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Don Quixote

Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra,

Roberto González Echevarría (Introduction),

John Rutherford (Translator)

3.89 · Rating details · 240,560 ratings · 9,999 reviews

Don Quixote has become so entranced by reading chivalric romances that he determines to become a knight-errant himself. In the company of his faithful squire, Sancho Panza, his exploits blossom in all sorts of wonderful ways. While Quixote's fancy often leads him astray—he tilts at windmills, imagining them to be giants—Sancho acquires cunning and a certain sagacity. Sane ...more

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Paperback, Penguin Classics, 1023 pages

Published February 25th 2003 by Penguin Books (first published 1605)

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Jun 24, 2014 Lisa rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 1001-books-to-read-before-you-die, so-good-it-hurts, unforgettable, favorites

“Don Quixote”, I answered, and looked into almost shocked facial expressions, followed by quiet, uncomfortable giggling.

What was the question? If my friends at the coffee table had asked: “What is your favourite book, Lisa?”, and received that answer, they would have nodded knowingly, sympathetically, adding some random fact about the 1000+-page-classic I claimed to love more than the countless other books I have read. But that was not the question. It was:

“With which literary character do you ...more

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Mar 14, 2019 Emily May rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2019, classics, clothbound-own

“Finally, from so little sleeping and so much reading, his brain dried up and he went completely out of his mind.”

Why did no one tell me this book is hilarious? I can't believe it took me so long to finally pick it up.

Don Quixote is densest in the early chapters, which are packed full of footnotes that should be read for full context. I highly recommend using two bookmarks-- one for your place in the story and one for in the notes. If this seems too much like hard work, I want to reassure yo ...more

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Nov 07, 2020 Vit Babenco rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

All the chivalric romance is long dead and gone… But the travesty Don Quixote is alive and kicking… The strange ones are the fittest…

…the castellan brought out the book in which he had jotted down the hay and barley for which the mule drivers owed him, and, accompanied by a lad bearing the butt of a candle and the two aforesaid damsels, he came up to where Don Quixote stood and commanded him to kneel. Reading from the account book – as if he had been saying a prayer – he raised his hand and, wit

All the chivalric romance is long dead and gone… But the travesty Don Quixote is alive and kicking… The strange ones are the fittest…

…the castellan brought out the book in which he had jotted down the hay and barley for which the mule drivers owed him, and, accompanied by a lad bearing the butt of a candle and the two aforesaid damsels, he came up to where Don Quixote stood and commanded him to kneel. Reading from the account book – as if he had been saying a prayer – he raised his hand and, with the knight’s own sword, gave him a good thwack upon the neck and another lusty one upon the shoulder, muttering all the while between his teeth. He then directed one of the ladies to gird on Don Quixote’s sword, which she did with much gravity and composure; for it was all they could do to keep from laughing at every point of the ceremony, but the thought of the knight’s prowess which they had already witnessed was sufficient to restrain their mirth.

As soon as the mocking accolade is over Don Quixote is off to fight evil, to defeat monsters, to perform feats and to save damsels in distress…

“And if,” said Sancho, “those gentlemen wish to know who the valiant one was who did this to them, your Grace may inform them that he is the famous Don Quixote de la Mancha, otherwise known as the Knight of the Mournful Countenance.”
At this the knight inquired of his squire what had led him to call him by such a title at that particular moment.
“I can tell you,” said Sancho. “I was looking at you for a time by the light of the torch that poor fellow carried; and truly, your Grace now has the worst-looking countenance that I have ever seen, whether due to exhaustion from this combat or the lack of teeth and grinders, I cannot say.”

The valorous life of knight-errant is full of hardship so every new feat brings a new sorrow.
The grandiose epic continues: Sancho Panza plays his role of the squire and governor; Don Quixote plays his role of the valiant hero and all the rest play the roles of his adversaries or allies… Adventures, quests, mishaps and show go on…

“One plays the ruffian, another the cheat, this one a merchant and that one a soldier, while yet another is the fool who is not so foolish as he appears, and still another the one of whom love has made a fool. Yet when the play is over and they have taken off their players’ garments, all the actors are once more equal.”
“Yes,” replied Sancho, “I have seen all that.”
“Well,” continued Don Quixote, “the same thing happens in the comedy that we call life, where some play the part of emperors, others that of pontiffs – in short, all the characters that a drama may have – but when it is all over, that is to say, when life is done, death takes from each the garb that differentiates him, and all at last are equal in the grave.”

