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3.71 AVERAGE
3.71 AVERAGE
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
The legendary book - arguably the first European novel, and the best-selling book of all time. It's definitely a fun read. In addition to the wacky adventures they get up to, and the frequent puns and plays on words, I really enjoyed the bizarre relationship between Don Quixote and Sanco Panza. That said, the book is definitely repetitive. It reminds me of adventure-of-the-week TV shows like The A-Team or Murder She Wrote, where it's essentially the same show over and over again, only the details are different. This book is totally worth reading - for entertainment as well as historical and cultural significance. But I think the vast majority of people would be well-served by an abridged version. As it was, I read two-thirds of it before finally quitting. As much as I did indeed enjoy it, reading it became something of a chore.
"He likes to whip [...] and always finds a pretext so as to make it appear as if he were punishing them." — De Sade
Is the fixation on corporal punishment and attendant slapstick humor a particular quality of disrupted socialization (from which knight-errantry has potential to arise), or does it lie in a more fundamental plane anterior to psychology— a question for Pierre Menard.
“If Alexander the Great cut the Gordian knot, saying: ‘It does not matter if it is cut or untied,’ and that did not keep him from being the universal lord of all Asia, then in the disenchantment of Dulcinea it might not matter if I whip Sancho against his will, for if the condition of this remedy is that Sancho receive some three thousand lashes, what difference does it make to me if he administers them himself or if another does, since the essence of the matter is that he receive them regardless of where they come from?”
This book is so outrageous! A man reads and loves books of chivalry so much that he decides he wants to be a knight errant, too, so he does. He gets all the things he needs, like a horse with a noble name, a noble name for himself, a squire, armour, and a lady love. It doesn't matter if some things are made up, because this man actually believes they exist. So often it speaks of his madness, and he insists that inns are actually castles and windmills are giants, or that a peasant is his Lady enchanted to look like that to torment him. Don Quixote is so devoted to his cause and it's so admirable, because he puts up with a lot doing what he does, yet he doesn't notice people laughing behind his back. So ignorance is bliss, perhaps.
Everyone has a favourite scene or two (it's so hard to choose) from Don Quixote that will never be forgotten. Mine is how Sancho Panza, DQ's squire, went away to talk with shepherds and purchase some cheese, and then DQ calls him over quickly so he can fight a wagon. He calls for his helmet, which Sancho, hurried, had put the cheese/milk quickly because he didn't know where else to put it. Rather than telling him this, Sancho gives DQ the helmet, DQ puts it on, and curds and whey drip down his face. DQ exclaims that his brains are mush and he's expiring heavily, while Sancho waits by nervously hoping not to be discovered. It's hilarious and ridiculous, and I've never read anything like it. Crazy adventure after crazy adventure. It's not all funny, though, and it tends to become repetitive or dragging considering the book's length, but it's also touching. There are so many characters you meet and then never see again (or who do show up again), and it's easy to get attached to some. You've got to admire DQ's perseverance and Sancho's loyalty. You feel like you know them and forgive them of their quirks. You feel sad when DQ begins to lose his fantasy at the end, becoming more like Sancho with his low-brow proverbs and lack of belief in enchantments. All games come to an end, and DQ's travels as knight errant end eventually.
I liked all the narrator's inclusion. It was clearly Cervantes the author speaking, pretending to be the translator of the original author Cide Hemete Benengeli. He explains aspects to Cide Hemete's style, which brings this "author" to life, too, in my imagination. He is very upset about someone else publishing a book about the continued adventures of DQ and he says so often in frequent pointed remarks and rants. It was interesting seeing the difference between the first and second parts of the novel, as in the second part DQ was less enthusiastic and more realistic, even though fantastic adventures did happen still. He's more breakable and doesn't get up as easily.
So overall, good book but too long. Some adventures aren't as interesting as others, but you'll never get to the really great parts if you don't bother reading, and you miss part of the point of DQ's travels if you only read his adventure highlights.
