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raymanesque 's review for:
Don Quixote
by Miguel de Cervantes
challenging
lighthearted
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I'm a reader of classics, but didn't enjoy this one nearly as much as I had thought I would.
I love to laugh, but while described by some as a comedy the book has very little. The premise is of course silly and ridiculous, but the execution is anything but. It is an unserious book, but has no real humor.
The prose is incredibly dry and the pace is very slow. For every sentence of interest, you encounter 3 paragraphs of incoherent (to a modern reader) waxing about the morals of knight errantry and forty injerections by sir squire complains-a-lot. These unnecessary parts are the overwhelming bulk of the text, never become interesting, don't even distinguish themselves from one another and make the book a brutal slog to get through, with very middling reward to cash in when finally past a section of them.
It does not have the adventure of the Three Musketeers; the prose is like a legal textbook compared to the Count of Monte Cristo; it lacks the characters and stakes of Dracula. So many classics age gracefully, but Don Quixote does not and is largely absent of redeeming qualities. It is a noticeably bad read compared to its peers.
The novel commands respect for its place and history and knowing about Don Quixote is important, but it is 950 pages of mediocre book to actually read. This is the first time i would recommend an abridged version of a classic. I struggle to recall any point of this story that didnt feel unnecessary, because there is extremely little actual story. Instead there is a ton of repetitive dialogue about the same topics, which remains consistent the whole way through.
I would only recommend reading for the purposes of being able to say that youve read it. I made it to the end but don't feel I'm leaving any more widely read than I began and with little to talk about to others because it is ultimately just an extremely long, extremely empty book.
I love to laugh, but while described by some as a comedy the book has very little. The premise is of course silly and ridiculous, but the execution is anything but. It is an unserious book, but has no real humor.
The prose is incredibly dry and the pace is very slow. For every sentence of interest, you encounter 3 paragraphs of incoherent (to a modern reader) waxing about the morals of knight errantry and forty injerections by sir squire complains-a-lot. These unnecessary parts are the overwhelming bulk of the text, never become interesting, don't even distinguish themselves from one another and make the book a brutal slog to get through, with very middling reward to cash in when finally past a section of them.
It does not have the adventure of the Three Musketeers; the prose is like a legal textbook compared to the Count of Monte Cristo; it lacks the characters and stakes of Dracula. So many classics age gracefully, but Don Quixote does not and is largely absent of redeeming qualities. It is a noticeably bad read compared to its peers.
The novel commands respect for its place and history and knowing about Don Quixote is important, but it is 950 pages of mediocre book to actually read. This is the first time i would recommend an abridged version of a classic. I struggle to recall any point of this story that didnt feel unnecessary, because there is extremely little actual story. Instead there is a ton of repetitive dialogue about the same topics, which remains consistent the whole way through.
I would only recommend reading for the purposes of being able to say that youve read it. I made it to the end but don't feel I'm leaving any more widely read than I began and with little to talk about to others because it is ultimately just an extremely long, extremely empty book.