Scan barcode
ltschell116's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
If you’re willing to read this novel you will not be disappointed. The tale of Don Quixote is one that will bring a smile to your face at every turn. While this book is an undertaking it is certainly one I would recommend!
travelling_bookworm's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
“When life itself seems lunatic, who knows where madness lies? Perhaps to be too practical is madness. To surrender dreams — this may be madness. Too much sanity may be madness — and maddest of all: to see life as it is, and not as it should be!”
---------------------------------
For those of you also intimidated by the size of this one, here is the long story short: Don Quixote is a sort of Mr. Bean of his time, living in his delulu world tied to his strict code of honor, and getting into all sorts of well-intentioned trouble. His “trusty” sidekick Sancho, spurred on by his hopes of getting either a full belly or the governance of a humble sized island by the end of the day, is always by Don Quixote’s side ready to make things worse.
The result is a truly entertaining chain of events with moments that really had me laughing out loud for the sheer absurdity of it all.
In the true fashion of medieval knight-errant fantasy books, all women encountered are the most beautiful ever seen, every object a possible giant, every misunderstanding a possible evil enchantment, all misfortunes lead to a happy ending one way or another. There are thy’s and thee’s flying around, much ado about honor stolen, and so on and so forth.
Full of satire, slapstick, and just plain good humor, this was a very entertaining book for sure. However (and this is a big however), it was also way too long. I feel like it would have really benefited from a firm-handed editor to cut down on some of the long-winded soliloquies and the repetitive nature of the story. I don’t want to be shunned by the lovers of this classic, but let’s be honest, this book could be half its length and still be very enjoyable (actually, more so).
I actually finally convinced myself to read this chonker of a classic because I have tickets to the Don Quixote ballet the following month, and I just wanted to know the story before I experienced it in another narrative form. After having read this, I am genuinely perplexed as to how this story was ever translated to dance. I shall wait and see, I suppose.
Also, I can’t end my review before mentioning this: did we just get one of the best female monologues of all time in Don Quixote? I hadn’t seen any mention of this before, but Marcela’s speech (which essentially boils down to: “my beauty is your problem, not mine, and it would really be no one's problem if you just left me the hell alone instead of trying to seduce me, I don’t care about any one of you, just let me live in peace”) was just too perfect.
“Heaven made me, as all of you say, so beautiful that you cannot resist my beauty and are compelled to love me, and because of the love you show me, you claim that I am obliged to love you in return. I know…that everything beautiful is lovable, but I cannot grasp why, simply because it is loved, the thing loved for its beauty is obliged to love the one who loves it….”
You tell ‘em, girl.
---------------------------------
For those of you also intimidated by the size of this one, here is the long story short: Don Quixote is a sort of Mr. Bean of his time, living in his delulu world tied to his strict code of honor, and getting into all sorts of well-intentioned trouble. His “trusty” sidekick Sancho, spurred on by his hopes of getting either a full belly or the governance of a humble sized island by the end of the day, is always by Don Quixote’s side ready to make things worse.
The result is a truly entertaining chain of events with moments that really had me laughing out loud for the sheer absurdity of it all.
In the true fashion of medieval knight-errant fantasy books, all women encountered are the most beautiful ever seen, every object a possible giant, every misunderstanding a possible evil enchantment, all misfortunes lead to a happy ending one way or another. There are thy’s and thee’s flying around, much ado about honor stolen, and so on and so forth.
Full of satire, slapstick, and just plain good humor, this was a very entertaining book for sure. However (and this is a big however), it was also way too long. I feel like it would have really benefited from a firm-handed editor to cut down on some of the long-winded soliloquies and the repetitive nature of the story. I don’t want to be shunned by the lovers of this classic, but let’s be honest, this book could be half its length and still be very enjoyable (actually, more so).
I actually finally convinced myself to read this chonker of a classic because I have tickets to the Don Quixote ballet the following month, and I just wanted to know the story before I experienced it in another narrative form. After having read this, I am genuinely perplexed as to how this story was ever translated to dance. I shall wait and see, I suppose.
Also, I can’t end my review before mentioning this: did we just get one of the best female monologues of all time in Don Quixote? I hadn’t seen any mention of this before, but Marcela’s speech (which essentially boils down to: “my beauty is your problem, not mine, and it would really be no one's problem if you just left me the hell alone instead of trying to seduce me, I don’t care about any one of you, just let me live in peace”) was just too perfect.
“Heaven made me, as all of you say, so beautiful that you cannot resist my beauty and are compelled to love me, and because of the love you show me, you claim that I am obliged to love you in return. I know…that everything beautiful is lovable, but I cannot grasp why, simply because it is loved, the thing loved for its beauty is obliged to love the one who loves it….”
You tell ‘em, girl.
stephanf's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
4.0
smilejosh's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
funny
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Three stars for Volume 1
Volume 1 starts off strong and has a lot of funny scenes, but it soon gets bloated and tedious. The Man Who Was Recklessly Curious, Cardenio subplot, and the Captive are some of the sequences that absolutely destroy the pacing and feel out of place.
