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3.71 AVERAGE
3.71 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
funny
mysterious
medium-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
This freaking book... I honestly feel more confused than I did before I had picked this up. Wow..okay so where do I begin with this? Reading Don Quixote is, quite an experience. I sit here trying to sum up what I just read and there's a lot and yet so little to express. The book itself is broken up into two parts. (a two for one!) The second half came out roughly ten years following the first. Now let me just say this, for someone like myself who came into the book not having done his homework on what he was stepping into... the writing style will be sort of jarring. Let me explain, the book despite it's size, isn't too hard to chew on. It is indeed written in a more flowery, poetic nature but it's not to difficult to read. What is very jarring and often down right 4th wall breaking, is the fact that Cervantes, plays and toys with the usage of him being a 3rd party writer to all of this. Literally, he's writing a book...about him reading a history of Don Quixote. Now if that wasn't bizarre enough, the story play with the idea of reality/fiction. I mean Don Quixote himself is the "Walter Mitty" of 15th century Spain apparently. The icing on the cake is that apparently, (and I'm not 100% convinced of the truth of this) between Cervantes' first and 2nd parts of Don Quixote, an imposter 2nd part was written and distributed by another author. This book continued from Cervante's ending of the first book. This irked Cervantes so much, that he not only wrote the "real" 2nd half of Don Quixote, but literally wrote into the book's story about Don Quixote coming across people who were...reading his own first half of his travels. This bizarre loop and nuking of the 4th wall could have been really really interesting. The whole of Don Quixote could have been. Thinking about it and the cyclical nature of it, and self reference, and the questioning of reality, belief, perception, all make for what could have been a wildly exciting and thought provoking novel. This is where I believe Don Quixote fails though. It does indeed touch on these subjects, but it's not the focus. What Cervantes chooses to focus on is the utter dribble, and repetitive tales and quite frankly, the whining and bemoaning of random characters. Towards the latter half and even a bit before that, I was so fed up with Don coming across this sad saps of characters who all have a story that resembles the previous. It started out as fresh and very funny. Literally, I was smilling and chuckling to myself during parts of this.
On the way home to fetch money and fresh clothing, Don Quixote hears crying and finds a farmer whipping a young boy. The farmer explains that the boy has been failing in his duties; the boy complains that his master has not been paying him.
Don threatens and demands the farmer pay him and if he doesn't and hears about it, will vow revenge. Absurdly, and (I do feel bad for laughing at it…) Once Don is out of sight, the farmer whips the boy even more and longer. Don literally make the situation worse.
Another early situation was the friends of Don Quixote, a priest and the barber begin an inquisition into Don Quixote’s library to burn the books of chivalry. Though the housekeeper wants merely to exorcise any spirits with holy water, Don Quixote’s niece prefers to burn all the books. Over the niece’s and the housekeeper’s objections, the priest insists on reading each book’s title before condemning it. He knows many of the stories and saves several of the books due to their rarity or style
This leads to some funny dialogue, refering to the books in human terms, like saving the life of one and giving them human properties. "we'll spare it's life for now…" "No there's no reason to pardon any of them" "…the good Esplandian went flying into the corral, waiting with all the patience in the world for the fire that threatened him" describing the housekeeper throwing the book "the exploits of Esplandian out the window and to be burned later". The author of Don Quixote, Cervantes is actually referenced in their searching for books to be burned! Humorous part about them looking at the very book they are in… Self reference! At the end, no matter what they discuss to save or salvage, they end up just burning everything. Again stuff like this is not only funny, but just so mentally flossy it's really fun and gets your brain doing some back flips.
Unfortunately I can't say that this writing and style lasts. The book for all it's length, pomp and idea's, just turns into a repetitive mess. I think it's far far too long for it's own good. What begins as what's seems like it's going to be a witty, smart, socially relevent novel, end in what amounts to an overstayed guest who rang your doorbell holding nice smelling flowers, and then presents you with less pleasant smelling flowers at each turn. Until when he leaves you're left with flowers that smell like petal'd death.
