Reviews

Δον Κιχώτης by Miguel de Cervantes, Δημήτρης Ρήσος

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david_carver8308's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective relaxing 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

4.5

jasonleedle's review against another edition

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4.0

What to say about Don Quixote that hasn't already been said many, many times already? I suppose the thing that struck me most about the book was Cervantes's extreme self awareness. You are constantly being reminded that you are, in fact, reading a novel, almost to the point where one could argue that Cervantes was the first postmodern novelist. The concept in Part II

Spoiler

of having it take place after Part I had been released, and characters knew of Don Quixote from reading his histories, as well as his focus on the fake Quixote in the latter part of Part II

is genius. It's also hilarious, packing jokes and wordplay (that most often, sadly, do not translate into English very well) in every chapter. And although it isn't the most emotionally charged book of all time, it still stirred me as it all was coming to a close. As for downsides, the novel can be meandering at times, and go on for pages without very much introspection/physical events actually occurring, and most of the novel is fairly cut and dry. However, this novel is a must-read for anyone that wants to understand the Western Canon, or just wants to read a very good classic.

mistermetadata's review against another edition

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4.0

Gave up about halfway through book 2, but book 1 bangs and its influence as first modern novel is impossible to deny; the Yale lectures on the book I watched via YouTube were a great help. Read this in 2018 but held on to the, if you'll excuse me, quixotic notion that I would eventually finish it, but now I am content knowing I took a good crack at it and got everything out of it that I am likely to at the time. First book is a five, second book is a three, I'm splitting the difference here.

zafqiel's review against another edition

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adventurous funny

3.0

chchcheeeey's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny lighthearted sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

ipb1's review against another edition

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5.0

A great sprawling episodic mess of a novel, or rather two novels written a decade apart, the latter being a frame-breaking metafiction repeatedly referencing the first. Having finally read it I now understand why the most famous episode is our hero 'tilting at windmills' - it is a passage that happens near the beginning and is, I suspect, as far as many get with this doorstop of a book. But it is worth persevering further. This is less a novel than a mini-library, running the gamut from scatalogical slapstick to philosophy, literary criticism, social satire, and on (...and on). Bewildering, and justifiably viewed as a landmark in the development of the novel.