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Don Quixote

by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Edith Grossman (Translator), Harold Bloom (Introduction)

3.79 of 5 stars 3.79 · rating details · 66,860 ratings · 2,789 reviews

Edith Grossman's definitive English translation of the Spanish masterpiece. Widely regarded as one of the funniest and most tragic books ever written, Don Quixote chronicles the adventures of the self-created knight-errant Don Quixote of La Mancha and his faithful squire, Sancho Panza, as they travel through sixteenth-century Spain. You haven't experienced Don Quixote in E...more

Paperback, 940 pages

Published April 26th 2005 by Harper Perennial (first published 1605)

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Sep 24, 2010 Alex rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2010, reading-through-history, metafiction

Well, this thing is good.

I guess the goal of reviewing something like Don Quixote is to make you less frightened of it. It's intimidating, right? It's 940 pages long and it's from 500 years ago. But Grossman's translation is modern and easy to read, and the work itself is so much fun that it ends up not being difficult at all.

Much of Book I is concerned with the story of Cardenio, which Shakespeare apparently liked so much that he wrote a now-lost play about the guy. I loved that part, but for m...more Well, this thing is good.

I guess the goal of reviewing something like Don Quixote is to make you less frightened of it. It's intimidating, right? It's 940 pages long and it's from 500 years ago. But Grossman's translation is modern and easy to read, and the work itself is so much fun that it ends up not being difficult at all.

Much of Book I is concerned with the story of Cardenio, which Shakespeare apparently liked so much that he wrote a now-lost play about the guy. I loved that part, but for me, the pace slowed down a bit in the latter third of Book I. There are two more "novellas" inserted that have little or nothing to do with the plot; feel free to skip them. (They're discussed in the comments section below this review, if you're interested.)

Book II was published ten years after Book I, in 1615, and with it Cervantes pulls a typically Cervantes-esque trick: he imagines that Don Quixote is now a celebrity due to Book I's success. This changes the perspective considerably; whereas folks used to be mystified by Don Quixote, now they often recognize him, which generally results in them fucking with him. It invigorates the story; since Book II feels so different, I didn't get the feeling I often get with wicked long books where I kinda get bogged down around the 2/3 mark. In fact, I ended up liking Book II even better than Book I.

Quixote messes with your head. Cervantes pulls so many tricks out of his bag that you're never sure what's coming next. For a while I suspected that the footnotes had been written by Cervantes as well, and were all made up. I had to Wikipedia Martin de Riquer to make sure he was a real guy. That's how sneaky Cervantes is: he makes you think anything is possible.

I thought Don Quixote was tremendous. It's like nothing else in the world. I'm glad I read it. And I'll end with what might be the best quote of all time, and a brilliant thing to say to your wife:

"I want you to see me naked and performing one or two dozen mad acts, which will take me less than half an hour, because if you have seen them with your own eyes, you can safely swear to any others you might wish to add."

Right? Don Quixote kicks ass.

By the way, for another take on the story, here's Kafka:

Without making any boast of it Sancho Panza succeeded in the course of years, by devouring a great number of romances of chivalry and adventure in the evening and night hours, in so diverting from him his demon, whom he later called Don Quixote, that his demon thereupon set out in perfect freedom on the maddest exploits, which, however, for the lack of a preordained object, which should have been Sancho Panza himself, harmed nobody. A free man, Sancho Panza philosophically followed Don Quixote on his crusades, perhaps out of a sense of responsibility, and had of them a great and edifying entertainment to the end of his days.

(This is the entire text of his parable "The Truth about Sancho Panza"; it and others can be found here.)(less)

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Feb 09, 2011 karen rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: littry-fiction, meowch-bad-kitty

done quixote!!!
pun quixote!!
fun quixote??
none quixote...

and that's not entirely true; there are some rollicking good times in here, but the first part is so much endlessly episodic violence, and while the second half becomes calmer and more focused, it never got my imagination engaged nor my blood flowing.

in fact, although i know he really does love it, i can't help but feel that brian's recommending this to me is similar to the duke and duchess having their fun with don q. i feel like brian is...more

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May 11, 2013 John Wiswell rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Classics readers, knights-fiction readers

Recommended to John by: Ted Hoagland

In short: it's a frickin' classic of world literature. Read it.

In slightly longer, but still short: an amusing and infamous first fifty pages with lots of hit-or-miss thereafter. The second half gets dreadfully stale, but has an interesting ending from a literary analysis standpoint.

In long: I'm using this review space as a journal for reading the incredible mountain of pages.

Day 1: Here goes nothing. Here come 1,000 pages of translated text.

