Reviews

The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha (Original Edition Annotated) by Miguel de Cervantes

joshrskinner's review against another edition

5.0

Great book. Some of the peripheral stuff was tedious, but I will be diving back into this classic immediately. I cannot believe it took me so long to read this book, but I am very glad that I finally did.

mudder17's review against another edition

4.0

Woo hoo! I finished! This was a very long tale with tales within tales within tales and the border between reality and imagination was rather nonexistent, lol. There were times I needed to go back and double check to figure out who's tale it was and whether it was "real" in the story, or someone telling a story. Although this story really is about the absurd madness of Don Quixote and the people around him, I found myself rooting for him till the very end, and I was rather sad about how it ended. Sancho Panza was also a character that I was unsure about at the very beginning, but I ended up really liking him as well. There were definitely times when I was completely lost, but fortunately, there are SparkNotes to get you back on track, ha! I am very glad I took the time to tackle this classic--it was definitely worth it.

nolanh's review against another edition

4.0

A bit awkward at times, a bit of a mouthful, as perhaps warranted given centuries of separation. Like a young deer struggling to walk, there are moments of grace and wit that are astounding - but of course my metaphor is all wrong. From my perspective it seems that Cervantes stands at the very dawn of a process that eventually gives us Mel Brooks, but I am missing the context that makes him instead the culmination of all that went before. And with this perspective I enjoy it more as a pointer to what came later (that is to say, "wow! This must have been revolutionary in its time! It is so modern it is almost as funny and emotionally engaging as modern novels!"), and less on its own for its intrinsic merits (that is to say, "I would chose to read this book over others"). Which, to be fair and frank, its intrinsic merits are of course not lacking. Don Quixote is a great character, Sancho Panza possibly greater, and the book, of course, Great. But is it good?

I mean probably, yeah. It holds up. At times the effort it takes to be in the place and appreciate it is overmuch, but then again at times it is completely timeless. And its also cool how first-modern-novel it is.

mrs_wheatfall's review against another edition

4.0

This book is full of strange, sad situations. I had mixed feelings, but I see why it's a classic.

ddroc's review against another edition

5.0

Finally read this book, and found it was not the book I thought it was. The story is surprising and still well worth a read.

maghsu's review against another edition

4.0

4.5

mizannie4's review against another edition

read in college (an estimated billion years ago). I remember it being pretty funny.

anthrophilus's review against another edition

5.0

When I signed up for a class on Don Quijote I never imagined it would be so entertaining, funny and enjoyable. Lathrop's version offers tons of helpful footnotes and gives the definitions of most difficult words in the margins, at least the first time they appear. I definitely recommend this version for non-native speakers who are reading this book for the first time.

Awesome book. Worthy of being named "The First Modern Novel."

authorcagray's review against another edition

Starts off cute and endearing, but it's so episodic after that, and so LONG... I gave up.

leann_bolesch's review against another edition

funny slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.25

I am willing to excuse, given the age of this book and the fact that it is considered the initiator of a broad genre, that it does not follow the plot and pacing conventions I'm used to, even if it did result in what felt like a lot of repetitive patterns with no real plot progression and only the barest of payoff towards the end of each part. What I am less forgiving of is that every last sentiment expressed in this book was written with the philosophy of "why say in one sentence what you can instead drag out over ten?" I don't know why characters gave Sancho specifically grief for rambling because they're all guilty. At one point, it took a man 6 pages of unbroken dialogue to say, "Hey bud, me tempting your wife to cheat on you is a bad idea. It'll make me look like a cad. It'll signal that neither of you deserves respect if she falls for this. And proving her loyalty doesn't make much of a difference from believing in it, but she'll lose a lot of value if she's proven disloyal, so why give her the chance in the first place? I'll do this if you insist, but I hate this." 6 pages. A 6 page monologue. Any interactions or ideas that I otherwise appreciated were undermined by the inability of anyone to say less than 50 words in one breath.

Also, it started off charming and then turned annoying that the author liked to toot his own horn about what a great writer he is. But Iunno he did write a genre-making classic so I guess he's got some credentials to back that up.

I read this for the sake of understanding references and appreciate having gotten that out of this experience, but this book took me 14 months to get through.