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    Don Quixote: Translated by Edith Grossman
    Don Quixote: Translated by Edith Grossman
    Don Quixote: Translated by Edith Grossman
    Audiobook39 hours

    Don Quixote: Translated by Edith Grossman

    Written by Miguel de Cervantes

    Narrated by George Guidall

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    About this audiobook

    Don Quixote is the classic story. Called the first modern novel, this marvelous book has stood the test of time to become irrevocably intertwined with the fabric of society. Sixteenth-century Spanish gentleman Don Quixote, fed by his own delusional fantasies, takes to the road in search of chivalrous adventures. But his quest leads to more trouble than triumph. At once humorous, romantic, and sad, Don Quixote is a literary landmark. This fresh edition, by award-winning translator Edith Grossman, brings the tale to life as never before.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRecorded Books, Inc.
    Release dateNov 2, 2012
    ISBN9781470326401
    Author

    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

    4/5

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    • 5/5
      Fine translation. Great narration and characterization. NB: The book ends in Ch 127. Chapters above that number are spurious duplications of previous chapters. It isn't THAT long.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      Great read! But for some reason chapter 9 won't play, it just stops. I tried everything, but only skipping to chapter 10 worked.
    • 4/5
      Laugh-out-loud funny. Touching. Educational without pedantry. Far more readable than I'd expected. Exotic glimpses of Greece, Algiers, Constantinople. Romance, betrayal, war, secret identities, slapstick comedy, dangerous sea voyages, serendipitous reunions. Tremendous fun. Interminable, but fun.
    • 4/5
      I did it, I read this long classic novel. It has a lot of parts that were funnier than I expected. Don Quixote and Sancho indulge in a lot of witty banter! There is even some potty humor. Some parts are long "stories within the story" where they run into another person and then he or she tells them a long story of their exploits. Of course the main premise is that Don Quixote wants to be a knight errant just like in the books he has read so he dresses up like a knight and looks for adventure, most of which are in his imagination. He thinks a flock of sheep is an opposing army and that windmills are giants, for example. He is like a modern day cos-player but he's from the 15th or 16th century. And the book is really long, it's like a soap opera that went on for several seasons and then was all written down. It's a fascinating look at life back then, and one of the first "novels" ever written. The audio version is a great way to experience it. But I'll totally understand if you' don't make it all the way to the end - it does get long and I maybe got a bit tired of it by the end.
    • 5/5
      This was my third read, but I quit before the end of the first part. I was taking too long to read it.
    • 5/5
      In my humble opinion, this is one of the greatest works of all time, but I will provide a different kind of review here. I was lucky enough to read this while traveling in Spain for a few months. I attended a Department of Medicine lecture at the University in Salamanca on the medicinal herbs collected by Don Quixote. If ever you can read a relevant work while traveling in the country of origin, I highly recommend it. I bought the book at a bookstore in Fuengirola where they were giving a reading in English. We toured the Don Quixote trail (there are sign posts of places mentioned in the book). It's a fun way to have a greater cultural and historical appreciation.
    • 2/5
      Didn't make me laugh. It's a jumble of unconnected stories and if there's something to be read in-between the gags then I have failed. The main characters are worthy of their iconic status but the stories themselves are joyless.
    • 2/5
      Finally finished! Such a long book, and the small compact print in my copy did not make reading any easier. It took well over 200 pages (i estimate) to really feel comfortable with the writing style (or translation, really). Likely it is the decision of the translator, but I did feel there was many thematic and stylistic similarities to Shakespeare's plays.
      All of the adventures play into classic knight folklore, primarily maiden misled by rogue and separated lovers often by fathers. A lot of long-winded narratives that are truly boring in our current era, even one slowed by a corona virus.
      Reading this unabridged version was my own mad determination or enchantment. I am now free, without suffering lashes. Just a sore hand from holding open such a large thick book.
      Perhaps the only time I will say this, but do yourself the favour: Read an abridged version.
    • 3/5
      Long, originally published as two books.
    • 3/5
      I read this several years ago, 2012. I wasn't fully engaged. There were parts that were very fun. It is a classic and I probably would benefit if I read it again.
    • 5/5