The opening was insufferably cheeky and the origins of...more

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Apr 23, 2012 Lyndz rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: reviewed

So the reason I read this book I think is actually kind of fun. About 8 years ago I was at a 2nd hand store. See, I like to go to those sometimes to pick up glass flower vases to do etchings on and misc other cheap items that I can be artsy-fartsy with. Anyway, So I am at this 2nd hand store and I see this dark wooden (seemingly) hand-carved character. He is about 10-12 inches tall and he has the look of a Spanish knight of some sort. His stature is tall and lanky, with a big chip in his helmet....more

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Jun 22, 2012 Cecily rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: classics, humour, favourites

Whatever else "Don Quixote" is, I never found it boring. Parts of it were very funny, others had wonderful similarities with Shakespeare, some bits were more serious: it's like a mini library in a single volume. Wonderful.

Overall, it has quite a shakespearean feel - more in the plotting and tales within tales (eg The Man Who was Recklessly Curious, stolen by Mozart for Cosi fan Tutte) than the language. In fact, the story of Cardenio is thought to be the basis for Shakespeare's lost play of the...more Whatever else "Don Quixote" is, I never found it boring. Parts of it were very funny, others had wonderful similarities with Shakespeare, some bits were more serious: it's like a mini library in a single volume. Wonderful.

Overall, it has quite a shakespearean feel - more in the plotting and tales within tales (eg The Man Who was Recklessly Curious, stolen by Mozart for Cosi fan Tutte) than the language. In fact, the story of Cardenio is thought to be the basis for Shakespeare's lost play of the same name. Very funny - slapstick, toilet and more subtle humour, with lots of factual historical and chivalric detail as well, but it doesn't feel especially Spanish to me. Certainly long, but I don't understand why, supposedly, so few people manage to finish it. Some of DQ's delusions hurt only himself (tilting at windmills), but others lead to suffering for his "squire" Sancho Panza (tossed in a blanket) or reluctant beneficiaries of his salvation (the beaten servant, beaten even more once DQ departs) and bemuse people (mistaking inns for castles, sheep for enemy armies and ordinary women as princesses) and are used to justify theft (the golden "helmet"/bowl) and non-payment to inn-keepers. His resolute optimism in the face of severe pain and disaster is extraordinary. Meanwhile, Sancho wavers between credulity (wishfully thinking the promise of an island for him to rule will come true) and pragmatism. Reading it whilst my son and his friend who was staying (both aged ~10) repeatedly watched and quoted Monthy Python's Holy Grail was amusing!

Part II starts with Cervantes' response to the unknown writer of an unofficial sequel to part 1, though DQ, Sancho and others also critique it in early chapters. The following story presumes that part 1 is true, and shows how DQ's resulting fame affects his subsequent adventures. A very modern mix of "fact" and fiction. Some characters doubt his exploits, others pander to them, especially the duke and duchess who go to great lengths to treat him in knightly/chivalric manner, and provide new adventures (for their amusement, at the painful expense of DQ and Sancho). Sancho gets rather more scope for lengthy meanderings of jumbled and largely irrelevant proverbs. Less slapstick and more pontificating than part I - both DQ's advice to Sancho on how to govern his promised insula and when Sancho has intriguing disputes to resolve.
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Jan 25, 2013 [P] rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: bitchin, modern-life-is-rubbish

LJ is my favourite person in the world. Let me tell you a little story about her: when we first met she casually dropped into the conversation that she believes in unicorns. Yeah, you read that right: UNICORNS. Initially I assumed that she was teasing me, but she wasn't laughing, nor smiling, and so I started to become a little concerned. “You’re joking,” I said. “I’m not,” she replied. [Quality discourse, this]. “Unicorns don’t exist.” “They do.” And so on. The thing is, I’m a very pragmatic, s...more

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Aug 22, 2011 Bennet rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: novels-stories, brilliant-voices-and-language

My beloved 1964 Signet paperback and Walter Starkie translation, of which I was reminded by a friend's recently posted Quixote review (http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/... am now shelving among other brilliant voices. From Starkie's introduction:

"Out of a spirit of fin de siecle melancholy sprang Don Quixote, the first modern novel in the world created out of a life of disillusion, privation, and poverty by a maimed ex-soldier, survivor of a glorious Spanish victory, whose noble nature and g...more

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Feb 06, 2008 Belarius rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: The Literati And Pseudoliterati

Shelves: fiction-finished, literature

I'll be the first to admit it: I'm a fan of popular fiction. I desire enjoyment from certain factors of pacing and style that the literary elite consider "common" and I, in turn, generally find "literature" to be incredibly pretentious. This has led me to hold what some might consider "uncultured" opinions about various great works.

Which brings us to Don Quixote, which many in the literary elite consider to be the greatest novel ever written.

Did I love Don Quixote? I wouldn't go that far. Does i...more I'll be the first to admit it: I'm a fan of popular fiction. I desire enjoyment from certain factors of pacing and style that the literary elite consider "common" and I, in turn, generally find "literature" to be incredibly pretentious. This has led me to hold what some might consider "uncultured" opinions about various great works.

Which brings us to Don Quixote, which many in the literary elite consider to be the greatest novel ever written.

Did I love Don Quixote? I wouldn't go that far. Does it deserve to be called the greatest novel ever written? I'm willing to put it on the short list.

