Don Quixote
Written by Miguel de Cervantes
Narrated by Roy McMillan
4/5
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About this audiobook
Miguel de Cervantes
Miguel de Cervantes was born on September 29, 1547, in Alcala de Henares, Spain. At twenty-three he enlisted in the Spanish militia and in 1571 fought against the Turks in the Battle of Lepanto, where a gunshot wound permanently crippled his left hand. He spent four more years at sea and then another five as a slave after being captured by Barbary pirates. Ransomed by his family, he returned to Madrid but his disability hampered him; it was in debtor's prison that he began to write Don Quixote. Cervantes wrote many other works, including poems and plays, but he remains best known as the author of Don Quixote. He died on April 23, 1616.
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Reviews for Don Quixote
4,294 ratings125 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5An early masterpiece in the evolution of the Novel in Literature: Very entertaining, if at times somewhat long-winded, with an array of lively characters delving into the psychology, philosophy... the 'humors & humours' of the human existence, and a legendary 'hero' - Don Quixote - who tilts at much more of humanity's foibles than just windmills.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Can innocence only exist in a past long forgotten? What are the dangers of reading books? What is madness? In his renowned book, Miguel de Cervantes deals with these questions and more as he takes us along on the journey of Don Quixote de La Mancha and his faithful squire, Sancho Panza.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The introduction educates the reader of this translation of Don Qixote, that it has been abridged for the modern reader. I enjoyed it, knowing I would never have tried a book like this if were not adapted for readers today. I wanted to have a taste, or feel of this classic just for the experience of it. It is well done for interest, the narrator easy to listen to and edited carefully to give you the meat of the book without unnecessary details that the original writing style included. I would recommend it if you are not a classic purist.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Reading Volume I of Don Quixote has been a bit of a challenge. Not because it's hard to understand, but because there are so many stories within the main story that it bogs it down for me. I kept putting it down for days or weeks at a time, and didn't really look forward to picking it back up. It's funny and entertaing, just long. I think I'm going to try to listen to Volume II on audio.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5One of the 5 greatest (or most important) novels ever written... however, the old "crazy-old-man-attacks-someone-he-thinks-is-someone-else-and-gets-his-butt-kicked-and recovers-for-a-week-then-repeat, got a bit old after 940 pages.Sancho's govenorship was probably my favorite in the whole shebang.This bad boy was read in the following places: home, work, Starbucks, Spain, France, Italy, Newark Airport (twice), my car, and probably a couple other places I'm forgetting.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I've gone back to this book every few years since I first read it in junior high, and there's always something new to discover about it. I think everybody should read it at least three times in different stages of life in order to appreciate it completely.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I've owned this copy of Don Quixote for about 30 years, and have begun reading it on several occasions, but could never get much beyond the first 100 pages. This summer, bed-ridden from an accident, I decided I would finally, finally read it to the end. This time it was the last 100 pages that had me bogged down, not because they were boring, but because it felt like this book would never end. I had always assumed (based on "The Man of La Mancha" and other references) that Don Quixote's behavior, though delusional, affects those around him positively by making others see themselves in a better light, i.e. Dulcinea when treated as a lady, begins to behave like a lady. But this is not the case at all. In fact, no one changes their behavior because of Quixote. Except for his squire, Sancho Panza, people treat him even more abysmally than if he had been in his right mind. There is a lot of slapstick humor in this book, but most of the tricks played on him are not really very funny, in fact, they are mostly cruel beatings and tortures. I think the real essence of this book is not in its hero, Don Quixote, but in the displaying of the reality of living in 16th century Spain: the random cruelty, the abuse of power (the duke and duchess), the treatment of prisoners, the Moors, the false politesse of the upper classes. There is also the metaliterary aspect of the novel and its parody of romances of knighthood. I'm glad I read it, but it was not at all what I thought it would be.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I cried at the end of this one. A lot, actually. Didn't see that one coming.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This is a monster of a book. It is just shy of 1000 pages and it definitely felt that long.
Long classics are incredibly intimidating which is probably why I had such troubles actually sitting down and picking this book up because it intimidated me so much. Although the length is scary, the content isn't.
I found this novel to be fully entertaining and almost always hilarious. Honestly, I caught myself laughing out loud in some bits, it was that ridiculous.