They’re so out of place that Cervantes even mentions criticism people had over those sequences in Volume 2. Those sequences just make everything a bore with everyone going on pages long monologues explaining their history with Don Quixote barely being relevant to those stories.
Three and a half stars for Volume 2
Volume 2 has bloat but it’s less focused on characters that are not Don Quixote or Sancho. There are some asides in the this volume where Don Quixote is barely relevant but they are brief and do not go on and on.
I think the problem in Volume 2 is the adventures are not that funny or fresh. A majority of Don Quixotes adventures in this volume are at the hands of a Duke and Duchess with Quixote’s madness being heavily exploited. Don Quixote for the most part is tricked and does not just get into random adventures on his own for a good portion of this volume. The meta aspects are cool and definitely ahead of their time.
Volume 2 does have its strong moments like the wooden horse scene and Sancho’s governorship but there are few and far between.
I thought the ending was abrupt and sad, but I don’t think enough was done to make it have meaningful impact.
Volume 1 starts off strong and has a lot of funny scenes, but it soon gets bloated and tedious. The Man Who Was Recklessly Curious, Cardenio subplot, and the Captive are some of the sequences that absolutely destroy the pacing and feel out of place.
They’re so out of place that Cervantes even mentions criticism people had over those sequences in Volume 2. Those sequences just make everything a bore with everyone going on pages long monologues explaining their history with Don Quixote barely being relevant to those stories.
Three and a half stars for Volume 2
Volume 2 has bloat but it’s less focused on characters that are not Don Quixote or Sancho. There are some asides in the this volume where Don Quixote is barely relevant but they are brief and do not go on and on.
I think the problem in Volume 2 is the adventures are not that funny or fresh. A majority of Don Quixotes adventures in this volume are at the hands of a Duke and Duchess with Quixote’s madness being heavily exploited. Don Quixote for the most part is tricked and does not just get into random adventures on his own for a good portion of this volume. The meta aspects are cool and definitely ahead of their time.
Volume 2 does have its strong moments like the wooden horse scene and Sancho’s governorship but there are few and far between.
I thought the ending was abrupt and sad, but I don’t think enough was done to make it have meaningful impact.
jcoryv's review against another edition
3.0
Listened to this on Audible. George Guidall does a great job, but I just can’t. 5 hours in and can’t imagine 34 more.
Moving on.
Moving on.
annacabrespina's review against another edition
1.0
per fi l he acabat vaia merda llibre no s enten re i tot va sobre un home q fa cringe i és un matxi no m ha agradat gens. esq per no fer, no m ha fet ni gràcia. completament sobrevalorat
matiiiii's review against another edition
adventurous
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
1madesun's review against another edition
3.0
I’m happy that I finished this. There was no question that this story was a series of adventures of our Don Quixote. It was long and, in some parts, dry, but I did enjoy it none the less. There were hilarious antics and deeps soliloquies. A classic that was fun to read. It is one of those classics that you think will be long and boring or written for an audience long since gone, but Don Quixote is still relevant and funny and a good story about a pursuit of dreams, madness, and friendships.
viryr's review against another edition
5.0
Sin dudar un muy buen libro de esos de los que 'todos deben leer antes de morir', la primera vez que lo leí me pareció una lectura pesada por su forma de redacción y no lo terminé de leer, después lo volvía retomar con la mirada de extrañeza y de asombro de mi maestra de Literatura y fue increíble Don Quijote (Alonso Quijano cuando estaba cuerdo) causa ternura, es muy cómico y la forma en que se transforma la realidad desde su perspectiva retorcida es genial, como la de los molinos. Y como no hablar de Sancho Panza que juntos lo acompañaba en sus aventuras.
“Finalmente, de tan poco dormir y tanto leer, se le secó el cerebro y se volvió completamente loco”
“Cuando la vida misma parece lunática, ¿Quién sabe dónde está la locura? Quizás ser demasiado práctico es una locura. Renunciar a los sueños, esto puede ser una locura. Demasiada cordura puede ser locura, y la más loca de todas: ¡ver la vida como es, y no como debería ser!”
“El ingenio y el humor no residen en mentes lentas”.
“Finalmente, de tan poco dormir y tanto leer, se le secó el cerebro y se volvió completamente loco”
“Cuando la vida misma parece lunática, ¿Quién sabe dónde está la locura? Quizás ser demasiado práctico es una locura. Renunciar a los sueños, esto puede ser una locura. Demasiada cordura puede ser locura, y la más loca de todas: ¡ver la vida como es, y no como debería ser!”
“El ingenio y el humor no residen en mentes lentas”.
blahbloo's review against another edition
4.0
I really enjoyed this book, I was very surprised a book written in the 1600s could make me laugh so hard and care for two such flawed but likeable characters, often not seen much in other stories. My only criticism is that it occasionally tells very similar tales, creating a deja vu effect, given some of them are quite similar. But it's lovely book, it will have a warm place in my heart.