Here's the thing: Cervantes published Don Quixote in the early 17th century, while Shakespeare was still working through his "tragic" phase (Hamlet & whatnot). By rights, it should be like so much other "classic literature:" dense, slow, utterly irrelevant to modern life, and soporific. Instead, it's dense, slow, engaging, and surprisingly relevant. Cervantes manages, almost continuously, to be clever in ways that transcend the 400-year gap and resonate with us now. There's no question that adapting to the writing style of that era is a challenge, and Don Quixote will be slow going to readers accustomed to modern pop fiction. But most intelligent readers will consider this a price worth paying.

Why Don Quixote still works stems largely from its having taken the formulas of "heroic knighthood" (which we are still vaguely familiar with as legend today) and showing it to be cartoonish and absurd. Despite the cultural gap, modern readers will still get the gist of the parody, even if they haven't read the chivalric literature that it is an explicit parody of.

The other reason the story works is because, strangely, we find ourselves continuously at odds with the author over the character of Don Quixote himself. We are told, at every turn, that Quixote is a fool, a madman, and a sinner. Cervantes breaks from the traditional role of a passive narrator to make constant judgment on Quixote's failures and flaws. And because we see Quixote so maligned by both his own author and everyone in the book, we as the reader fall in love with him. By writing a book about a dreamer with unassailable ideals but using the narrative voice of a vitriolic cynic, Cervantes forces us to stand up for the nobility and purity that Quixote achieves. Cervantes has, in effect, martyred his own protagonist in such a dramatic way that it falls to the reader to elevate Quixote to the status of saint.

And any book that can pull that off is worth the difficult prose.(less)

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Jun 21, 2012 Philip rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I’d like some advice from other writers. I’ve just finished a book. It’s my fourth time through it. It might be a bit over-written, perhaps over-read. The writer found the manuscript on a stroll through a street market in Toledo, Spain. It was written in Arabic, a language of which the author only know a little, but he could see from page one that there was something special about this text. He translated it into Spanish, and then others rendered it in English. The book is a little less than fiv...more I’d like some advice from other writers. I’ve just finished a book. It’s my fourth time through it. It might be a bit over-written, perhaps over-read. The writer found the manuscript on a stroll through a street market in Toledo, Spain. It was written in Arabic, a language of which the author only know a little, but he could see from page one that there was something special about this text. He translated it into Spanish, and then others rendered it in English. The book is a little less than five hundred thousand words. It has no plot, and little obvious characterisation. The style varies, and there are several quite glaring inconsistencies, most of which I just laugh off as inconsequential. There are no intrigues. There may be a few murders, but none within the book’s pages. There are no spacecraft, aliens, plots that threaten the earth, spies, terrorists or dog lovers. There’s not much sex, and what exists is largely imagined from afar and is unconsummated, or is very close at hand and is perpetrated by a hag with excess kilos and few teeth. There’s a lot of largely unintelligible games and role-plays, some fantasy, most of which is at the level of fairy-tale, some satire and a lot of innuendo. The main protagonists are rather sexist, racist and, by modern standards, religious bigots.

Could anyone suggest a publisher?

On the other hand, I have a novel that contains such familiar scenes that a good proportion of the world’s population would recognise them. It’s accessible, written in an easy prose that makes few demands on the reader, and whose protagonists are just ordinary people, not unlike those who might read it. It features a man who is so obsessed with celebrity and deluded by popular culture that he believes he too can become a star. No-one, of course, in modern society would ever think that. And, incidentally, it’s been a best seller in multiple editions and languages for over four hundred years.

Could anyone suggest a publisher?

I have just finished a fourth reading of Cervantes’s classic Don Quixote. I have now read it in two quite different translations, one via Wordsworth Classics and the other Penguin. The book is more like several years of soap opera episodes, series such as the Archers, Coronation Street or Emmerdale and definitely not Dr Kildare, Ironside or Kojak, let alone Dallas. It comes to an end because its author wanted to kill it off, since even in its own time it had become something of a cliché.

In some ways it’s a book that’s so ‘modern’ it’s ahead of contemporary fiction. At the same time, its scenarios need footnotes because they are unfamiliar to us. After all, soap opera instalments from a month ago are out of date. The ones in this book are four hundred years old. In essence, however, the delusion presented by popular culture is precisely the same.

At its core, we have a middle-aged, in his day perhaps elderly man who is obsessed with popular culture and celebrity. He doesn’t want to be a film star, footballer or pop singer. He wants to be a knight, travelling the countryside, doing good deeds that the role demands. One day he decides that this is the life for him and, to the consternation of his household, he decides he must live this life of fantasy. Unlike his heroes, however, his sports car is a clapped out old banger, his designer clothes are rejected junk from charity shops, and his millionaire’s mansion is the local pub. His contemporaries merely laugh at him, but he remains utterly convinced of his call to stardom.