Many brave knights fought dragons and won but no one remembers their names… Don Quixote fought just a single windmill and even if he failed to defeat it, everyone knows him. ...more

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May 14, 2008 Ahmad Sharabiani rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: literature, classics, spanish, 1001-books, 17th-century, fiction

(Book 992 from 1001 books) - Don Quixote = Don Quijote de La mancha (Don Quijote de la Mancha #1-2), Miguel de Cervantes

The Ingenious Nobleman Sir Quixote of La Mancha, or just Don Quixote, is a Spanish novel by Miguel de Cervantes. Published in two volumes, in 1605 and 1615, Don Quixote is considered the most influential work of literature from the Spanish Golden Age and the entire Spanish literary canon. As a founding work of modern Western literature and one of the earliest canonical novels, (Book 992 from 1001 books) - Don Quixote = Don Quijote de La mancha (Don Quijote de la Mancha #1-2), Miguel de Cervantes

The Ingenious Nobleman Sir Quixote of La Mancha, or just Don Quixote, is a Spanish novel by Miguel de Cervantes. Published in two volumes, in 1605 and 1615, Don Quixote is considered the most influential work of literature from the Spanish Golden Age and the entire Spanish literary canon. As a founding work of modern Western literature and one of the earliest canonical novels, it regularly appears high on lists of the greatest works of fiction ever published.

Don Quixote shows the life of an individual who is delusional and spends his time reading forbidden works.

At the time of telling the story, writing and reading works dealing with knights were forbidden. And the main character of the story considers himself the place of one of these knights, and sees hypothetical enemies in front of him, which are, of course, mountains and trees. Don Quixote is an imaginary hero, helpless and stubborn who considers himself invincible.

عنوانهای چاپ شده در ایران: «دن کیشوت»؛ «دون کیخوته»؛ نویسنده: سر وانتس؛ انتشاراتیها: (روایت، نیل، وستا، روزگار و ...) ادبیات اسپانیا؛ تاریخ نخستین خوانش در یکی از روزهای سال 1972میلادی

عنوان: دون کیشوت؛ نویسنده: سروانتس؛ مترجم: محمد قاضی؛ تهران، انتشارات نیل، 1349؛ دو جلد جمعا در 1286صفحه؛ یکی از کتابهای مجموعه ی ده رمان بزرگ جهان

عنوان: دون کیشوت؛ نویسنده: سروانتس؛ مترجم: ذبیح الله منصوری؛ ...، چاپ دیگر تهران، کتاب وستا، 1389؛ در 564ص؛ شابک 9786009104475؛

عنوان: دون کیخوته (دن کیشوت)؛ نویسنده: سروانتس؛ مترجم: کیومرث پارسای؛ تهران، روزگار، 1390؛ دو جلد حدود 1300ص؛ شابک دوره 9789643741259؛

