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3.71 AVERAGE
3.71 AVERAGE
challenging
funny
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I can't believe I finally finished this behemoth. This was the most formidable book I've ever read. Woo hoo!
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
medium-paced
Spoilers
First 300 pages - hate, slapstick is not funny. Don Quixote is an asshole.
Next 200 pages - Can I tell you my tale?
Next 50 pages - These other authors are stupid, I laugh
Next 300 pages - Further stupid slapstick bs, but laughed at a couple jokes. Sancho is kinda cool everyone should leave him alone. Hate how everyone says he’s a fool like he isn’t he’s quite smart just not formally educated it’s not his fault.
Finale - I was really bored at this point, but I thought the jokes about the False Quixote were funny.
First 300 pages - hate, slapstick is not funny. Don Quixote is an asshole.
Next 200 pages - Can I tell you my tale?
Next 50 pages - These other authors are stupid, I laugh
Next 300 pages - Further stupid slapstick bs, but laughed at a couple jokes. Sancho is kinda cool everyone should leave him alone. Hate how everyone says he’s a fool like he isn’t he’s quite smart just not formally educated it’s not his fault.
Finale - I was really bored at this point, but I thought the jokes about the False Quixote were funny.
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
funny
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
adventurous
funny
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Phew, that's finally over!
In reality, this should be more like 2.5 stars. I really struggled over this book and have gone back and forth about whether to give it three stars or two. I didn't find it difficult, but I really do feel that it is overhyped. There were brief moments of brillance but many more moments of eye-rolling and checking to see just how many pages there were left. Maybe it was the specific translation I read, but this one had come so highly recommended! I found that I couldn't really appreciate the humor and had little patience for the story, which was highly eposidic, particularly in Part I. My inner-editor also couldn't stand all the inconsistances and errors in the novel. If you can't keep the story straight in your head, then write a shorter novel! It helped a little to think of it more as a bedtime story than some masterpiece of literature.
I'm sure the comparison has been made, but Don Quixote really felt like a proto-Forrest Gump, and I found the characters Don Quoxite and Sancho came across to be much more compelling than the famous duo. In Part I there are whole interpolated novellas, and I enjoyed those a lot more than the main story. Apparently this opinion was not shared by the novel's first readers, because Cervantes leaves these out of Part II, and even comments on the fact that they were not well-received. Part II is more philosophical and very meta. I did enjoy it more and feel that Cervantes' writing improved in the ten years between the two parts, but it still didn't grab me. I also found the meta-fiction to be a little inconsistant.
Anyway, I decided to give it the benefit of the doubt (and a little grade inflation) because 1) it's 400 years old; 2) it is in translation, and Don Quoxite himself asserts, “Translating from one language to another...is like looking at Flemish tapestries from the wrong side, for although the figures are visible, they are covered by threads that obscure them, and cannot be seen with the smoothness and color of the right side;" 3) I did manage to read the whole damn thing; and 4) because I did find interesting in a clinical, "history of literature" sort of way, even if it wasn't my favorite. I do, however, reserve the right to go back and change my mind!
EDIT: Well, that was fast. I was looking at how I have rated other books this year, and really it belongs with the twos. Sorry, Don Quixote!
In reality, this should be more like 2.5 stars. I really struggled over this book and have gone back and forth about whether to give it three stars or two. I didn't find it difficult, but I really do feel that it is overhyped. There were brief moments of brillance but many more moments of eye-rolling and checking to see just how many pages there were left. Maybe it was the specific translation I read, but this one had come so highly recommended! I found that I couldn't really appreciate the humor and had little patience for the story, which was highly eposidic, particularly in Part I. My inner-editor also couldn't stand all the inconsistances and errors in the novel. If you can't keep the story straight in your head, then write a shorter novel! It helped a little to think of it more as a bedtime story than some masterpiece of literature.
I'm sure the comparison has been made, but Don Quixote really felt like a proto-Forrest Gump, and I found the characters Don Quoxite and Sancho came across to be much more compelling than the famous duo. In Part I there are whole interpolated novellas, and I enjoyed those a lot more than the main story. Apparently this opinion was not shared by the novel's first readers, because Cervantes leaves these out of Part II, and even comments on the fact that they were not well-received. Part II is more philosophical and very meta. I did enjoy it more and feel that Cervantes' writing improved in the ten years between the two parts, but it still didn't grab me. I also found the meta-fiction to be a little inconsistant.
Anyway, I decided to give it the benefit of the doubt (and a little grade inflation) because 1) it's 400 years old; 2) it is in translation, and Don Quoxite himself asserts, “Translating from one language to another...is like looking at Flemish tapestries from the wrong side, for although the figures are visible, they are covered by threads that obscure them, and cannot be seen with the smoothness and color of the right side;" 3) I did manage to read the whole damn thing; and 4) because I did find interesting in a clinical, "history of literature" sort of way, even if it wasn't my favorite. I do, however, reserve the right to go back and change my mind!
EDIT: Well, that was fast. I was looking at how I have rated other books this year, and really it belongs with the twos. Sorry, Don Quixote!
adventurous
funny
medium-paced