But, and this is the crucial fact, he never loses his wisdom, however false its basis might have been. Neither does he lose his faith, though misplaced, in his own superiority. No-one else shares these faiths, except perhaps his travelling companion, Sancho Panza. He is a peasant, with a down-to-earth view of life and a thoroughly bucolic interpretation of its challenges. He proves, however, to be as wise as his master, a lord he hardly ever questions. No-one else shares this faith in the master, but then that’s the point. Life is once through. If we dream, it’s as good as any reality.

So, after four times through this great novel, I have no more idea what it’s about, or what it says than when I started it for the first time. It’s funny, and in places it’s incomprehensible. It’s absurd. It’s serious. It’s stupid, inane, both intellectually challenging and inconsequential at the same time.

I am also a few thousand words from the end of a modern parody of Don Quixote, which I hope is as focussed as its inspiration. Can anyone suggest a publisher?
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Dec 30, 2009 Pollopicu rated it 4 of 5 stars

DON QUIJOTE~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I began with reading the Spanish version of "Don Quijote De La Mancha".
What inspired me to do so was a vintage mint condition copy I came across and purchased at a rare book store(Book I). Not knowing anything about "Don Quixote", I was disappointed to find out there was a part II, of which I didn't own, and chances of finding the matching edition were slim to none..
Nevertheless, I was inspired to read this world-wide acclaimed classic, so I decided to p...more

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Dec 23, 2010 C. added it

Shelves: classics, own-or-access, may-i-say-blah

This is the story of Don Quixote: Alonzo Quixada, an avid reader of tales of chivalry, decides one day that it is his destiny to become a knight-errant. He finds himself a knight-like name, some armour, a horse, a name for the horse, and a lady-love, and later a squire (the wonderful Sancho Panza), and sets off to do good deeds. This makes up the entirety of the content of Cervantes' masterpiece.

To be honest, until recently I wouldn't have called this a masterpiece - in fact, the only reason I e...more

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Apr 11, 2009 David added it · review of another edition

Shelves: read-in-2009

My final review of Book I is actually over here -
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

I am leaving this "review" stand, largely because the comments attached provide a record of my Via Dolorosa through Book I over the past month. The entire "Quik Quixote", in uninterrupted form, is here -
QUIK QUIXOTE

When I bought the handy quadricentennial edition shown in the picture above, I was making small talk with the book store clerk about the feasibility of a foreigner making it through the enti...more

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view all 47 comments

David Hmmm, let´s see:

LII minus XLVII, (plus XIX, minus XXIV, carry the I, so plus X).

I have V chapters left to read in Book 1, XVIII chapters left to summa...more
updated Apr 06, 2009 01:55pm

Pollopicu I just started reading the "Spanish" edition of "Don Quijote". I'm sorry I'm unable to read all the responses you received in your extended review...I...more
Aug 31, 2009 10:11am

Mar 11, 2008 John rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: novel, funny-stuff

Whew. I did it. I'm ready to run the New York Marathon, climb Mount Everest, swim the Mekong River, and hunt the nefarious arctic narwhale, now that I've read Don Quixote in its entirety. And I am truly a better person for it.

Until now, I've only read Don Quixote in small doses, reading his battle with the windmills or his mistaking a barber's washbin for the Helmet of Mambrino out of context, either for class or in anthologies. After reading the first book in sequence, I'm ashamed of myself. Gr...more Whew. I did it. I'm ready to run the New York Marathon, climb Mount Everest, swim the Mekong River, and hunt the nefarious arctic narwhale, now that I've read Don Quixote in its entirety. And I am truly a better person for it.

Until now, I've only read Don Quixote in small doses, reading his battle with the windmills or his mistaking a barber's washbin for the Helmet of Mambrino out of context, either for class or in anthologies. After reading the first book in sequence, I'm ashamed of myself. Grossman's translation certainly adds some accessibility for the the American sensibility, but what struck me most was Cervantes' ironic self-awareness and societal critique, and his playfulness with the novel form that wasn't even technically a form yet. Quixote, whose heroes exist only in his mind at the novel's beginning, eventually meets and argues hilariously with some of them as well as plenty of third parties that stand in disbelief at his lunacy.

It would be impossible to write a comprehensive book review of this book without writing a book myself, so I think I'll just comment randomly:

I laughed and thought hardest when Cervantes brought in the ladies, both real and imagined, to continually check Quixote's romanticization of the female persuasion. His lady Dulcinea of Toboso seems to be a man-like wheat-shocker, but you'd never know it from his visions of her angelic graces. But Quixote seems to be just a worst-case scenario of all the male impulses the other characters display; pretty much all the men objectify women to superhuman levels, and many of the women are either affronted or jilted by the men's fickle imaginations.

