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3.71 AVERAGE
3.71 AVERAGE
I appreciate this more than I like it, although there are many things to recommend it, not least of which is Sancho Panza, who is much more colorful than I had anticipated.
Didn’t like the main character or the humor, and it was too long.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Violence, Excrement, Vomit, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship
Minor: Alcoholism, Stalking, Death of parent
There's something to be said about being able to brag that you've read Don Quijote. It's almost a litmus test, really, for friends - you can find out if someone really understands what it means to have read Don Quijote by whether they say, "Really? Both parts?" or if they say, "Oh, yeah, windmills." Or, "Yeah, I had to read that in Spanish class."
At any rate, I feel like it was a total accomplishment, and a truly important moment in my life as a reader. I feel like as soon as I finished this book, over a year ago now, I lost a little bit of interest in reading swill or reading just for the hell of it. After you read Cervantes and something this culturally and literarily important, you can't just go read Jodi Picoult (not that I would ever read Jodi Picoult, but that's beside the point). I guess I will spend the rest of my life trying to pick books that will fulfill my soul in a way that the great Don did... and if that means the number of books I'm able to get through in a given year drops off, so be it.
At any rate, I feel like it was a total accomplishment, and a truly important moment in my life as a reader. I feel like as soon as I finished this book, over a year ago now, I lost a little bit of interest in reading swill or reading just for the hell of it. After you read Cervantes and something this culturally and literarily important, you can't just go read Jodi Picoult (not that I would ever read Jodi Picoult, but that's beside the point). I guess I will spend the rest of my life trying to pick books that will fulfill my soul in a way that the great Don did... and if that means the number of books I'm able to get through in a given year drops off, so be it.
Maldigo el momento en el que pensé que leer un clásico en plena recuperación de bloqueo lector sería buena idea.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I enjoyed it so much I basically wrote three reviews for it. The first was about Part 1, the second was about my recent trip to Spain which basically became an homage to Cervantes, and the last was about Part 2. I would definitely recommend this and am so glad I made it through the entire unabridged book.
Check out my other reviews on my book blog at geoffwhaley.com.
Check out my other reviews on my book blog at geoffwhaley.com.
I think I would have enjoyed reading this for a class or with a book club. The discussion questions and viewpoints from authors through history at the end of the book made me want to think it through with others.
So: not a good book to read in isolation
I feel like there were definitely things lost in translation and the foot notes to try to ease this drove me nuts.
All that being said - there were parts that made me laugh and were very enjoyable to read.
So: not a good book to read in isolation
I feel like there were definitely things lost in translation and the foot notes to try to ease this drove me nuts.
All that being said - there were parts that made me laugh and were very enjoyable to read.
adventurous
challenging
funny
informative
reflective
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Best Book of all time for a reason, no debate whatsoever
Read in two days for my first year of university literature course. I tore straight through it, and have never gone back, but based on the parallels future authors have created to Don Quixote, Cervantes deserves 5 stars.
Technically a 3.75 - that is an average of the ratings given to the two books that make up the modern edition of Don Quixote. I've decided to rate them as separate books because 1) that is how they were written - the first in 1605 and the second 10 years later - and 2) because they felt like two very different books to me.
Book 1 was 4.5, with a half star deducted because of the weirdly abrupt ending and Book 2 was 3 starts.
Clearly I liked Book 1 so much better and if it hadn't been for the ending it would have rec'd a full 5 stars. It was charming and entertaining and funny and thoughtful and hopeful, even with the fart jokes. But I found myself enjoying Book 2 a lot less for a few different reasons.
One reason I think I liked Book 2 less was because it felt more mean, which is probably a weird thing to say but there you go. In Book 1 DQ had his madness and he was often attacked or made fun of because of it because of it but he still retained a charm and whimsy that seemed to put him above all of his detractors. In Book 2 most of the characters actually indulged his DQs madness but they didn't do it for him...they did it for themselves. They did it in order to be entertained or to mock him or to make fun of him or to play jokes on him. For all that he would get beat up in Book 1 there was never the sort of maliciousness that seemed to characterize the actions of the characters in Book 2. The cruelty and maliciousness that motivated the actions of characters like the Duke and Duchess gave Book 2 a darker feel and it was lacking the whimsical nature of Book 1.
I like the bullheaded idealism in the face of doubters that DQ has in Book 1 and it felt like the machinations of the characters in Book 2 diminished Don Quixote in a way that his madness alone never could.
Another big difference was the prominence of Sancho...he takes a much more active and central role in Book 2, especially towards the end of the book. Maybe the feeling of a diminished DQ in Book 2 was exacerbated by the focus on Sancho but I think I would have liked it better if the treatment of the two main characters had felt a bit more balanced.
Finally...no spoilers but again...Cervantes seems to have an issue crafting satisfactory endings. The ending of Book 2 was even worse, for me, than the ending of Book 1.
All of that makes it sound like I didn't like the book which isn't at all true...I did very much enjoy finally reading Don Quixote but, I have to admit, there will probably always be a part of me that wishes it had ended for good after the first book, thereby forever preserving the innocent charm of Don Quixote of La Mancha.
Book 1 was 4.5, with a half star deducted because of the weirdly abrupt ending and Book 2 was 3 starts.
Clearly I liked Book 1 so much better and if it hadn't been for the ending it would have rec'd a full 5 stars. It was charming and entertaining and funny and thoughtful and hopeful, even with the fart jokes. But I found myself enjoying Book 2 a lot less for a few different reasons.
One reason I think I liked Book 2 less was because it felt more mean, which is probably a weird thing to say but there you go. In Book 1 DQ had his madness and he was often attacked or made fun of because of it because of it but he still retained a charm and whimsy that seemed to put him above all of his detractors. In Book 2 most of the characters actually indulged his DQs madness but they didn't do it for him...they did it for themselves. They did it in order to be entertained or to mock him or to make fun of him or to play jokes on him. For all that he would get beat up in Book 1 there was never the sort of maliciousness that seemed to characterize the actions of the characters in Book 2. The cruelty and maliciousness that motivated the actions of characters like the Duke and Duchess gave Book 2 a darker feel and it was lacking the whimsical nature of Book 1.
I like the bullheaded idealism in the face of doubters that DQ has in Book 1 and it felt like the machinations of the characters in Book 2 diminished Don Quixote in a way that his madness alone never could.
Another big difference was the prominence of Sancho...he takes a much more active and central role in Book 2, especially towards the end of the book. Maybe the feeling of a diminished DQ in Book 2 was exacerbated by the focus on Sancho but I think I would have liked it better if the treatment of the two main characters had felt a bit more balanced.
Finally...no spoilers but again...Cervantes seems to have an issue crafting satisfactory endings. The ending of Book 2 was even worse, for me, than the ending of Book 1.
All of that makes it sound like I didn't like the book which isn't at all true...I did very much enjoy finally reading Don Quixote but, I have to admit, there will probably always be a part of me that wishes it had ended for good after the first book, thereby forever preserving the innocent charm of Don Quixote of La Mancha.