Don Quixote is a guy, who after reading a heap of novels about knights, decides to become one himself and practically deludes himself into this strange scenario where he is a gallant knight. Everyone in the book thinks he is a madman, but the fact that they acknowledge this and then continue to go along with his nonsense is what makes this book so hilarious.
(Also the fact that 'Don Quixote' was supposed to ridicule the novels that Don Quixote reads [and what was popular during Cervantes time] but in fact, made them more popular and became one itself. I swear in the second half it was the story of a true knight, if not a very strange one.)
The relationship between Don Quixote and Sancho Panza is funny in itself and definitely matures throughout the novel. The intelligence of Sancho, even though he is portrayed as simple-minded, is superb and matures with the novel. Sancho really becomes a part of Don Quixote's madness in the second part and it's also quite funny to see him react in all the crazy situations.
The plot wasn't that of a regular novel; it was simply the string of events that happened to Don Quixote after he decided that he was a knight and as a knight, he should do knightly things.
The only thing I didn't quite like about this book was the length. I caught myself wishing it was shorter countless times throughout reading this book. In my opinion, it really didn't need to be this long.
Overall, I would definitely recommend this book as a first (big) classic to anyone who is interested because I feel that the writing and story are quite easy to follow. - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5who knew that this book is so funny. it is pure slapstick comedy. several times i was laughing out loud. brilliant book cinsudering that is thr first novel ever written. lots of insight in the live of the peolpe of the time. this translation is very readable and has a nice flow.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5It's been 20 years since I've read Don Quixote, so I was due for a refresher. This was the perfect format. The art wasn't ground-breaking, but it was fun, and the story fits the episodic nature of comics perfectly. This is worth the read if you need a Don Quixote refresher, or if you just don't want to tackle it in large novel form.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This is quite the amazing tome, and always a pleasure to read whenever I take the time to do so. The world's true first modern novel, the (mis)adventures of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza will delight, instruct and make you laugh even after 600 years (and yes, you will chuckle at a few of the naughtier bits!) But there is something that is so endearing about our hero and his quest to become a knight that always will resonate with me every time I read. I think it is because Don Quixote is a reader like us, and as all of us wish we could imitate the heroes that we see in literature (as well as other forms of entertainment well after Cervantes' time such as film, drama and television,) we have no choice but to empathize with our wayward knight as he travels across the Spanish countryside in his quest to become like his idols. We readers all too well know how the power of the written word enchants us, and so we can't help but understand when Don Quixote, the fellow reader, wants to live out the stories of his own books...or perhaps, create his own tale!Comedy, adventure, romance, and sadly, a little realism at the end for a dose of tragedy - - Don Quixote really has it all, and is the perfect introduction for those who not only want to read, but to read well. If this book can't receive 5 stars, what will?
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I have a feeling I would have liked Don Quixote a lot more in some other translation. I've wanted to read it for a while, but this translation (Wordsworth edition, P. A. Motteux) just didn't work for me. I didn't actually finish the whole thing, because I really, really didn't like the translation. One day, I will find a translation I prefer and have another attempt at it.
I don't really feel like I get to write a proper review about the book now, but I'll jot down the impressions I got. I did get about halfway through, at least. The translation was a problem for me because it was very dry and dated. I feel like when you're translating books, the point is to make them readable to a new audience. Obviously, Cervantes shouldn't read like Stephen King, but to make the book accessible, it shouldn't read like a textbook. I feel like maybe the translation is too literal. It doesn't help that in this edition the writing is tiny and cramped together. I had a look at the Penguin edition at one point, and I seem to remember it being easier to look at, and the translation a little easier -- although of course I only read a couple of pages.
In terms of the story, I love it. It's become so much a part of cultural background that it's a little ridiculous not to ever try it. I mean... "tilting at windmills", anyone? It is funny how early in the book that most famous part happens. I found the book rather tedious to begin with, but it was actually somewhat easier when I got to the story of Cardenio -- partly because I've read a book just recently that focused on the Cardenio story and Shakespeare, and that had been what prompted me to actually buy Don Quixote. At that point, I feel, the story does get easier, but I really couldn't cope with the translation anymore.