I've heard the second book is quite a bit darker and even more self-referential as Quixote waited 10 years between books, and I have agree. Especially in the second book, I wasn’t sure what to think of the "royalty" DQ and Poncho ran into along their merry way. Either the irony was too subtle for my radar, or Cervantes seemed to be in on the arrogant, mean-spirited, sadistic jokes the landed gentry played on the deluded duo. Some of the jokes (the flying horse, for example) were laugh-out-loud funny, but some were just, well, wrong (Altisodora's feigned love for Quixote, practically starving Sancho after giving him his insula governorship). And then some, like the 3000 lashes Sancho had to give his own sweaty buttocks to make Dulcinea pretty again, were both, but mainly because of Sancho's ingenious ways of avoiding delivering the lashes.

The ending really sucked. The episodic nature of the novel I guess prevents any climactic closure, but without giving anything away, Cervantes ends the novel so apologetically that he seems to go ideologically against every previous chapter. I would have stopped reading with ten pages to go if it hadn't been such a long trip to the end.

To my pleasure, the novel was much more violent overall than I expected. If you took out and strung together all the lumps, cuts, bruises, tramplings, beatings, and lashes Quixote and Sancho took it would rival The Passion of the Christ. And be a hundred times more enjoyable.
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Dec 10, 2012 Janet rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: classics, relieved-to-finish, spanish

If ever there was a case for CliffsNotes this is it. 982 pages of wandering around tilting at windmills, mistaking inns for castles AND he never gets the girl. Enough already.

The summer before my nephew's last year of high school he had to pick a novel from a list of pre-approved classics and write a critique on it. I was reading Crime and Punishment and he said the book was on his list and looked "really interesting." When I asked him why he didn't just select it, he responded, "who has that ki...more

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Jun 21, 2012 Nicholas Sparks rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: nicholas-recommends

The best novel of all time.

9 likes · like · see review

May 05, 2013 Diane Challenor rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: our-home-library, abandoned, our-kindle-library, our-audiobook-library

I'm reading Don Quixote as part of my website's Reading Challenge 2013.
Now that I’ve cracked the 182 page mark, that is, I’ve reached page 182, maybe I should share my thoughts about the story. So far I think it’s a “silly” story. I should also add that I think Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream is silly too. I’m not regretful that my serious reading choice for 2013 is Don Quixote. (Strange I refer to a “silly” story, a comedic story, as a serious read. It’s serious for me because it’s a st...more

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Sep 15, 2011 Miquixote rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: classics, fiction, underrated, comedy, academic, intellectual-value-5, enjoyment-value-5, favourites, 10

Make sure you read this Edith Grossman version, which is vastly superior to the others.

We are Quixote

Our fantasies have collided with reality (but for us repeatedly with different fantasies), and like Quixote, our life vitality has been destroyed. Are we at the end of the novel, when we realize our lives have been a big delusion (or were they? wasn't Quixote's delusion actually his vitality?).

Now we think more responsibly (death creeps softly) and it is really hard for us to know what, if anythi...more

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Jun 16, 2013 Nenia Campbell rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: x-1600s, 1001-books, chubby-chunksters, favorite-author, lol, epics, epic-quests, adventure-ho, action-packed, defies-the-stereotype, fantasy, hero-is-a-bad-ass-manly-man, literature-i-like, originality-done-right, trainwreck-i-have-watched-and-loved

Textbook-selling-back time is a glorious time in college. All those books that mocked you during exams, weighing down your backpack with disgusting smugness, and making you feel guilty for not studying enough- those bitches get reabsorbed into the book store faster than you can say, "Prepare to be assimilated."

My first quarter, I think I ended up being forced to shell out about $500 in books. My social psychology class and abnormal psychology class, both of which I actually needed, had about one...more

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Jun 10, 2008 Tucker rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

As a kid did you ever dream about being a knight like the ones in the books you read? Well in Don Quixote, a delusional 50 year old man starts trying to fulfill this dream. Journeying through Spain with his squire Sancho Panza, Don Quixote finds many "adventures" that to most people wouldn't seem like adventures at all, but to Don Quixote who is thinks windmills are giants, and a flock of sheep is an army, anything is an adventure.

One very enjoyable part is that the main characters both exhibit...more

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Jan 09, 2008 Greg rated it 4 of 5 stars

Reading Cervantes' massive 400-year-old novel may seem to be a challenge analogous to the titular errant knight's ill-advised confrontation with the windmill, however, as with Quixote's famed inanimate opponent, appearances are deceiving. Despite its age, Quixote holds up remarkably well: the characters still charm, the wit still bites and the prose feels crisp and modern – no doubt a testament to Grossman's vivacious translation. However, as purposefully written by Cervantes in the style of the...more

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Mar 31, 2011 Nicklessagus rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

El primer libro es excelente, muy entretenido. Cuesta arrancar por el lenguaje (castellano antiguo) y las referencias historicas (muuuuchas notas al pie de pagina) pero una vez que agarra viaje es insuperable.