این اثر از کهنترین رمانها، در زبان‌های نوین «اروپایی» است؛ بسیاری آن را بهترین کتاب نوشته شده، به زبان «اسپانیایی»، می‌دانند؛ «سروانتس» بخش نخست «دن کیشوت» را، در زندان بنوشتند، و نخستین بار در سال 1605میلادی، در «مادرید» منتشر کردند، و بخش دوم آن، ده سال بعد در سال 1615میلادی، به چاپ رسید؛ «دن کیشوت» زندگی فردی را به خوانشگر نشان می‌دهد، که دچار توهم است، و اوقات خود را با خواندن آثار ممنوعه می‌گذراند؛ در زمان روایت داستان، نوشتن و خواندن آثاری که به شوالیه ها می‌پرداخت، قدغن بود؛ و شخصیت اصلی داستان، خود را جای یکی از همین شوالیه‌ ها میشمارد، و دشمنانی فرضی را، در برابر خویش می‌بیند، که البته کوه‌ها و درخت‌ها هستند؛ «دن کیشوت» پهلوانی خیالی، و بی‌دست‌ و پاست، که خود را شکست‌ ناپذیر می‌پندارد؛ او به سفرهایی طولانی می‌رود، و در میانه ی همین سفرهاست، که اعمالی عجیب و غریب، از وی سر می‌زند؛ وی که هدفی، جز نجات مردمان، از ظلم و استبداد حاکمان ظالم، ندارد، نگاهی تخیلی به اطراف خویش دارد، و همه چیز را، در قالب ابزار جنگی می‌بیند؛ تاکنون هیچ کتابی، به اندازه ی «دن کیشوت»، این‌همه مورد عشق و علاقه ی ملل گوناگون نبوده‌ است؛ بسیاری از کتاب‌ها هستند، که تنها به یک قوم و ملت اختصاص دارند؛ و از حدود مرز یک کشور فراتر نمی‌روند، بسیاری دیگر نیز هستند، که در میان ملل دیگر هم خوانشگر دارند، اما تنها مورد پسند طبقه ی روشنفکر، یا مردمان عادی، یا طبقات ممتاز جامعه هستند؛ اما «دن کیشوت» تمام حصارهای «جغرافیایی»، «نژادی»، «اجتماعی»، و «طبقاتی» را، در هم شکسته، و عنوان خود را با دنیا و بشریت، گره زده است

تاریخ بهنگام رسانی 20/06/1399هجری خورشیدی؛ 17/05/1400هجری خورشیدی؛ ا. شربیانی ...more

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Mar 10, 2014 Renato rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: the-novel-100, 2014, reviewed, absolute-favorites, 100-best-books-world-library, read-more-than-once, all-stars, 1001

A book of parallels, Don Quixote by Spanish author Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, through two of the most emblematic characters ever conceived, discusses what's imagined and what's seen, the ideal vs. the real, the conflicts between illusion and actuality and how these solid lines start to blur by the influences Don Quixote and Sancho Panza inflict on each other through the course of this comic (yet sad sometimes...) tale.

A second-hand account translated from Arab historian Cide Hamete Benengeli ...more

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Jan 25, 2011 karen rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: littry-fiction, meowch-bad-kitty, not-a-polyglot

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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Mar 13, 2016 Fionnuala added it · review of another edition

Shelves: review-may-contain-comic-content, treasured-reading-experience, translated-from-spanish, metamorphosis, don-quixote-related

Can I tell you a story - only it may take a little time because sometimes a thousand trifles have to be recounted, as irrelevant as they are necessary, for the true understanding of a tale.

Chapter I : Regarding what befell the narrator on visiting a theatre

The comic operetta Don Quixote was being performed at my local theatre and I was amongst the audience at the first performance. It was a lively and entertaining re-enactment featuring the knight errant Don Quixote and his erring squire Sancho ...more

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Jan 08, 2021 Fergus rated it it was amazing

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. One day, a waspish wag who was a friend of the Parnassian poet W.H. Auden said to the sly old master, “Well then, Wystan! Tell us, for a change, that you’ve FINALLY finished Cervantes!”

And of course Auden famously retorted to this (with his favorite deus ex cathedra - playful pedantry), “One is NEVER finished with Quixote!”

No, there’s simply no end for us slowpokes. So I’ve gotta admit here and now that I’ve never finished it, either.

But that doesn’t stop me from opening Cervantes’ magical gearb ...more

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Dec 30, 2019 Kenny rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: long-haul-reads, desert-island-books, classics, european

The truth may be stretched thin, but it never breaks, and it always surfaces above lies, as oil floats on water.
Don Quixote ~~ Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

Don Quixote is as good as, if not better than, everything you have ever heard about it. I've not felt such a sense of accomplishment in finishing a book since I closed the cover on Ulysses 15 months ago. Yes, it’s that good.

If you’ve never read Don Quixote you are more than likely to be familiar with the story of Don Quixote, but there is so m ...more

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Feb 19, 2018 Melissa ♥ Dog/Wolf Lover ♥ Martin rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: own

This book wore my @ss out! It's funny and good and I love tomes but I don't think I was totally ready this time. Whew ......

The narrator was great on audio but I couldn't keep up in my book for reasons so I just listened.

Happy Reading!