I love some of the scenes and ideas, and Quixote's delusions, but it's kind of difficult for me because I get so embarrassed for delusional characters. It makes me rather uncomfortable. I also have a bit of difficulty with books that meander about and have so many stories-within-the-story, without much of a driving plot themselves, but my main problem was that I couldn't get into it and reading it felt like an awful drag.
Please note that my rating is not for the book as a whole, nor the book in general, but for this specific edition. - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This book can be read and interpreted from so many perspectives, it's almost difficult to categorize. To call it a classic seems accurate, if unimaginative. I found myself torn when it comes to Don Quixote himself, between feeling pity for someone with such a skewed vision of the world, and being envious of that self same vision. Freedom of thought isn't a trait as much as it is a skill. As for Pancho, such unquestioned loyalty is enviable. To have such blind faith in someone, that you will always be ok if you remain with them, to fight for a cause, side by side with a friend, is indeed a noble calling, and requires a selflessness few possess. I think "insanity" is an oversimplification, and the only box these two could possibly fit within, are the covers of a book.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Be it the last great Romantic novel, or the first great work of modern Western Literature, Don Quixote blurs the line between these two eras, parodying, satirizing, and waxing philosophic all the way.Don Quixote, arguably the most influential Spanish work of literature, is a tale told in two volumes, published a decade apart. Within this work, the ingenious hidalgo, Don Quixote de La Mancha, goes slightly mad after a little too much reading and not enough eating or sleeping (haven't we all been there...), and takes it upon himself to perform great feats of chivalry in the name of his unwary love, Dulcinea.Joined by his dimwitted sidekick, Sancho Panza, the two embark on quests and adventures, great and small. Quixote's niece wishes to get her uncle back and sane, which she and her accomplices team up to do, all the while thwarting Quixote's attempts at great acts of chivalry.A great work by any means, albeit a thick one. Recommended for anyone who has had to attack windmills, either figuratively or literally.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The first novel, and still amazingly fresh. Well worth your time.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Often called the most influential work of Spanish literature, Don Quixote is another classic novel that I've always meant to read but never made the time. Nearly two decades ago while living in a Spanish speaking country, I picked up a Spanish copy of Don Quixote with the plan to read the book as a way to reinforce my language studies. At that time I only made it through about 30 pages. Interestingly, I felt like I had read a sizable portion of the overall book. The copy I had purchased was only about 130 pages so I figured I'd read about one-fourth and promised myself that I'd eventually go back and finish. What I didn't know was that the Spanish copy I had purchased had been very significantly abridged and summarized and was not a true representation of the overall heft of this story. I recently picked up an English copy and found it weighing in at just under 1000 pages of text with another 50 or so pages of end notes and about 20 "roman numeral" pages of introduction prior to the story. I was shocked and at that point decided that I'd do better to tackle the book in English rather than returning to the Spanish knowing that it would take me at least double or triple the effort to read that many pages in Spanish given the slightly antiquated language and abundance of unfamiliar terminology.So I dove headlong into reading Don Quixote. I found out that the English volume contained two "Parts." Evidently the first part was published by Cervantes in 1605 and the second part was published as a sequel 10 years later in 1615. Apparently about 8 or 9 years after the successful publication of the book, an unidentified author wrote and released an unapproved sequel to the story. This anonymous author directly insulted Cervantes in the text and blatantly modified the character, behavior and motivations of the central characters of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza. It's unclear exactly when Cervantes started writing his official sequel but he was definitely spurred on by this derogatory piece of literature defaming his own story. In the official "Part 2" of Don Quixote we have some very over-the-top meta fiction in which all of the characters are familiar with the first official book as well as the spurious unauthorized sequel. There are numerous sequences of dialog between characters where they discuss the unauthorized book and condemn it as slanderous drivel. Don Quixote is especially offended and wants to do all he can to make the world know of the false nature of this second book and the true nature of himself and his adventures.As is likely the case of most readers approaching Don Quixote, I didn't know a lot of the details of the overall story. Naturally I'd heard about the "tilting at windmills" scene through countless allusions elsewhere. And I've long been a fan of the musical "Man of La Mancha" and so I knew some general story aspects from that as well. Certainly not enough to know the entire 1000 page story but I knew that Don Quixote was a man who read a lot of fantastic literature about knights and chivalry and somehow got it into his head that not only were all the stories real but that he was called by divine right to be one of these knights and to ride into the world righting wrongs and fighting for justice. He has sworn his heart to the lovely Dulcinea, also a figment of his troubled mind…a conglomeration of a real woman he knows and a fantasy maiden he idealizes. He takes his friend and neighbor Sancho Panza as squire and the two of them set out into the world looking like the most pathetic knight and squire you can imagine.Most of the story in Part One focuses on a wide