      I have taught Don Quixote in a sophomore Norton Anthology survey of “World”/Western Literature many times, aided by this Spanish edition I got at Princeton in ’78. Larry Lipking led a post-doctoral NEH seminar on comparative Lit, on Poetry and Criticism, and my own Ph.D. had studied 17C criticism written in verse, before Dryden made prose the main form of poetic criticism. Fortuitously, the main chapter I read in Spanish was one omitted from Norton. After Señor Quijana is knighted by his landlord, swearing on “the book”—farmer’s accounts of grain purchases and sales—he falls from his horse. His injury results now in Don Quixote’s reciting whole memorized chapters from books of chivalry in his library. The priest and a barber, his friends, blame their friends’ accident on his reading such books, and planning to star in one. The niece urges them to burn those damnable books as though they were heretics’. After the Knight is carried in to his bed, and before he recruits a neighbor farmer, Sancho Panza, to abandon his wife and children to be his squire as he attacks the windmills, Cervantes lists the accused books in Ch. 6, which makes it a chapter of Literary Criticism. Dozens are cited. Amusingly, one of these books was written by Cervantes himself, “La Galatea de Miguel de Cervantes—dijo el Barbero” (41). The priest claims he knows most of the authors, as he does here: “Muchos años ha que es grande amigo mio ese Cervantes.” He holds Cervantes writes with great “creativity” (“invention” the Renaissance word for it), but he wishes Cervantes would finish the second half of the book he promised (41). The priest got on to defend the poet who translated Ovid, and wrote the best heroic verse in Spanish, in Castillian. “I would cry if such a book were burned,” lloraralas yo si tal libro hubiera mandado quemar."
    • 4/5
      Audible audio performed by George GuidallWho hasn’t heard of Don Quixote fighting windmills, or wearing a barber’s basin as a helmet? Who doesn’t know about his faithful squire, Sancho Panza? Or the beautiful Dulcinea, for whom the Knight is ready to lay down his life? I’d read snippets from this work over the years but never experienced the whole thing. I’m sorry I waited so long to do so. It is a marvelous piece of fiction and is widely acknowledged as the first modern-day novel. Cervantes gives us a main character who has lofty ideals and a noble purpose, but who is fatally flawed (possibly insane). His attempts to replicate the feats of chivalry he has long read about and admired are met with scorn and ridicule, yet he remains faithful to his ideal. Certain that he will save the imprisoned Dulcinea and win her heart and everlasting gratitude. Sancho is the faithful servant, commenting frequently in pithy sayings and proverbs, trying, in vain to steer his master away from disaster, but gamely following and taking his punishment. My favorite section is toward the end when Sancho is “appointed governor” and asked to hand out judgment on a variety of disputes. His solutions are surprisingly wise, despite his convoluted explanations. This edition is translated by Edith Grossman, and was published in 2003. While I have not read other translations, nor the original Spanish, I thought it flowed smoothly and gave me a sense of Cervantes’ style. The audiobook of this translation is performed by George Guidall, and he does a fantastic job of it. I was fully engaged and recalled those long-ago days when my grandparents, aunts or uncles would tell stories on the porch on summer evenings, all us children listening in rapt attention. I particularly liked the voices he used for both Don Quixote and for Sancho Panza.
    • 5/5
      Some time ago, I sat through a series of art history lectures offered at our church. The minister giving the talks was the perfect person to discuss Renaissance-era paintings, having received a MFA in addition to a divinity degree. He was also someone I knew well enough to ask what I had always feared was a really dumb question: When you go into a museum and see two seemingly comparable paintings displayed side by side, why does one usually get a lot more attention (e.g. written descriptions on the wall, guidebook space) than the other? There can be many reasons, he said, but the simple answer is that the artwork getting all the love is usually the one that came first.I thought about that observation frequently as I was reading Don Quixote, which is widely hailed in critical circles as the first modern novel. (And, at just shy of 1,000 pages, I had plenty of time to think about a lot of things during the several weeks it took me to finish the book.) I have to confess that I was not even sure what being labeled the first modern novel even meant. However, the more time I spent immersed in the volume, the more sense that designation made. For as much as I enjoyed the inventiveness of the story, I think I enjoyed considering the historical importance of the work and the influence it has had on literature over the subsequent centuries even more.As I learned, the present-day version of Don Quixote actually consists of two separate novels that Cervantes wrote about ten years apart. Both parts of the book tell the same well-known tale. An aging Spanish gentleman becomes so obsessed with reading novels on chivalry that he goes “mad” and fancies himself a knight errant, whose duty it is to