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3.71 AVERAGE
3.71 AVERAGE
The tale of Don Quixote and his “mad” quest of knight-errantry; the only sane, reasonable course of action in an insane, unreasonable world…
Pure astonishment. That is the feeling I got while reading a 1000-page Spanish novel written in the 17th century and *loving* it.
How could such an old, stuffy, overlong, required-reading-list novel inspire a reaction like that from a young, jaded netizen like myself? Thanks to the ingenious author Miguel de Cervantes.
He crafted his tale with beautiful prose, sage wisdom, rich character building, heaps of imagination, and humor that is literally centuries ahead of its time. He penned countless memorable scenes and witty dialogues. He endeared his readers to Don Quixote de La Mancha and Sancho Panza with ease (in fact, he may have dreamt up the best comedy duo in all of fiction).
It took me a while to get into the episodic rhythm of the story, but once I reached Book 2 all bets were off. Don Quixote is one of my favorite novels of all time and I recommend it to anyone with the desire and disposition to see it through to the end.
Pure astonishment. That is the feeling I got while reading a 1000-page Spanish novel written in the 17th century and *loving* it.
How could such an old, stuffy, overlong, required-reading-list novel inspire a reaction like that from a young, jaded netizen like myself? Thanks to the ingenious author Miguel de Cervantes.
He crafted his tale with beautiful prose, sage wisdom, rich character building, heaps of imagination, and humor that is literally centuries ahead of its time. He penned countless memorable scenes and witty dialogues. He endeared his readers to Don Quixote de La Mancha and Sancho Panza with ease (in fact, he may have dreamt up the best comedy duo in all of fiction).
It took me a while to get into the episodic rhythm of the story, but once I reached Book 2 all bets were off. Don Quixote is one of my favorite novels of all time and I recommend it to anyone with the desire and disposition to see it through to the end.
The original larper, & a classic example of the mid life crisis. If you liked Monty Python and the Holy Grail you will probably like this too.
It repeats itself, with too many adventures & characters that are too similar to each other, and goes on for longer than it really needs to, but this is very common in older books, & it's not like modern TV shows aren't far more guilty of this. I won't deduct a star for this small flaw because I enjoyed it immensely anyway.
It repeats itself, with too many adventures & characters that are too similar to each other, and goes on for longer than it really needs to, but this is very common in older books, & it's not like modern TV shows aren't far more guilty of this. I won't deduct a star for this small flaw because I enjoyed it immensely anyway.
funny
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Couldn't finish this book...not sure if I just wasn't in the right mood or if it just moves far too slowly for my liking. Other rambling adventures like "Lord of Rings" also didn't hold my attention.
adventurous
challenging
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
It was like an ultra long prose version of a Monty Python sketch. Don Quixote is the villain in this story, hurting or killing everyone around him because he's insane. And with this book easily being ten times longer than it needed to be, the reader is his final victim.
Amazing to think this book has been around for 500 years, since Columbus' trip to America. It's a classic for a reason, with Sancho and DQ as excellent characters, and it was much funnier than I expected it to be. However, I think the second half was much weaker than the first--it had quite a different tone, and seemed to just slowly end. Overall, glad I read it, especially the first half.
Brilliant book, absolutely brilliant. Cervantes clearly had a cracking time writing this book. And there is so much in it! Aside from being hilarious, there are a lot of really thought provoking themes, like the line between reality and the imagination. The second part was, for me, the best. The first was enjoyable, but Cervantes pulled all the stops out in the second part, and I couldn't stop telling my friends and family about the completely ridiculous situations that were happening. Plus, Grossman's translations is brilliant. I'm not expert in Spanish but I'm fairly certain Cervantes meant this to be a fun book and Grossman's translation sure communicated that with great verve .Thanks Grossman, and thanks Cervantes!