more try!
hairymclary28's review against another edition
3.0
Beautiful language and (especially in the early cantos) laugh-out-loud funny, but marred by casual sexism and racism, and the pacing is variable. Still, it’s impressive to have a poem that makes its audience laugh aloud even 200 years after first publication.
dreamsneverend's review against another edition
5.0
Qué obra tan increible pero parte del club que no pudo ser terminada por su autor, no puedo imaginar qué habría planeado Lord Byron para cerrar esta historia. Debo decir que leí una edición traducida al español de hace unas cuantas décadas y omitió varias estrofas e incluso el inconcluso canto XVII que pude leer en inglés pero sin contar ese detalle que noté casi al finalizar y que perdono por ser una traducción de hace casi medio siglo puedo decir que de resto fue bastante acertada y muy fácil de leer.
La historia empieza bastante normal, nada muy extravagante pero en cuanto avanza se empieza a perder el control de todo, además te guía para que pienses de una forma y te adelantes a ciertos acontecimientos que terminan transformados en todo lo contrario a lo que anticipaste. Engancha muy rápido, no pude parar la lectura hasta que pasé la mitady porque tenía una asignación pendiente. Probablemente muchos piensen que puede ser complicado de leer pero incluso en inglés tiene un ritmo muy bien llevado que hace que fluya naturalmente, casi ni se nota que estás leyendo. Lord Byron tenía razón al presumir su talento mientras escribía porque de verdad no le faltaba en absoluto.
Considero que Lord Byron fue talentoso e inteligente con sus obras y en él descansa toda la esencia del Romanticismo. Fue una figura interesante que comparte cualidades con sus contemporáneos pero que supo plasmar todo ese tormento que los unía de forma diferente para destacar entre tanto talento que le rodeaba y merece todo el reconocimiento que ha tenido.
La historia empieza bastante normal, nada muy extravagante pero en cuanto avanza se empieza a perder el control de todo, además te guía para que pienses de una forma y te adelantes a ciertos acontecimientos que terminan transformados en todo lo contrario a lo que anticipaste. Engancha muy rápido, no pude parar la lectura hasta que pasé la mitad
Considero que Lord Byron fue talentoso e inteligente con sus obras y en él descansa toda la esencia del Romanticismo. Fue una figura interesante que comparte cualidades con sus contemporáneos pero que supo plasmar todo ese tormento que los unía de forma diferente para destacar entre tanto talento que le rodeaba y merece todo el reconocimiento que ha tenido.
cuddlesome's review against another edition
Not gonna rate this one just yet because I didn't technically finish it but want to at some point, just not now. The audiobook I was listening to just jumped over a huge chunk of cantos and left me extremely lost, confused, and too exasperated to keep going. I think I'm supposed to be at canto VII.
Thoughts so far... I like Byron's witticisms as I always do with his work but I feel like the hot take that it's his magnum opus is a little much. But again, that's just based on reading a portion of it and keeping in mind that I don't really care for satire. If I'm being entirely honest I don't even know if it's engaging enough for me to ever return to it but that could just be my aforementioned irritation with the audiobook and my unfamiliarity with the original Don Giovanni character who is being satirized.
Thoughts so far... I like Byron's witticisms as I always do with his work but I feel like the hot take that it's his magnum opus is a little much. But again, that's just based on reading a portion of it and keeping in mind that I don't really care for satire. If I'm being entirely honest I don't even know if it's engaging enough for me to ever return to it but that could just be my aforementioned irritation with the audiobook and my unfamiliarity with the original Don Giovanni character who is being satirized.
aseel_reads's review against another edition
2.0
Even with taking into consideration the historical/social context, this was just so cringy. So much sexism, racism, colonial mentality, argh gross.
The actual story was okay but whenever Byron inserted himself in, it was such a snooze fest
The actual story was okay but whenever Byron inserted himself in, it was such a snooze fest
talasterism's review against another edition
4.0
Byron is a cool guy. He spent approx 7-8 years on this book and then kinda died and didn't finish. The funny thing, he wrote 16 cantos (and 14 lines of 17th) and in canto 12 he says smth like "Well I'm just getting started" but alas the guy didn't finish it.
Having read Moliere's Don Juan, I found Byron's interpretation of him, well, very different. He turns the guy who seduces every women he sees into a sort of innocent baby whom the ladies can't leave alone.
My favourite moments include: Byron's sass towards the Lake Poets, the moment where Don Juan was dressed as a woman at Sultan's palace (so that sultan does suspect anything and his wife can cadoodle with him) and three girls from the harem questioned their sexuality; basically any sass there was.
I probably would have liked it more if I didn't have to read 600+ pages in two days. Also I got the top mark on my seminar about it!
Having read Moliere's Don Juan, I found Byron's interpretation of him, well, very different. He turns the guy who seduces every women he sees into a sort of innocent baby whom the ladies can't leave alone.
My favourite moments include: Byron's sass towards the Lake Poets, the moment where Don Juan was dressed as a woman at Sultan's palace (so that sultan does suspect anything and his wife can cadoodle with him) and three girls from the harem questioned their sexuality; basically any sass there was.
I probably would have liked it more if I didn't have to read 600+ pages in two days. Also I got the top mark on my seminar about it!