El segundo libro es muy bueno, pero no como el primero, es divertido como cervantes le pega palos a avellaneda por el quijote apocrifo y el hecho de que en esta segunda parte en el mundo del quijote se haya editado la primer parte y lo conviertan a el casi en una celebridad =)

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Apr 16, 2010 Julie R rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

While this is a very, very, very long book (I believe it was originally split up into several installments many years apart)I actually enjoyed it for the most part.
It's kind of intimidating to know that this story is over 400 years old, but you sort of forget once you get into it.
Don Quixote's belief(?) that he's on an important quest is at times laugh-out-loud funny, and at times pathetically sad.
When he finds out that he is nothing but a big joke to everyone around him, the novel turns very...more

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Jul 20, 2010 Daniel Pecheur rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: world-literature, favorite-masterpieces

"'Tell us, now, who is the greater madman, he who is so because he can't help it, or he who is so of his own free will?'"
"'This is the spot, O Heavens, that I select to bewail the misfortune into which you yourselves have plunged me. This is the spot where the moisture from my eyes shall swell the waters of this little stream, and my unending sighs shall stir incessantly the leaves of these mountain trees in testimony of the pain that my tortured heart is suffering. And you, rustic gods, whoever...more "'Tell us, now, who is the greater madman, he who is so because he can't help it, or he who is so of his own free will?'"
"'This is the spot, O Heavens, that I select to bewail the misfortune into which you yourselves have plunged me. This is the spot where the moisture from my eyes shall swell the waters of this little stream, and my unending sighs shall stir incessantly the leaves of these mountain trees in testimony of the pain that my tortured heart is suffering. And you, rustic gods, whoever you may be, who dwell in this inhospitable place, listen to the plaints of this unlucky lover who long absence and some fancied jealousy have driven to mourn among these rocks and to complain of the cruel temper of that ungrateful beauty, the sum total of human beauty! And you, wood nymphs and dryads, who are accustomed to haunt the thick mountain groves, may the nimble and lustful satyrs, who crave in vain your favors, never trouble your sweet repose that you may help me to lament my evil fate, or at least be not weary of listening to it! O Dulcinea of El Toboso, day of my nigh, glory of my sorrow, cynosure of my path, star of my fortune, may Heaven grant you in full measure all the boons you pray for.'"
An amazing and innovative, superbly entertaining treasure of literature. A long and colossal work indeed that demands some dedication but is truly worth the endeavor. There is nothing else like Cervantes' masterpiece. It's enchanting, humorous, philosophical, outrageous, absurd, beautiful and all around mesmerizing. There simply aren't words I can use here that wouldn't be totally trite and cliche to try expressing the tremendous value of this great two-part work. It's considered the most beautiful literary gem of the Castilian Spanish language which Cervantes masterfully elevated to its peak and it's not possible to fully appreciate the brilliance of the work in its translation. However, one still gets a feel for the sheer beauty of the language, even reading it in English. There are many, many marvelous descriptions and lovely tableaux of words ingeniously welded into the picaresque tales of Don Quixote, the nobleman from La Mancha who has been deluded by an excess of reading about the knights-errant, accompanied by his loyal squire Sancho Panza upon his donkey Dapple. Their many interchanges are cleverly amusing and humorous. There's just something magical, enchanting and pure about the stories of Don Quixote in spite of all the grandiose absurdity and inexhaustible web of misfortunes in which the two main characters constantly find themselves. It's a work of mammoth scholarship, built on a world of knowledge surrounding medieval literature and all the tales about chivalry and knightly romance, yet stamped all over with an unforgettable uniqueness that makes Don Quixote a totally original work. There's nothing else like Don Quixote and I feel greatly, greatly enriched as a lover of literature having read this literary gold mine.(less)

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Mar 29, 2013 Judy rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Judy by: 40

Shelves: fiction, spain, 1001-books, 2013-reads, adventure, classics

What a ride! I feel a sense of accomplishment like none other having completed this book. That is in no way a slur on this book. I have laughed outright, giggled, smirked, felt sadness at DQs death and been caught in the sense of adventure. It truly is a book for the ages. The reason it doesn't get 5 stars is because I do not plan to re-read it. Its just too long for that!

One of my favorite things about this book is looking at the impact it made on the writers who came later. I wonder if anyone...more What a ride! I feel a sense of accomplishment like none other having completed this book. That is in no way a slur on this book. I have laughed outright, giggled, smirked, felt sadness at DQs death and been caught in the sense of adventure. It truly is a book for the ages. The reason it doesn't get 5 stars is because I do not plan to re-read it. Its just too long for that!

One of my favorite things about this book is looking at the impact it made on the writers who came later. I wonder if anyone other than Shakespeare influenced writing as much as Cervantes? There are so many techniques Cervantes used that have been aped since. And what about all the quotes we use that were spawned from this work?

Okay, onto my favorite things:

Sancho! Was there ever a better sidekick short of the 3 Musketeers?! I love his mangled quotes and sayings. One of the best dialogues IMO is the one between DQ and Sancho where DQ forbids him to repeat anymore of them. I loved that Cervantes offered Sancho some redemption for his gullibility and folly by allowing him to be a (view spoiler)

Duke and Duchess! Oh my, I was so hoping their jokes and tricks would come back and bite them in the end, but even so they certainly made Book II.