Everyone has a favourite scene or two (it's so hard to choose) from Don Quixote that will never be forgotten. Mine is how Sancho Panza, DQ's squire, went away to talk with shepherds and purchase some cheese, and then DQ calls him over quickly so he can fight a wagon. He calls for his helmet, which Sancho, hurried, had put the cheese/milk quickly because he didn't know where else to put it. Rather than telling him this, Sancho gives DQ the helmet, DQ puts it on, and curds and whey drip down his face. DQ exclaims that his brains are mush and he's expiring heavily, while Sancho waits by nervously hoping not to be discovered. It's hilarious and ridiculous, and I've never read anything like it. Crazy adventure after crazy adventure. It's not all funny, though, and it tends to become repetitive or dragging considering the book's length, but it's also touching. There are so many characters you meet and then never see again (or who do show up again), and it's easy to get attached to some. You've got to admire DQ's perseverance and Sancho's loyalty. You feel like you know them and forgive them of their quirks. You feel sad when DQ begins to lose his fantasy at the end, becoming more like Sancho with his low-brow proverbs and lack of belief in enchantments. All games come to an end, and DQ's travels as knight errant end eventually.
I liked all the narrator's inclusion. It was clearly Cervantes the author speaking, pretending to be the translator of the original author Cide Hemete Benengeli. He explains aspects to Cide Hemete's style, which brings this "author" to life, too, in my imagination. He is very upset about someone else publishing a book about the continued adventures of DQ and he says so often in frequent pointed remarks and rants. It was interesting seeing the difference between the first and second parts of the novel, as in the second part DQ was less enthusiastic and more realistic, even though fantastic adventures did happen still. He's more breakable and doesn't get up as easily.
So overall, good book but too long. Some adventures aren't as interesting as others, but you'll never get to the really great parts if you don't bother reading, and you miss part of the point of DQ's travels if you only read his adventure highlights.
Be prepared for an uneven book--actually, 1 book and its sequel that are now commonly published together.
The first book is the most uneven as it doesn't just tell the story of Don Quixote. Interspersed are the tales of other characters, and even a novel inside a novel. Clearly, Cervantes received criticism for that--he actually addresses how people wanted more Don Quixote and less other stuff (through the guise of a fictional Arab author and a translator into Spanish). That said those stories within the story can have value. The story of Cardenio was adapted by Shakespeare into a now lost play (and reading it you can tell why) and another story inspired the term Lothario as an unscrupulous seducer of women.
All in all, Don Quixote is as much the narrative as a crazy would-be knight as Cervantes commentary on the world around him, and critique of modes of fiction (not just chivalric fiction). In the second book he even has fun with the unofficial continuation of Don Quixote by a different author. I've seen it said that Don Quixote is a work that is hard to interpet, and I have to agree. At times I saw a point to his critiques of society and fiction, but then the message could be almost reversed in a later scene or story. Maybe hat is part of the issue with having so many stories within the story. In part, though, it feels like Cervantes was as much having fun as making any unified point.
The first book is the most uneven as it doesn't just tell the story of Don Quixote. Interspersed are the tales of other characters, and even a novel inside a novel. Clearly, Cervantes received criticism for that--he actually addresses how people wanted more Don Quixote and less other stuff (through the guise of a fictional Arab author and a translator into Spanish). That said those stories within the story can have value. The story of Cardenio was adapted by Shakespeare into a now lost play (and reading it you can tell why) and another story inspired the term Lothario as an unscrupulous seducer of women.
All in all, Don Quixote is as much the narrative as a crazy would-be knight as Cervantes commentary on the world around him, and critique of modes of fiction (not just chivalric fiction). In the second book he even has fun with the unofficial continuation of Don Quixote by a different author. I've seen it said that Don Quixote is a work that is hard to interpet, and I have to agree. At times I saw a point to his critiques of society and fiction, but then the message could be almost reversed in a later scene or story. Maybe hat is part of the issue with having so many stories within the story. In part, though, it feels like Cervantes was as much having fun as making any unified point.
“For it was his great good fortune/to live a madman, and die sane.”
I finally finished the great Don Quixote of which I have picked up and put down since 2018. At times it was a slog, I suppose because it is so episodic and loose, especially the first book. I learned that Cervantes took some criticism for his treatment of the first book and the second book is certainly tighter, as far as its movements, though still episodic. I write all this knowing that my favorite moment in the book comes in the first part in the tale of Marcela the fiercely beautiful yet nobly independent young girl. Written when this book was, Marcela is an extraordinary embodiment of women’s liberation and power (I have three daughters and when they are teenagers I hope to read them Marcela’s speech at the funeral). It’s a visionary treatise.