variety of adventures showcasing just how entrenched Don Quixote is in his own personal fantasy as well as how truly inept he is at being a knight. Still, through a large amount of luck and with a large amount of mocking and derision, he manages to come off victorious in a number of very strange situations. He is convinced that an evil enchanter is working to block his way and thus when things do go wrong for one reason or another or when his eyesight drifts closer to reality than fantasy, Don Quixote is quick to excuse any glimpses of reality as evidence of interference from this vile enchanter. In the meantime, Sancho Panza sees the world clearly but rides along very loyally beside his friend and master in the hope of obtaining some part of the fortune. As the story went on I tried to decide just how far Sancho was drawn into the fantasy of Don Quixote. Sancho could certainly see the world for what it was and he ended up getting some bad scrapes and beatings as a result of his master's behavior. And yet he wandered along through the adventures in the hope of some reward. I think he partly believed Don Quixote's madness as truth but part of him also acknowledged that Don Quixote was likely a little bit crazy. In which case what does that say about why Sancho sticks around? He constantly says it's because he hopes to gain fortune and become governor of an island, but I wonder if there is a part of him who knows Don Quixote is crazy and he sticks around in an effort to help protect him or at least be comfort to him.As Part One goes on, friends and family from Don Quixote's village come up with a variety of plans to try and bring Don Quixote home and to cure him of his madness. These plans end up just as zany and outrageous as some of Don Quixote's "normal" adventures. In the end, they finally do manage to bring him home for some time so he can rest and heal after many tribulations. But he does eventually sally forth again and thus begins Part Two.As I mentioned above, Part Two has a lot of meta-fictional elements in that it seems that the larger part of the world has already read Part One and is already very aware of who Don Quixote is and what he is doing. Even though Part One made it rather clear that Don Quixote didn't have all of his wits about him, some of the reading public treat him as a true knight errant and are overjoyed to meet him and hear about his ongoing adventures. More frequently however, the people who have read his story know and understand that he is a little off-kilter and they decide to take advantage of both he and Sancho. They treat them as though they truly are knight and squire and they set up fantastic adventures for them all for the purpose of entertaining onlookers who are in on the joke. Even though the scenes often get outrageously funny there is a tragic sense to them in that the central players in the scene are being grotesquely taken advantage of for the sake of amusement. That concept in itself seems like an interesting commentary on just what constitutes entertainment. It didn't seem quite as tragic to laugh at Don Quixote in part one when his fantasy and imagination got him in trouble. But in part two when he embarks on similar adventures prodded by people who know as much as the reader, it feels a little wrong somehow.Part Two seems to focus a lot more on developing the characters of Don Quixote and Sancho in terms of a more philosophical ilk rather than the first part which made some various political and social commentary but seemed largely invested in having a rollicking adventure at the expense of a madman. I found that I liked some of the adventures and escapades of Part One more than the second part but overall I found Part Two more thoughtful and interesting. On the whole I felt like they made a wonderful counterpart to one another and should definitely be read together.Overall I really enjoyed reading Don Quixote even though at times I felt very lost and a little bogged down. There are a lot of political, social and literary references throughout the book, some of which had endnotes for me to reference and others did not. There were many very wordy sections filled with commentary on life and virtue and the nature of everything under the sun. These segments usually worked to break the flow of reading for me and left me a little stuck on that section as I tried to digest what was being said and work it into the overall message. There were many great passages that were absolutely brilliant in terms of observation as well as just great turns-of-phrase.Having finished the novel, I feel like I have completed a major achievement. And yet at the same time, I feel like I only barely scratched the surface of this book. There was just so much meat to be found in every chapter that I felt very overwhelmed and often just "plodded through" to make sure I was making progress. I would love to one day take a course devoted to studying this novel and dissecting some of the major themes and passages. I have no doubt that this book could fill an entire course or more and still leave plenty left untouched.To those thinking about reading this book alone, don't be daunted by its length or content. It is definitely something that can be completed. At the same time I would suggest that if you have access to anybody with deeper insight into the text, it would certainly not go amiss to ask them four some suggestions and pointers to help direct your reading. I would have loved some outside insight to help guide me through different passages. For now, the book returns to my bookshelf. The story and characters will run through the back of my mind for years to come and I hope that someday I can take the book off the shelf and dive into deeper study of this remarkable work of art.****4.5 out of 5 stars
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5My wife asked me how this was, and I told her it was really, really great and that I really looked forward to reading it and so on. She said "Well, it's a 'classic,' right?" Well, yes. But there are many, many classics that I've read and have no intention of reading again, or that I couldn't pick up and read a chapter or two in bed. There are very few classics that make me laugh and cry at the same time.