References to the author Cide Hamete Benengeli and the pronunciation of his last name (bean and jelly): These cracked me up, especially the ending remarks and cracks at the other author who tried to profit off the popularity of DQ Book I by coming out with a Book 2 before Cervantes.

The only complaint I have about this book is that during the mid-section, I think it is given to too many non-Sancho/DQ stories. They are interesting stories, but they struck me as Cervantes filler which I am sure there were because most writers of that period were paid by the word.

Adios, Man from La Mancha, may you find an unenchanted Dulcinea in the Great Beyond!(less)

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Jun 28, 2009 Pumsish rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, translated

อัศจรรย์ดีที่คิดว่าหนังสือเล่มนี้เขียนขึ้นตั้งแต่สมัยพระนเรศวร

ชอบน้ำเสียงคนเขียนบรรยายเรื่องได้ตลกเสียดสีดี แต่ส่วนเนื้อเรื่องที่เกี่ยวกับความฟั่นเฟือนนี่ขำไม่ค่อยออก เพราะรู้สึกสงสารแกมสมเพชมากกว่า (เลยไม่ถึงกับชอบมากๆด้วยเหตุนี้)
มีหลายฉากที่อัศวินพเนจรผู้นี้กับผู้ช่วยของเขาประสบเคราะห์กรรมถึงขึ้นเลือดตกยางออกอันเนื่องมาจากความเสียจริต แต่คนอื่นก็ยังเห็นเป็นเรื่องขำขันได้แต่ยืนหัวเราะหรือแกล้งเล่นด้วย..นี่ก็ใจร้ายเหมือนกันนะ

ไม่เคยอ่านนิยายอัศวินซะด้วยไม่งั้นอาจขำกว่านี้(นี่ก็พอเข้าใจว่ากำลังประ...more อัศจรรย์ดีที่คิดว่าหนังสือเล่มนี้เขียนขึ้นตั้งแต่สมัยพระนเรศวร

ชอบน้ำเสียงคนเขียนบรรยายเรื่องได้ตลกเสียดสีดี แต่ส่วนเนื้อเรื่องที่เกี่ยวกับความฟั่นเฟือนนี่ขำไม่ค่อยออก เพราะรู้สึกสงสารแกมสมเพชมากกว่า (เลยไม่ถึงกับชอบมากๆด้วยเหตุนี้)
มีหลายฉากที่อัศวินพเนจรผู้นี้กับผู้ช่วยของเขาประสบเคราะห์กรรมถึงขึ้นเลือดตกยางออกอันเนื่องมาจากความเสียจริต แต่คนอื่นก็ยังเห็นเป็นเรื่องขำขันได้แต่ยืนหัวเราะหรือแกล้งเล่นด้วย..นี่ก็ใจร้ายเหมือนกันนะ

ไม่เคยอ่านนิยายอัศวินซะด้วยไม่งั้นอาจขำกว่านี้(นี่ก็พอเข้าใจว่ากำลังประชดตอนไหนแต่ไม่ฮามาก)

ช่วงแรกๆนี่อ่านยังไม่ติด ดูยังไม่มีจุดมุ่งหมายนอกจากเดินตรงไปเรื่อย แต่ตั้งแต่อ่านผ่านหนึ่งในสามเล่มไปได้นี่ติดหนึบมากเลย
ชอบเรื่องราวของตัวละครทั้งนั้น (3-4 เรื่องที่แทรกเข้ามาอย่างยาว)มากๆ
(less)

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Jul 09, 2010 Julia Boechat Machado rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: books-i-own, spanish-literature, tingle-of-the-spine, constantly-re-reading, xvii-century, favorites

Quando eu era criança, não gostava de ler versões adaptadas, porque a gente perde muito da história com elas. Mas eu li o Dom Quixote das Crianças, do Monteiro Lobato, e provavelmente já conhecia algo da história antes mesmo disso. Da primeira vez que li a obra integral, eu me lembrava sempre da Emília, que resolveu [sic] ser louca também e acabou trancafiada em uma gaiola, antes que Dona Benta a libertasse.
E descobri que Dom Quixote é profundo, enternecedor, engraçado. Claro que não pretendo co...more

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Feb 04, 2009 Derrick rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is one of the best books I've ever read in my life, as it should be. Smollet's translation, though I obviously have not read the Spanish, truly does seem to capture the rambunctious feel and intent of Cervantes. My own writing has improved immensely just from reading this book, as well my vocabulary. Never have I learned so much from something that, while reading it, seemed a simple joy. When I finished the book, I felt an actual sense of loss. I've dealt with that loss in a very ironic man...more

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Nov 05, 2008 Tal rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I spent entirely too much time reading this book to essay what it is that catapults this behemoth into my favorite novels. This has partially to do with the fact that so much has already been said that it feels a bit silly to say anything else. If you need an argument as to why you should read it, you can always Google it.

