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3.71 AVERAGE
3.71 AVERAGE
I️ have discovered now that the top 2 greatest literary figures in history are Atticus Finch and Sancho Panza.
Now this brick of a book took years for me to finish, and I don't know where to even start reviewing it. Don Quixote was forever a dream book for me to read because of its almost unique status as a classic and respected comedy, which, unfortunately, you really don't get often. And there are many things that I appreciated, laughed/snickered at, and found deeply profound, but this came at a cost of one of the longest and repetitive books I've ever read with too many episodic elements.
It's so long that it was written in two parts, and you can definitely tell - the playful narrative devices of intermixing fiction and authorship in the second part elevate this story to another hilarious level. That is also easily my favourite part of the whole story as characters from the fake second part start appearing in the actual one, denouncing the fake one's characters' traits and "poor writing style". But the first part is a slog to get through - it's very episodic, and the duo seem to grow very little as characters. If I could, I'd give the second part 5 stars and the first part 3, especially because of the many inner stories that make it feel more like The Decameron or The Canterbury Tale than the first modern novel (guess Cervantes learnt his lesson from criticism on the first part).
The characters are fascinating, Don Quixote's long and eloquent speeches and Sancho's stringing of one similar after another are hilarious to listen to when narrated by the masterful Kayvan Novak in the audiobook (which I would recommend to get through this in a more entertaining manner, only switched to it 90% of the way through). And their relationship to the outside world changes beautifully. As they become less fools of themselves and more made fools by cruel others, the Goodreads review written by Lisa stuck to me more and more by changing my view of the two happy go lucky idiots and made me think of them as paragons of seeing, as Anaïs Mitchell puts it in Hadestown, "how the world could be in spite of the way that it is". It's a wonderful concept and I love how it changes the interpretation of this book.
There are so many really well crafted elements in the language of both the original and the translation, especially with Don Quixote's archaic speech and Sancho's idioms that it really takes your breath away, and you're able to appreciate it from the translator's explanation at the end of the audiobook.
It's taken a while, but I don't regret reading it and would recommend it to anyone vaguely interested in this sort of thing.
It's so long that it was written in two parts, and you can definitely tell - the playful narrative devices of intermixing fiction and authorship in the second part elevate this story to another hilarious level. That is also easily my favourite part of the whole story as characters from the fake second part start appearing in the actual one, denouncing the fake one's characters' traits and "poor writing style". But the first part is a slog to get through - it's very episodic, and the duo seem to grow very little as characters. If I could, I'd give the second part 5 stars and the first part 3, especially because of the many inner stories that make it feel more like The Decameron or The Canterbury Tale than the first modern novel (guess Cervantes learnt his lesson from criticism on the first part).
The characters are fascinating, Don Quixote's long and eloquent speeches and Sancho's stringing of one similar after another are hilarious to listen to when narrated by the masterful Kayvan Novak in the audiobook (which I would recommend to get through this in a more entertaining manner, only switched to it 90% of the way through). And their relationship to the outside world changes beautifully. As they become less fools of themselves and more made fools by cruel others, the Goodreads review written by Lisa stuck to me more and more by changing my view of the two happy go lucky idiots and made me think of them as paragons of seeing, as Anaïs Mitchell puts it in Hadestown, "how the world could be in spite of the way that it is". It's a wonderful concept and I love how it changes the interpretation of this book.
There are so many really well crafted elements in the language of both the original and the translation, especially with Don Quixote's archaic speech and Sancho's idioms that it really takes your breath away, and you're able to appreciate it from the translator's explanation at the end of the audiobook.
It's taken a while, but I don't regret reading it and would recommend it to anyone vaguely interested in this sort of thing.
adventurous
funny
reflective
medium-paced
adventurous
funny
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Yes... it took my 4 months to read this... 4 times my usual time. Granted it was 700 pages. It was DENSE too. While I didn't dislike it, parts dragged on, it was quite funny. I enjoyed how everyone was constantly in on the joke of teasing Don Quixote and I often felt bad for Sancho
I just can't finish this book - I read the whole first book and started the second book but it is just too much effort.
Glad to get this one off my list. It's a slog - hundreds of pages of a mentally ill person making mistakes and enduring cruel tricks until he recovers and immediately dies.
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
sad
slow-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:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I'm sure if I was born in the 16th or 17th century this would've been an incredible book. Don Quixote is a satire of a forgotten topic however, and this causes it to age less gracefully than I believe it gets credit for. It's foundational in the establishment of a new type of novel, and deserves praise for it's originality; but that doesn't mean it's a comfortable read.
Despite being published over 400 years ago, I found Don Quixote to be an enjoyable read. While some of the descriptions and character dialogue may have been excessively detailed, (For goodness’ sake man, occasionally leave out the kitchen sink!) I never found myself bored. There were even moments that made me laugh out loud. Overall, I appreciated Cervantes' commentary on the power of storytelling and the blurred lines between fact and fiction.