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3.71 AVERAGE
3.71 AVERAGE
adventurous
funny
inspiring
lighthearted
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
funny
inspiring
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book is considered one of the great novels, so surely there is more to it than "Don Quixote acts like a fool so others laugh at him and beat him up," but it happened so many times in the first ~100 pages that I never quite felt like picking it up again.
adventurous
challenging
dark
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
sad
medium-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
"Don Quixote" is a classic of world literature. The introduction to the edition I read (Penguin Classics) discusses the book's influence and Cervantes's life. There's also a good essay by the translator, John Rutherford. This is a five-star book in terms of its literary significance.
The book is presented as the true account of the life of Don Quixote as told by Cide Hamete Benengeli, an account that Cervantes claims to have merely translated. But Cide Hamete Benengeli and Don Quixote are both inventions of Cervantes, who also comments within his own novel on another author's unauthorized additions to the tales of Don Quixote. As for Don Quixote himself, he is a man who believes he is a knight errant, misinterpreting objects and events to fit his delusion. In his mind, inns become castles, windmills become giants.
For me, "Don Quixote" was an effort to broaden my literary horizons. As such, I was agreeably surprised to find that it is not only a classic, but one evidently written to entertain. In this, it reminds me of the Chinese classic, "The Journey to the West." Both are very lengthy books lightened by humor and many ridiculous/fantastical episodes.
"Don Quixote" also contains a substantial amount of cruelty, notably in part two where a Duke and Duchess amuse themselves at Quixote's expense. I detest the pair of them.
I liked Don Quixote, both the fictional character and the book. As Cervantes writes close to the end, Don Quixote "was always of gentle disposition and affable behaviour." I liked Quixote, but I loved Sancho Panza, the peasant whom Don Quixote takes on as his squire.
Five out of five stars for Sancho Panza and for the book's literary standing, but for me, overall, four out of five stars.
About my reviews: I try to review every book I read, including those that I don't end up enjoying. The reviews are not scholarly, but just indicate my reaction as a reader, reading being my addiction. I am miserly with 5-star reviews; 4 stars means I liked a book very much; 3 stars means I liked it; 2 stars means I didn't like it (though often the 2-star books are very popular with other readers and/or are by authors whose other work I've loved).
The book is presented as the true account of the life of Don Quixote as told by Cide Hamete Benengeli, an account that Cervantes claims to have merely translated. But Cide Hamete Benengeli and Don Quixote are both inventions of Cervantes, who also comments within his own novel on another author's unauthorized additions to the tales of Don Quixote. As for Don Quixote himself, he is a man who believes he is a knight errant, misinterpreting objects and events to fit his delusion. In his mind, inns become castles, windmills become giants.
For me, "Don Quixote" was an effort to broaden my literary horizons. As such, I was agreeably surprised to find that it is not only a classic, but one evidently written to entertain. In this, it reminds me of the Chinese classic, "The Journey to the West." Both are very lengthy books lightened by humor and many ridiculous/fantastical episodes.
"Don Quixote" also contains a substantial amount of cruelty, notably in part two where a Duke and Duchess amuse themselves at Quixote's expense. I detest the pair of them.
I liked Don Quixote, both the fictional character and the book. As Cervantes writes close to the end, Don Quixote "was always of gentle disposition and affable behaviour." I liked Quixote, but I loved Sancho Panza, the peasant whom Don Quixote takes on as his squire.
Five out of five stars for Sancho Panza and for the book's literary standing, but for me, overall, four out of five stars.
About my reviews: I try to review every book I read, including those that I don't end up enjoying. The reviews are not scholarly, but just indicate my reaction as a reader, reading being my addiction. I am miserly with 5-star reviews; 4 stars means I liked a book very much; 3 stars means I liked it; 2 stars means I didn't like it (though often the 2-star books are very popular with other readers and/or are by authors whose other work I've loved).
The guy who thinks windmills are warriors... what's not to like? I completely understand why this gem has been a favorite classic for years because you can't help but chuckle over all the misadventures this poor Man of La Mancha finds himself in while seeking to become what he considers to be the ideal knight. He wears a toilet basin on his head thinking it's a shiny helmet. He nearly beds a "woman of the evening" that smells of rotten meat and putrid unwashed body odor because he imagines her to be a virtuous maiden. He releases criminals from prison believing he is helping the oppressed. He slaughters sheep to the chagrin of the sheepherders, imagining they are the enemy. He is so unbelievably naive that he is nearly insane, and his fertile imagination becomes hallucinations, or perhaps that he simply wants to believe them so bad that they become real in his mind. He even argues with another knight that the man simply cannot have the title of a knight if he does not have a maiden pining after him - because that is Quixote's definition of what a knight should be.
All this to be said, a few hundred pages in, this tale does become a bit tedious and repetitive. Fun, yes, but I did get a bit bored with it after awhile. There's only so many misadventures the poor knight, with his sidekick Sancho Panza, can have. Still, definitely glad I read through the classic.
All this to be said, a few hundred pages in, this tale does become a bit tedious and repetitive. Fun, yes, but I did get a bit bored with it after awhile. There's only so many misadventures the poor knight, with his sidekick Sancho Panza, can have. Still, definitely glad I read through the classic.
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
emotional
lighthearted
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Too long without a clearly defined story. A series of events in which our characters mostly take part.
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
When it's good it's really great - funny, captivating and beatifully written. But there is also an extreme amount of uninspired filler material which makes it feel like a chore to keep reading.
Overall I would still recommend it, and this translation does come with suggestions for which parts of the book to skip.
Overall I would still recommend it, and this translation does come with suggestions for which parts of the book to skip.
I listened to the translation by Gerald J Davis while reading along with the Project Guetenberg version. While they were generally the same, I preferred the Davis translation which kept the same structure, but used better word choices. The story itself was very entertaining, and the narrator did a fantastic job.
**I received a free copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.
**I received a free copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.