My personal opinion (of course): I didn't like this book, and I can almost say that I hate it. (Thus I highly suspect that I'm going to hate the orig. Quixote story when I read it, too.) The only saving grace that got me through this book, other than that it was required for my university course (correction; that's not a saving grace at all), was that it was so ridiculous that it screamed "fiction! fiction!!!" every time I glanced at it and so I was able to tell myself "no one is this bad in real life. It's ok."

I know there's a message in there (which I won't spoil because it's better for each reader to come away with their own nuances in interpreting the message of a story). But even in real life when I meet someone who is so innocent and naive, I get rather upset. Because it tells me that this person is either not attentive enough to others and the feelings of others (and therefore is selfish, no matter how 'nice' or 'caring' they seem), but also that this person is extremely stubborn and arrogant, unwilling to listen to, or consider the counsel and opinions of others. So it's really not "innocent and naive" anymore.

And in the case of Arabella, OMG. If this was written in modern times, her story might very well end in a few chapters instead of an entire book.

Seriously, if I wasn't paranoid about owning books I've read, or to keep a sample of each writing style on hand, then I would do my best to get this book off my hands.