Mel ❤️ ...more

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Feb 04, 2011 Riku Sayuj rated it it was amazing

Shelves: classics, favorites, translated

The Double-Edged Sword

It is a double-edged sword isn't it, reading great books too early in life?

If we read a book too early in life, we may not grasp it fully but the book becomes part of us and forms a part of our thinking itself, maybe even of our writing. But on the other hand, the reading is never complete and we may never come back to it, in a world too full of books.

And if we wait to read till we are mature, we will never become good readers and writers who can do justice to good books. ...more

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May 30, 2008 Cecily rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favourites, humour, classics

Whatever else Don Quixote may be, 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 t ...more

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Jun 24, 2020 Luís rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: e-5-favourites, spain, g-classics

In this episodic tale, a never-ending story of great fun, Cervantes invites us to laugh at the madness of his hero. The head of the latter was stuffed with those absurdities that we find in chivalry novels - very popular wildly in Spain between 1300 and 1600, where everyone liked to listen to it (we read it publicly) or read it, the people as well of the crowned heads.

A hilarious parody of chivalry novels, an honest social critic when the Spanish power is experiencing a decisive crisis, Don Quix ...more

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Jul 16, 2016 Michael Finocchiaro rated it it was amazing

Shelves: spanish-classic, favorites, fiction, spanish-17th-c

Cervantes, Don Quixote. "In a certain corner of la Mancha, the name of which I do not choose to remember, there lately lived one of those country gentleman, who adorn their halls with rusty lace and worm-eaten target, and ride forth on the skeleton of a horse, to course with a sort of a starved greyhound."

Don Quixote is one of my favorite comedies of all time. This opening phrase is steeped with irony and sarcasm. We are introduced to the loser town which the author is obviously embarrassed to h ...more

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Feb 28, 2020 Adina added it

Shelves: the-literature-book-pre1900s, spain, classics, 1001

It was fun for a while and then I got bored. I probably did not start this novel with the right mindset either. Until I started to read the Literature Book and commit to reading more classics I haven't even thought of reading Don Quixote. However, after I read that it was the first modern novel and other interesting trivia about it, I decided to give it a go. If I like it great, if not, I can always abandon it and read something else. My ancient copy of the novel (1969) has 4 volumes and I finis ...more

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Nov 04, 2016 MJ Nicholls rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: novels, picaresque, penguin-classics, nonreviews, voluminous, pre-1900s, southern-europe, worshipped

To compensate for an unliterary childhood (no furtive torch readings of Alice under the duvet until the wee hours for me), I hit the universities to read English Literature, which I failed to study, focusing instead on the local record shop and depression. To compensate for an unliterary literature degree, I ramped up the reading to more sensible levels, and began an ongoing passionate marriage with the written word: a marriage of comfortable convenience spiced up from time to time with trips in ...more

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Dec 24, 2012 Jason rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: groupthink, 2014, for-kindle, thrill-me-chill-me-fulfill-me, reviewed

When I read excerpts of Don Quixote in high school, which I think must be a requisite for any Spanish language class taken by anybody ever, I was astounded that something so seemingly banal could be as wildly popular and possess such longevity as this book is and does. At the time, I did not find Don Quixote to be anything more than a bumbling fool chasing imaginary villains and falling into easily avoidable situations, and the forced hilarity that would ensue seemed to be of the same kind I rec When I read excerpts of Don Quixote in high school, which I think must be a requisite for any Spanish language class taken by anybody ever, I was astounded that something so seemingly banal could be as wildly popular and possess such longevity as this book is and does. At the time, I did not find Don Quixote to be anything more than a bumbling fool chasing imaginary villains and falling into easily avoidable situations, and the forced hilarity that would ensue seemed to be of the same kind I recognized in farcical skits performed by eegits like The Three Stooges.

But I suspected there was something more to Don Quixote than what my 14 year-old impressions were telling me, and I’m glad I finally read this book in its entirety. Having done so, I’ve discovered that Don Quixote is not a bumbling idiot—far from it, in fact. He is highly intelligent, highly perceptive and observant, and most surprisingly, and in spite of his delusions of being a knight errant, he is actually also highly self-aware. The combination of these traits makes him one of the most interesting characters in literature, and if it weren’t for his fallibility in misinterpreting reality (to put it nicely), the brilliance of Don Quixote would be elevated to unapproachable levels.

