Don Quixote by Miguel De Cervantes Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Don Quixote
Book Review: Simply the best book of all time
Summary: 5 Stars
Having never read Don Quixote, I was amazed at how a book written this long ago can be this fun. It can be funny, light, and silly; but also poignant, deep, and moving. The individual stories Don Quixote discovers as he meets people during his exploits are like individual life lessons, and sometimes even deeper philosophical narratives. And while almost everyone Quixote encounters quickly realizes he is mad, he still has a profound impact on almost all who cross his path.
What I found the most fascinating is the relationship between Don Quixote and his squire Sancho Panza, because it essentially ties the entire story together. Is Sancho the true philosopher of the two, like Plato to Socrates, or is he just a simple side-kick that loves proverbs? Does he eventually believe his master's delusions, or is he just accepting them because it continues to offer him the opportunity of financial gain and adventure? Sancho goes from seeming like a frightened child, to soliloquies worthy of a great thinker. Sancho betrays Don Quixote from time to time, but it always seems as though he's doing it to move the adventure further.
While this book is light and easy to read, I suspect every chapter could take up a week in a college literature course, there is that much going on.
I loved Don Quixote, and plan to re-visit it every few years. If you haven't read many classics, this would be a great one to start. Now I understand why Don Quixote tops almost every list of the greatest works of fiction.
Book Review: Such a Beautiful Book
Summary: 5 Stars
This is the book to answer to all books. It is the book that makes all other books question their bookness. It is the essence of book.
No, but really.. I feel like Don Quixote was a real turning point in my life as a reader. It changed me from a person who loved books into a Reader, and by Reader I mean a person who reads as an artform, like a painter paints or a musician plays. Can a person read creatively? Can they actively express themselves through the act of reading? Yes.
Book Review: Superb translation - improved by a companion criticism
Summary: 5 Stars
I've read Don Quixote in Spanish and in English editions. Grossman's edition is a very fine translation, true to the plain and sometimes clumsy Spanish that Cervantes himself uses. I'm rarely aware of the translator and more aware of the author's voice.
Reading Grossman's edition with a copy of Nabokov's "Lectures on Don Quixote" in my other hand was joy. Grossman's clarity and Nabokov's Harvard lectures on Don Quixote make a refreshing departure from the typical view of Cervantes's work.
I've never found Don Quixote funny. Reading Nabokov's criticisms of it, with the book as a ready reference to challenge Nabokov's interpretation, made me laugh out loud and read sections to my family. A good translation + a good criticism = a good time.
Book Review: The Funniest and Most Profound Novel Ever Written
Summary: 5 Stars
It is not often noted, but nowhere will you find more beautiful descriptions of nature than in Don Quixote. Check the following description of the morning ("Aurora," of course, is the goddess of dawn).
"And now a thousand kinds of little painted birds began to warble in the trees, and with their blithe and jocund notes they seemed to welcome and salute the fresh Aurora, who already was showing her beautiful countenance through the gates and balconies of the East, shaking from her tresses countless liquid pearls. The plants, bathing in that fragrant moisture, seemed likewise to shed a spray of tiny white gems, the willow trees distilled sweet manna, the fountains laughed, the brooks murmured, and the meadows clad themselves in all their glory at her coming."
One critic said that just when the comedy in Don Quixote is at its best, its meaning is most profound. I agree. I read Don Quixote when I was fifty (the same age Don Quixote set out on his adventures).
I loved the Signet Classics edition translated by Walter Starkie, but there is a lot to be gained by reading the introductions to other editions. I own five different translations, and the introductory essays are excellent.
Critics have often called Don Quixote an "accidental masterpiece." It is as if Cervantes set out to tell a good story with many funny scenes, but by the end, the combination of all these incidents had revealed an astounding work of art.
What are we to make of this idealist who bashes innocent people about the head, leaving them on the ground with blood running out of their ears. As a modern man, I had real problems with that sort of humor--if it was humor. Ah, and there's the rub! said Hamlet.
Book Review: The Knight of the Sorrowful Face
Summary: 5 Stars
I heard of the novel Don Quixote years ago but never gave it much thought. It was a classic and up to that point in my life I never gave much consideration to novels put in the "classic's" catagory. But, after having come across a brief biography of Miguel de Cervantes and his truly adventurous life I became obsessed with the man for a while and somewhat curious with his work and that lead me to read his masterpiece.
You may have heard that this is considered by many literary critics to be the greatest novel ever written (it was also one of the first modern novels). I would seriously consider agreeing with them. This book is one of my favorites, it didn't take me many chapters into this book to became enchanted by it. Reading Don Quixote is what has given me a respect and admiration for the classics of literature and lead to my reading more of them.
This is an adventure on a grand scale. It really fealt like I was watching the story unfold in front of my eyes. Following him down the road on his pitiful nag of a hoarse (that he believes to be a grand steed...the grandest of all steeds really). Don Quixotes madness leads him into several hilarious situations that always seem to end up bad for him. Throughout the story I would laugh silently to myself and then feel somewhat sorry for Don Quixote, and his "squire" Sancho (as well as the hoarse Rocinante who was in my opinion very lucky to have survived being Don Quixotes mount). I don't want to give away any of the plot so as not to spoil any of the story. Lets just say it is never dull (except maybe when they cut away to a side story once or twice, but they're not that bad) and well worth your time and effort to read. I'd also like to point out that this edition, the Edith Grossman translation, is "the" edition to get. The most enjoyable translation I have found.
This is a novel full of very strange, interesting characters that you'll grow to love. This is a rare novel that can be both funny and very brutal and violent at the same time. It is necessary to pay attention while reading this book, it is more than just a tale of some crazy guy and his confused friend getting into trouble...repeatedly. I guarantee if you love to read you will love this book.