I was also surprised by the amount of damage the delusional Quixote does to seemingly innocent people. He is not just jousting windmills. He is not just a quixotic, innocent, amusingly half mad man. He causes some pain and some havoc and wreckage. A common comment on this novel is such, and I paraphrase: the sane prove to be insane, and the insane sane. Meaning that we should go through life as Quixote and that his virtues are affirming. I agree that the virtues, and how color one’s life, are something to aspire to but Quixote’s delusions must not be discounted and perhaps that’s one of the complex beauties of the book? Saying that, I never found Quixote to be a villain but I also never found him entirely innocent either. I can see where this charactization and comment come from as the true villains of the novel are the Duke, Duchees and Altisidora. The supposed sane. Their treatment of Quixote and Panza lend a pathos to the book and some seriousness.
The book is also wildly funny, especially the repartiee between Quixote and Panza, an example being Book 2 Chapter VII in which is just masterclass dialogue. This brings me to Sancho Panza, constantly shooting proverbs as arrows, whom I believe to be the heart of the novel and one literature’s great characters. He is complex, hilarious, cunning, intelligent in corners (so to speak) with a simplicity that is endearing. He is Cervantes’ masterpiece.
Should you read it? The books moves so much and in so many directions that it will seem fatuous and at times tedious, yet if you are curious then by all means sit down (and plan to sit for a long time and over a long time) and start a relationship with Don Quixote. The experience of Sancho Panza alone is worth it.
I finally finished the great Don Quixote of which I have picked up and put down since 2018. At times it was a slog, I suppose because it is so episodic and loose, especially the first book. I learned that Cervantes took some criticism for his treatment of the first book and the second book is certainly tighter, as far as its movements, though still episodic. I write all this knowing that my favorite moment in the book comes in the first part in the tale of Marcela the fiercely beautiful yet nobly independent young girl. Written when this book was, Marcela is an extraordinary embodiment of women’s liberation and power (I have three daughters and when they are teenagers I hope to read them Marcela’s speech at the funeral). It’s a visionary treatise.
I was also surprised by the amount of damage the delusional Quixote does to seemingly innocent people. He is not just jousting windmills. He is not just a quixotic, innocent, amusingly half mad man. He causes some pain and some havoc and wreckage. A common comment on this novel is such, and I paraphrase: the sane prove to be insane, and the insane sane. Meaning that we should go through life as Quixote and that his virtues are affirming. I agree that the virtues, and how color one’s life, are something to aspire to but Quixote’s delusions must not be discounted and perhaps that’s one of the complex beauties of the book? Saying that, I never found Quixote to be a villain but I also never found him entirely innocent either. I can see where this charactization and comment come from as the true villains of the novel are the Duke, Duchees and Altisidora. The supposed sane. Their treatment of Quixote and Panza lend a pathos to the book and some seriousness.
The book is also wildly funny, especially the repartiee between Quixote and Panza, an example being Book 2 Chapter VII in which is just masterclass dialogue. This brings me to Sancho Panza, constantly shooting proverbs as arrows, whom I believe to be the heart of the novel and one literature’s great characters. He is complex, hilarious, cunning, intelligent in corners (so to speak) with a simplicity that is endearing. He is Cervantes’ masterpiece.
Should you read it? The books moves so much and in so many directions that it will seem fatuous and at times tedious, yet if you are curious then by all means sit down (and plan to sit for a long time and over a long time) and start a relationship with Don Quixote. The experience of Sancho Panza alone is worth it.
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Esta edição tem demasiadas notas... Passei metade do tempo a ir ver o que era a nota só para descobrir que era apenas para indicar que era 1 expressão idiomática espanhola... OK!! Eu conseguia perceber isso sem que me interrompessem a leitura!
Tirando isso, o livro é OK... Não achei que fosse tudo aquilo que dizem dele mas lê-se bem.
English:
The portuguese edition by Biblioteca Editores Independentes has too many notes ... I spent half the time to go see what was the note only to find it was just to indicate that it was a Spanish idiomatic expression ... OK! I could make it out without interrupting the reading!
Apart from that, the book is OK ... I didn't think it was all that but it reads well.
Tirando isso, o livro é OK... Não achei que fosse tudo aquilo que dizem dele mas lê-se bem.
English:
The portuguese edition by Biblioteca Editores Independentes has too many notes ... I spent half the time to go see what was the note only to find it was just to indicate that it was a Spanish idiomatic expression ... OK! I could make it out without interrupting the reading!
Apart from that, the book is OK ... I didn't think it was all that but it reads well.