Putting the characters aside, though, I have to say that the storytelling here is simply superb. When reading an English translation, I never know whether credit for this ought to be awarded to the author or to the translator (or to both!), but nonetheless this is the kind of writing that just pulls a reader along effortlessly. Each episodic adventure rolls seamlessly into the next and even while the subject of many of these adventures covers similar ground—a maiden who has been dishonored by her man is one such theme, for example—it never seems recycled.

Don Quixote is actually comprised of two volumes written about a decade apart. Historically speaking, there was an erroneous book published in between Cervantes’s own two works under the pretense of being the “real” volume two of the tale of Don Quixote, but was attributed to an unidentified author with the pseudonym Avellaneda. It is likely that this fake version lit a match under Cervantes, and what I love about this little piece of history is that when Cervantes actually completes his authentic second volume, it is riddled with allusions to Avellaneda’s deceptive book, and these allusions become so ingrained in the text that it becomes difficult to separate fact from fiction. At one point Don Quixote meets someone who claims to know him, but as the story unfolds, it becomes clear that the claimant has actually met Avellaneda’s Don Quixote, and the real Don Quixote is horrified that someone should have the audacity, not just to impersonate him, but to do such a horrible job impersonating him, that he goes to great lengths (and yes, we’re talking about the character here) to prove to anyone and everyone that he is the real Don Quixote. He even changes his itinerary to avoid a city that the fake Don Quixote purportedly goes to, just to make it clear that Avellaneda is a lying whore and cannot be trusted. Metafictional stuff like that can be pretty entertaining in its own right, but the fact that it was implemented in a book written over four hundred years ago just makes it all the more mind blowing, or at least it does to me.

All in all, I had a hard time letting go of DQ when I finished this book. It turns out I really fell for the guy. ...more

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Aug 25, 2010 Alex rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 2010, reading-through-history, top-100, metafiction, too-many-books, rth-lifetime, 2018-written-world

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 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.) ...more

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Aug 13, 2019 Always Pouting rated it liked it · review of another edition

My god this was a long book and when I told my boyfriend I was reading this he tried to tell me I should read Das Kapital with him as well which is almost twice this long like no thank you. It was an okay book, I definitely enjoyed it more than I've enjoyed other classics I've picked up. It kind of reminded me of reading Candide because it had that same sort of satirical tone. Sancho was pretty amusing through out the book and Don Quixote's adherence to his belief that he was a knight was someth ...more

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May 10, 2022 Matthew rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Recommended to Matthew by: Sud666

Shelves: historical-fiction, audio, 2022, audible, classic, completist-book-club

Another Epic classic complete! Thank you to my Goodreads Completist Book Club for giving me the inspiration to finally tackle this big book. I am sure I would have eventually read it someday, but it is nice to have some extra motivation.

I did enjoy the Don Quixote experience quite a bit. In general, it was slapstick comedy and tongue-in-cheek humor – but, there were a lot of literary acrobatics, word play, etc. taking place as well to keep me interested, guessing, and thinking as a reader. At ti ...more

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Oct 29, 2019 J.L. Sutton rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Renowned the world over for its portrayal of a delusional knight-errant, Don Quixote, and his squire, Sancho Panza, Cervantes’ masterpiece is funny, tragic and way too relatable.

Image result for don quixote windmill

The line between wisdom and madness is flipped on its head over and over. Published in 1605 and 1615, Don Quixote still amazes! I’d read the first part of Don Quixote several times, but never read the complete novel before now. While reading the first part gets the reader most of the iconic scenes from this work (most w ...more

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Mar 24, 2021 Carolyn Marie Castagna rated it it was amazing

Shelves: classics-i-ve-read, favorites

I'm going to miss Don Quixote and Sancho Panza so much! They feel like old friends!