Otherwise, I guess what kinda clotheslined me about this was how much I came to detest Sancho Panza. Granted, his foolishness and simplicity are so well-captured that he's alwa...more

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Jan 15, 2008 Steve rated it 5 of 5 stars

A classic in every sense of the word.

Called “the Spanish Bible”, the story of the Man from La Mancha (1605) and the Return of the Man from La Mancha (1615) is one of the most famous literary works in the world and rightfully so. Here, the two works are placed in a single volume and, as translated by Edith Grossman, the characters come crazily alive.

In the first book, we are introduced to Alonso Quixano, an intelligent man who spends too much time reading chivalric novels and romantic tales. One...more A classic in every sense of the word.

Called “the Spanish Bible”, the story of the Man from La Mancha (1605) and the Return of the Man from La Mancha (1615) is one of the most famous literary works in the world and rightfully so. Here, the two works are placed in a single volume and, as translated by Edith Grossman, the characters come crazily alive.

In the first book, we are introduced to Alonso Quixano, an intelligent man who spends too much time reading chivalric novels and romantic tales. One day, he snaps, believes himself to be Don Quixote, knight errand, and, after talking a neighboring farmer called Sancho Panza into being his squire in return for an island (insula) to govern, leaves his village to seek adventure and to rid the world of evil in the name of his beloved Dulcinea of Toboso, who happens to be some local farm girl that he has built up as this object of impossible beauty.

What follows next are a series of beat downs, misunderstandings, and adventures of a sort. The famous assault on the windmills happens early and from there we are lost in the imagination of Don Quixote and the reality that keeps butting in. As time moves on, and as a commentary on the first book, which was a mad hit, the sequel was made ten years later only to quash the “unauthorized” sequels. The adventures become more adventurous and end in the only real way they can.

What surprised me was how modern it is. The writing style is not out of place today and his use of meta narratives was not only unexpected but also good. And it did make me laugh. The first book is funnier than the second but what is lost in situational comedy is gained in character development.

That is where these books stand the test of time. The stories themselves aren’t out of the ordinary, at least until the second book, but the relationship between Don Quixote and Sancho Panza is. The book lives in the conversations between them; a true believer and a lost soul that wants to believe but has to be the buffer with reality.

Don Quixote has had such an influence that the name Quixote has become an English word (quixotic) meant to define an impossible quest based on romantic notions. And that’s why Don Quixote is loved. He is the guy tilting at windmills because, even though he sees a dragon, he’s trying to live up to an impossible ideal of what life could be. His motivation isn’t bad. We all act out of love when it really comes down to it and his actions are no exception. Only in his mind do his goals manifest, but unlike most of us, Quixote goes after them irrespective of the world might think because the only world that matter is the one he is living.

And Sancho sees what we see. Critics have argued that these novels are really about Sancho and his attempts to reconcile the real world with that of his master and that it is Sancho’s journey that most reflects the human condition. Don Quixote is simply the vehicle.

Either way, this is a must read. It is long, but surprising. Invest your time in the Man from La Mancha. You won’t regret it,
(less)

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Oct 08, 2007 Jessica rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: knights errant; the sorrowful-faced

Shelves: happyendings, wish-i-owned

I really regret leaving my edition of this book on the curb when I moved out of that Brooklyn apartment. I was like, "Oh, super translation and lovely red cover, but it's really heavy and it's not like I'm gonna need to reread *Don Quixote* any time soon..... I need to quit being such a materialistic packrat!" Actually, I tossed tons of great stuff during that move, but this is the book I've regretted the most.

I DREAMT about this book on Saturday night. I had this really stressful dream where I...more

7 likes · like · see review

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About Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra was a Spanish novelist, poet, and playwright. His magnum opus Don Quixote is often considered the first modern novel.

It is assumed that Miguel de Cervantes was born in Alcalá de Henares. His father was Rodrigo de Cervantes, a surgeon of cordoban descent. Little is known of his mother Leonor de Cortinas, except that she was a native of Arganda del Rey.

In 1569, Cervantes...more

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Books by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

Don Quijote De La Mancha (I) (Coleccion Lecturas Clasicas Graduadas)

Exemplary Stories (Oxford World's Classics)

El Ingenioso Hidalgo Don Quijote de La Mancha, 13 (Literatura)

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Quotes from Don Quixote of the Mancha

“Finally, from so little sleeping and so much reading, his brain dried up and he went completely out of his mind.” — 2,839 people liked it

“All I know is that while I’m asleep, I’m never afraid, and I have no hopes, no struggles, no glories — and bless the man who invented sleep, a cloak over all human thought, food that drives away hunger, water that banishes thirst, fire that heats up cold, chill that moderates passion, and, finally, universal currency with which all things can be bought, weight and balance that brings the shepherd and the king, the fool and the wise, to the same level. There’s only one bad thing about sleep, as far as I’ve ever heard, and that is that it resembles death, since there’s very little difference between a sleeping man and a corpse” — 134 people liked it

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