There are very, very few classics which can stand with both Chaucer and Sterne.
That fun stuff aside, Quixote must also be one of the great litmus tests in literary history. Once you can answer the question "what do you think about the Don?" you can probably also answer the question "what do you think about literature?" Gabriel Josipovici argued that DQ is a disenchantment of *all* idealism, and thus a founding moment in (his understanding of) modernism. You could easily read the book as an attack on any fictional work at all: it misleads you, it lies to you, it turns you into a lunatic.
But if, like me, you're a soft touch, you can equally well say that, although the narrator of DQ is always talking about how the one thing s/he wanted to do in this book is to convince you not to read chivalric romances, because the more 'truth' there is in a book the better, the point of the book is in fact that the narrator is wrong. If s/he wasn't wrong, DQ wouldn't have the cry/laugh effect I noted above. And it turns out that the characters have a much better grasp of the way we use fiction than the narrator does. The Don might be a little bit nuts, but even his craziness is preferable to a world in which telling stories is thought to be 'wrong,' the position he ends up taking just before he dies. We readers might be as mad as Quixote, and as mad as the Duke and Duchess who play such tricks on him (p 956). But as Don Antonio says, "Don't you see, sir, that the benefits of Don Quixote's recovery can't be compared with the pleasure that his antics provide?" (930) Or as Don Quixote has it, "to tell jokes and write wittily is the work of geniuses; the most intelligent characters in a play is the fool, because the actor playing the part of the simpleton must not be one." (507)
Frankly, I'd much rather build or read a good book than explain why all building and reading are for the birds. My pomo professors would be appalled. - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I had some mixed feelings about Don Quixote. At times, I was very wrapped up in the story and found it excellent. At other times, I found it too ridiculous or slow paced and would then put the book down for months without any urge to go back to it. Cervantes, nonetheless, has moments of pure genius and my overall feeling is positive.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Quite long, but the variety of Don Quixote exploits kept my attention. My only complaint is that most of the "interpolated" stories were love stories. I would have liked more variety. Similar to serial novels such as Tom Jones which keep the reader in suspense until the end.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5It's not a comic novel, or a romantic tragedy, or a journey into the self, or of course it's all those things, but mostly it's an incredible metanovel, dude. Think about how much thinner this book would be without all the stories people tell in it. Thnk about how many of those stories are false or apocryphal or ludicrously confused, the story equivalent of DQ's many many platfalls that somehow never get old, and then think about how the stories drive the action. How the author gamely steps up for his share of blows. How half the book only exists to show up that Tordesillas dude who wrote a fake sequel, and how that's the same as Don going out and adventuring in the first place - literature is the driving force, and Orlando and all of that is real literature too, of course. This book interacts with the real world in maybe the closest and subtlest way ever, and as the characters get oh-so-close to realizing their fictitious, constructed nature, you stop and go OH SHIT. Here I am with my reading, wasting my life away too. Why? And then you go on doing it, a slave to books just like Quixote, and that is insanity too. but what else can you do? You don't have control; you are fictional. Your books are writing you.