In all honesty, I didn't expect to love this book as much as I now do! My favorite stories are the ones that make me feel a myriad of emotions, which is exactly what reading Don Quixote did! I laughed at almost every chapter, felt tearful by the end, and adored them the whole way through!
This is a groundbreaking work of fiction, and I feel honored to have read it! To think that some of my favorite "classic" writ ...more

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Sep 26, 2018 Nilufer Ozmekik rated it it was amazing

Is Don Quixote one of the most impressive, mind shattering, extraordinary works of Spanish Golden Age? Yes, hundred percent it is! Is it worth to get lost in nearly 1050 full pages of adventure? Again yes it is absolutely worth it!

There so many critics defined this unconventional classic as depressive, dark and as for the second part of the book which is written after 10 years takes darker, more serious turn!

In my opinion this is one the saddest stories I’ve ever had. This story is mostly ab ...more

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May 27, 2021 Jon Nakapalau rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: classics, favorites

So much has been said about this book by so many people much smarter than I will ever be - so I will focus on this single point: Don Quixote is considered 'mad' by everyone - yet he is the only one who always tells the truth - and those who label him 'mad' take advantage of this. To me the central question is this: must one be mad to tell the truth in a world of liars? Highest recommendation. ...more

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Sep 27, 2013 Apatt rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, classics, fave-classics

I “audio-read” this book for about two months on my one hour daily commutes to work. It made the journeys very pleasant and I barely notice the dull sceneries as they go by. The journey of Don Quixote and his trusty squire Sancho Panza is much more vivid and enjoyable.

I had my doubts about the basic premise of this book. A crazy old guy with a Buzz Lightyear-like delusion travels through Spain with a peasant sidekick. How did the author manage to fill a thousand or so pages with that? Would the I “audio-read” this book for about two months on my one hour daily commutes to work. It made the journeys very pleasant and I barely notice the dull sceneries as they go by. The journey of Don Quixote and his trusty squire Sancho Panza is much more vivid and enjoyable.

I had my doubts about the basic premise of this book. A crazy old guy with a Buzz Lightyear-like delusion travels through Spain with a peasant sidekick. How did the author manage to fill a thousand or so pages with that? Would the joke not have worn thin to the point of implosion by the end of the book? Ironically these doubts attract me toward the book rather than repel me. Not being a cat I quite like indulging my curiosity.

The book got off to a rocky start for me with a bunch of sonnets in the first chapter which nearly unmanned me and send me running, but once I am done with them it was pretty much plain sailing all the way. A two months voyage if you will. While reading the first five or so chapters, I did get the feeling that the story is rather repetitious, basically just one misadventure after another. Don Q traveling across the land, making a public nuisance of himself, and Sancho going along in the hope of financial gains. However, as I read on these characters do come alive and begin to seem like old friends, to the extent that I was quite happy just to tag along and see what nonsense they get up to. The basic routine seems to be that the duo travel along with no set destination, come across some people minding their own business, and half the time mistaking them for enemies, giants or wizards, start messing with them and consequently get their asses kicked. I expected to be tired of such shenanigan well before the end of the book but the author seems well aware of this possibility and switches gear with the narrative as the story progress. Most chapters tend to be episodic with several “side stories” interspersed into the main adventure of our heroes. There is even a fairly lengthy novella entitled: “The Man Who Was Recklessly Curious” which is kind of silly yet thought provoking. Various colorful characters enter and leave the novel providing needed variation from just Don Q and his antics.

Don Quixote mistaking a windmill for a Japanese mecha. Art by Realityendshere

The novel’s greatest strength for me is the character development. Don Quixote is not like any lunatic I have ever seen or heard about. While his insanity is relentless it also seems to be oddly systematic or deliberate. He can speak eloquently and sensibly about all kinds of things until he or somebody else shoehorns in the subject of knight errantry then his dementia comes into full display. Sancho Panza, the Robin to his Batty Man, is no less anomalous. His IQ seems to fluctuate with no discernible pattern, plus he is a proverbs machine, with none of the proverbs ever suited to the occasion.

This novel is divided into two parts and I find “Part II” (originally published ten years after Part I) even funnier and more entertaining than Part I. In this second volume Don Quixote and Sancho have become legends in their own lunchtime as “Volume I” is published and become something of a best-seller. Consequently, many of the new characters that are introduced in this part of the book know immediately who they are and often help to facilitate their madness just for kicks. Much hilarity ensues.

