Jason’s Comments (group member since Dec 12, 2013)

Jason’s comments from the Don Quixote – Miguel de Cervantes group.

I'll still be here to talk about it! No worries about that. I'm hoping to finish the book by tomorrow.

Hahah, it isn't a race! Sorry I steamed on ahead. I was going to go back to Proust but I was really enjoying DQ that much.

I don't know how to describe it. Certainly not "gripping," exactly, as it isn't as though a ton of exciting things happen. I suppose it's just so well written and easy to read that it just pulls you along? It's a weird book because it's rare, I think, to find reading enjoyment in something that isn't traditionally..."page-turning." And yet it is.

Now I'm here. I really didn't like the way the duke & duchess treated Sancho & DQ. What did you guys think?

What did you think of the Cave of Montesinos? Is it an indication that DQ is self-aware, meaning of his own delusions, etc.?

I like how self-referential this whole work is, going back and forth about the "Moorish author" who wrote it and poking obvious fun at Avellaneda who wrote an ACTUAL, real-life fake Part II.

Ummm...and this section, too.

(BOOM!)

Oops, I finished this section already.

I finished this week's reading a bit early. I'm still enjoying this book even though I may not have anything profound to say about it right now.

I like how sharp and intelligent Quixote is during his moments of lucidity. I just finished the part about him destroying the puppets.

I kind of laughed when DQ didn't buy it. It was a pretty amusing role reversal.

Carina wrote: "He never struck me as particularly intelligent in part one."

And I don't think he's going to prove to be all that more intelligent in Part II. I think this was an early example of Cervantes inserting himself, and rather overtly, as an unreliable narrator. He even goes on to explicitly say how the appearance of Sancho Panza as an intelligent person is "apocryphal" and not to trust it. Fascinating stuff.

Yeah, I like the stories-within-the-story the best, too. The scene at the end where all the characters come together felt to me like a "season finale" type of thing. All in all I think this is a pretty weird book but I am still liking it.

Happy early birthday!

I love the self-referential nature of Part II, so far. Also, the chapters are so much shorter in this section!

Are other people still reading this or is that a wrap for most people?

Well this concludes Part I of the book, and even though it ended with not a whole extraordinary amount of things happening, I have to say that I've really enjoyed it. The writing just pulled me right along, and proves a point I've always tried to make about writing quality which is that good writing doesn't always need to be ABOUT something interesting, nor does it need to be about anything in particular, but invariably it will have the result of piquing your interest in something that you'd otherwise find no interest in. Moby-Dick did it for me with whales, and now Don Quixote is doing it for me with knight errantry.

Looking forward to Part 2!

Yeah I don't mind falling a bit behind, either. No biggie.

I started this week's section today and I'm still enjoying it. So far, so good.

I'm also noticing, as the novel progresses, how intelligent and reasonable Don Quixote is. He is not the bumbling idiot that Cervantes might have led us to believe at the start of the novel and in fact often has really insightful things to say in response to people calling him out for his absurdity.

It also seems clear that Sancho Panza is no longer the "straight man" in this book. His reasoning ability seems to be somehow corrupted, or perhaps he is just blinded by his greed and/or desires for wealth and prestige, but I no longer think he sees anything clearly whereas before I felt he did.

I'm just about done with this section. I've really enjoyed all of the side-stories this week, including the Don Fernando story, but especially the Anselmo/Lothario one called The Impertinent Curiosity.

One thing I didn't like, however, was Dorotea forgiving Fernando. I think she should have chopped off his head as originally planned.

Sorry to hear it, Mary! Hope you can join us again soon.

I think it's interesting that, in Chapter XXIX, Sancho Panza begins exhibiting signs of psychosis that he didn't exhibit before. Before, it was pretty much understood that Sancho knew how crazy DQ was, but now he seems to actually believe that DQ will be emperor or archbishop or whatever.

And the Don Fernando saga continues!