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Although I tried to like Don Quixote, it reminded me too much of the slap-stick humor of Gilbert & Sullivan or the 3 Stooges. Worth reading once to understand references found in other material, but definitely not one of my favorites.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A brilliant translation! Turns what has been one of the most convoluated translated pieces into something easily digestible.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5What a long book. It's a good read and worthwhile, but also a thousand plus pages of sometimes slow going (due to the subtlety of things to catch and understand rather than boredom). Quixote is a self-proclaimed knight-errant, basing his character and his actions on a time that has passed and never actually existed in the way represented by chivalric fiction.His squire, Sancho Panza is the most dynamic character, letting his simple wisdom come out along the way. Though Sancho is influenced by Quixote, the former influences the latter more. This is expressly seen in Quixote picking up Sancho's habit of littering his speech with proverbs and metaphors. It is more subtly represented by his having some common sense toward the end. Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra lived some of the adventures in the book. As a crusader, he was captured by Turks and held for ransom. His first book was used by another author as the basis for a fake second part, leading Cervantes to frequently mock the counterpart throughout his own sequel. Quixote even defeats a faux version of himself. The book references a lot of phrases that one might have thought to be born at a later date. Cervantes himself is sometimes thought of as the Spanish equivalent to Shakespeare. Both of them died on the same nominal day, April 23, 1616, though Shakespeare actually died 10 days later, due to the English calendar being still unreformed at the time. Quixote was a tool for putting chivalry in a modern context. Quixote had read every chivalry book (Amadis of Gaul is referenced most frequently, as is Lope da Vega) and Cervantes referred to quite a few of them. Frequently, the chivalrous deed resulted in a worse situation. Examples include Quixote admonishing a master not to beat his servant, only to have invoked a later subsequent beating. Quixote also frees several suffering men who turn out to be criminals. Just before his death, Cervantes was proclaimed a "tertiary of St. Francis." Quixote compares the Iron age to the previous Golden age, seeing the latter as being a time when men lived freely off of what the earth easily offered. There was no need to open the "bowels" of the land with a plow and maidens could roam freely, thinly clad, without having to worry about the affront of men. That is how chivalry is portrayed. (Compare that to Hobbes' description in Leviathan. Cervantes seems to draw from Chaucer or some of the same stories - the magic horse, etc.)
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5One of the all-time great satirical works in history. The precursor to such gems as Confederacy of Dunces and Catch-22.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This is the best translation of one of the two or three greatest books ever. Everyone who puts some effort into reading it seems to come back with a deeper understanding of himself; yet everyone comes away with something slightly different. It is like a mirror in which each person sees himself more completely.What is Quixote's quest? What makes it so compelling? I am amazed at the answers that people give to these questions---they get answered in as many ways as there are readers. But for me, the quest is the drive to recreate ones' self and live one's life in a meaningful way. The excitement of the journey and the good companionship along the way make it seem significant. What does Cervantes have to say about Quixote? I don't know---the quest is ultimately doomed. It is a funny, yet sad trip.The brilliant translation by Grossman doesn't feel like a translation at all, and the dialogue between the characters makes them feel fully human. I look forward to reading it again when I'm five years older.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/510 weeks. That's how long it took me to read Don Quixote - 10 weeks. And I don't regret a single minute of that time.Granted, once I really started getting into it, and became more accustomed to Cervantes's style, the pages flew by at a rate of, oh, one every four minutes, and then it was only a matter of time until I turned the very last page.The intertextuality of the piece always makes me smile when I think back to it. Here is a book purported to have been written by Cid Hamet Benengeli, and only translated by Cervantes; between books one and two another is supposed to have been published (and was), and a great deal of time is spent discrediting the imposter; so how then could it be that book one ends with an account of Don Quixote's eventual death?The most famous of the good Don's adventures come early on - the warring flocks of sheep, the giants/windmills - and so I have a sneaking suspicion that most people claiming to have read this legendary volume actually haven't done so. However, those who believe Sancho Panza to be one of the finest creations in literary history - they are certainly correct. The Don's adventures are fine and interesting, but Panza is enormously charismatic, and his every outburst worth savouring.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The humorous, fanciful adventures and the insightful observations of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza are captured with such mastery of language that I am not able to name a novel ever written in which the author mixes such wit and beauty of expression. New joys and provoking thoughts encountered with every new exploit.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5BRILLIANT. I went to see the windmills in Spain after I read the book and stayed in Cervantes place of birth for a month. The Spanish are very proud of Cervantes. Spanish children know quite a lot about this author and book and can critique the novel's concepts in an intelligent way.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A nice readable version to get you ready for the original. Illustrations are by Walter Crane. I found this tale of a man pursuing life as he sees it, not as others see it, both touching and funny.