Toward the end, I did feel that the book is rather overwritten and I imagined that the job of abridging this book probably is not all that hard as it seems fairly obvious which chapters could easy be jettisoned. However, once I arrived at the poignant final chapter felt a feeling of regret that I have to leave these two crazy buggers now. Looks like a reread in printed format is in order. Maybe I will read it in the Batcave.
___________________________
Note: This audiobook version is translated by Edith Grossman and read amazingly well by George Guidall.

...more

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Sep 07, 2018 Roy Lotz rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: hispanophilia, highly-recommended-favorites, eurotrip, no-hablo-inglés, novels-novellas-short-stories

“I know who I am,” replied don Quijote, “and I know who I can be...”

I bought this book under the sway of a caprice which, if it were not too hackneyed to say so, I would call quixotic. This was two years ago. I was in the royal palace in La Granja de San Ildefonso, near Segovia. I had just toured the palace—one of the finest in Spain—and was about to explore the French gardens, modeled after those in Versailles, when I encountered the gift shop. Normally I do not buy anything in gift shops, ...more

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Apr 15, 2022 emma marked it as to-read · review of another edition

Shelves: non-ya, to-buy, classics

got to know what the deal is with those windmills

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Jan 27, 2008 Belarius rated it really liked it

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 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. ...more

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Mar 24, 2011 William2 rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 17-ce, fiction, translation, spain

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Sep 23, 2009 Fabian rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites

Don Quixote, English edition: 1050 pages. & not once was I like, "This ain't worth it." Because it is!

The novel about novels (my favorite motif of all lit is lit within lit... storytelling...ya know...?) is actually a novel about love. The three voyages by Don Quixote are obvious metaphors for life and all the characters he meets along the road are romantically inclined, bored and in want of change. Don Quixote and his squire, Sancho Panza, provide ample entertainment for them and for us, the re Don Quixote, English edition: 1050 pages. & not once was I like, "This ain't worth it." Because it is!

The novel about novels (my favorite motif of all lit is lit within lit... storytelling...ya know...?) is actually a novel about love. The three voyages by Don Quixote are obvious metaphors for life and all the characters he meets along the road are romantically inclined, bored and in want of change. Don Quixote and his squire, Sancho Panza, provide ample entertainment for them and for us, the reader.

This relationship lasted a month and I cannot recall a single detriment. It is structured like The Arabian Nights and The Canterbury Tales---that is, much is told of the character telling the story, and of his or her potential madness or sanity. This dualism is explored to the fullest & characterized by moments of sheer happiness & almost-delirium. There is a world established here, and did it actually occur? The characters fall into apocrypha and then into stark reality. It is no mistake that Cervantes foretold what the two adventurers realize at about page 900: they will be famous for all time and their images shall be ingrained everywhere. Don Quixote and Sancho Panza are immortal in Spain and can be seen pretty much in every town traversed. The self-sppointed prophecy lives to this VERY DAY!!!! That fiction merges with history, that the book is self consious and post modern... all these things and more are part of the Quixote legend.

I say the book is about love because everyone suffers from the disease: Don Quixote loves his tales of knight errantry, and his own views of chivalry clash with those of the folks he meets. He is progressively antiquarian. Sancho is in love with his master, has a very stable view on life (he attains the title of governor and insists, ten days later, to quit and continue his life with his knight) and talking in proverbs he displays, until Book II of course, a wisdom that has obviously evolved, like the story, like the character, like the reader. There are plenty of characters in love with damsels, there are peasants in love with a good laugh (even the ass and Rozinante, the "Knight of the Rueful Figure"'s steed, find eternal companionship) and then there is the reader, an IMPORTANT FIGURE IN THIS ADVENTURE (also) who is sure to fall under the enchantment of this classic that defies conventional storytelling and has absolutely no rival. ...more

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Reading List Comp...: Don Quixote - General Discussion	5	12	May 10, 2022 02:25PM
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Drunk Guys Book C...: Don Quixote - Book Two	2	36	Jan 13, 2022 11:06AM
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About Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

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Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra was a Spanish novelist, poet, and playwright. His novel Don Quixote is often considered his magnum opus, as well as 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 ...more