The problem is, the character of Don Quixote, as interesting and explorable as he is…isn't actually given a lot of "screen time". Cervantes seems like he has more fun focusing on the people he meets, and their backstories (all of which are similar in idea) that I never really feel like we get to know him. Even his "squire" the fat, balding, and comical Sancho Pansa, as funny as he is, cuts into the time that we could use to delve into Don Quixote, and instead use it for base humor and very cringe worthy at times, bathroom humor. The amount of vomit, excretion and flagulation jokes grows out of control, and I question rather I'm reading a great piece of literature or a book for 9 year olds.
That's not to say it's all downhill the book still has some wonderful moments, but the damn book is just so long that they are space far in between. The classic Windmill scene is one.
They come to spinning windmills, and Don swears they are giants, and readies himself to battle them. Sancho tries to explain they are not giants, but just windmills. Don ignores this and charges them anyway and his lance he's stuck in one of the arms and is pulled up, shattered, and Don and poor Rocinachnte (his horse) once again go flying.
Don Quxiote swears that the same enchanter than destroyed his library, is once again trying to sabotage him by turning the giants into some sort of wind machines. We see that Don Quixote persists in living in a fantasy world even when he is able to see reality for a moment. Don Quixote briefly connects with reality after Sancho points out that the giants are merely windmills, but Don Quixote immediately makes an excuse, claiming that the enchanter has deceived him.
Really great philosophical metaphors, I love it, and I think if the writing was more in this vein, and didn't wander so much into every single person he mets, it would have made for a far more streamlined, concise and I hate to say it, engaging read. By the end of the book I was disinterested because the story was wander for huge huge amounts of time.
they keep running into poor love locked men to women who are aloof or fine notes or letters to women and lamenting their slighted jilted hearts. Or he mistakes groups of men and attacks them and gets beaten up in some manner. The last chapters were painful, The entire story of the Duke and duchess was so long…so tedius and silly, and over the top, I really felt myself zoning out. If there is one book that really needs a bridged version of, it's this. What made this easier to swallow atleast for me was the narrator. The narrator really had some good comedic timing, and really knew how and when to put emphasis on words and phrases. I think he nailed all of the truly funny moments. But even with him he couldn't save this book and make it into something it wasn't for me. I really feel bad because I started out almost in love with it, but as it went on and on..and on, it just killed itself due to repetitive, unfunny, almost mean spirited comedy and punishment on the characters that invoked more pity than it did laughter at some point.
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
OK, I didn't finish this, but I made it to chapter 23, page 652 of 3112 on my phone. This was the Duke choice version, based on the 1885 John Ormsby translation.
This book can be funny and sad, and offers insight into dreams vs. reality, but the language is so far removed from the original, that much is lost reading it in English, rather than in Spanish.
So, at some point, Don Quixote says that Sancho is a coward by nature. I am sure, that Sancho thinks his master a fool, but still, Sancho dreams of ruling some island.
It's too much of a slog to go on.
At my current rate of reading, it will take me six months to finish this, so, in the words of Lynyrd Skynyrd,
If I leave here tomorrow
Would you still remember me?
For I must be traveling on, now
'Cause there's too many places
I've got to see
This book can be funny and sad, and offers insight into dreams vs. reality, but the language is so far removed from the original, that much is lost reading it in English, rather than in Spanish.
So, at some point, Don Quixote says that Sancho is a coward by nature. I am sure, that Sancho thinks his master a fool, but still, Sancho dreams of ruling some island.
It's too much of a slog to go on.
At my current rate of reading, it will take me six months to finish this, so, in the words of Lynyrd Skynyrd,
If I leave here tomorrow
Would you still remember me?
For I must be traveling on, now
'Cause there's too many places
I've got to see
Might continue later on in life… The first part was funny and enjoyable, but I’m just not motivated to finish at this time.
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
sad
medium-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 have never laughed this much while reading, this book is so funny 🤣. Too many digressions though