right wrongs wherever he finds them in the world. Pledging his chaste love and obedience to the lady Dulcinea—who, in reality, is a relatively ordinary peasant woman he barely knows—he sets out across the country on several sallies, eventually accompanied by Sancho Panza, a poor local farmer who serves as his squire. The myriad adventures the two men have tend to take on a similar form: in his delusional state, Don Quixote confuses an ordinary situation as a threat or a challenge that needs to be addressed (e.g., windmills confused for giant villains to be vanquished), which the simple but sensible Sancho tries to talk him out of. When the encounter goes badly for the heroes, Quixote is quick to blame the work of evil enchanters who are out to get him, rather than accept failure or the possibility that he simply misread the circumstances. This basic plot device is repeated over and over again—accompanied by a considerable amount of philosophical discourse between the knight and the squire—much of which is amusing and, occasionally, memorable.For me, the second half of the novel was considerably more interesting and rewarding than the first. It is also the part of the book where the “modern” label becomes more apparent. Indeed, the author himself (often in the guise of his Arabic alter-ego Cide Hamete Benengeli) becomes a third central character in the story in a very clever way. While on their adventures in this section, Quixote and Panza often meet people who already know them from having read the first half of the book and are only too happy to encourage their delusional behavior. Also, the author has the Don’s character berate another real-life writer who had produced an unauthorized plagiarism of the Quixote saga in the years between the two volumes that Cervantes himself wrote. That is not only modern, it is down-right post-modern!In summary, Don Quixote is an altogether remarkable and entertaining book that was also, at times, absolutely exhausting to read. I do not imagine that I will ever find the time or the energy to read it again, but I am so happy to have made it all the way through this once. There are some who rank it among the best novels ever written and I cannot argue too strenuously with that position.
    • 4/5
      Don Quixote has always intimidated me. The novel is a literary giant, my own windmill to conquer. This year, over the course of a couple months, I finally read it. I was surprised by the gentle nature and sincerity of the famous knight. I’d always thought of him as a bit clownish, but in reality he is the most human of men, if that makes sense. He’s deeply flawed and so he’s deeply relatable. I didn’t realize when I started the book that it consists of two separate volumes published 10 years apart. The first volume includes most of the well-known elements of the story, including Don Quixote’s famous attack on the windmills. In the second volume everyone knows who Don Quixote is because they've read the first volume. It adds an interesting element to the book, because he is now trying to live up to his own legend. He's become a celebrity and his cause and condition have become well known throughout the land.Alonso Quixano is Don Quixote’s true name. He reads book after book dealing with stories of chivalry throughout the ages. He then becomes convinced that he is in fact a knight errant and he must go on a crusade to help the people who are suffering in Spain. “It is not the responsibility of knights errant to discover whether the afflicted, the enchained and the oppressed whom they encounter on the road are reduced to these circumstances and suffer this distress for their vices, or for their virtues: the knight's sole responsibility is to succour them as people in need, having eyes only for their sufferings, not for their misdeeds.”He saddles up his horse, Rocinante, and recruits a local farmer named Sancho Panza to embark on his travels with him. Sancho becomes his faithful squire. The two set off and along the way they “help” those who cross their path. The problem is that Don Quixote is delusional about who actually needs his help. The famous windmill scene comes about because he thinks he is fighting giants. He fights for the honor of a woman who barely knows him, Dulcinea del Toboso. The first volume contains a strange mix of stories. Everyone is able to see the Don’s madness except himself and his proverb-spouting squire. Though this is tragic in some ways, it’s also beautiful. There’s something about having complete faith in another person that gives you strength in your own life. The first volume is entertaining, but lacks the depth I was expecting. It wasn’t until I got into the second volume that I really fell in love with the book. There’s such a wonderful exploration of motivation, delusion, loyalty, and more. Who is Don Quixote hurting with his quest? Is it wrong to allow him to remain convinced of his knighthood? The second volume also pokes playful fun at the first volume, joking that the author exaggerated stories, etc. “The truth may be stretched thin, but it never breaks, and it always surfaces above lies, as oil floats on water.”Don Quixote’s naïveté and earnestness about his field of knight errantry make him an easy target. People who want to play tricks on him or friendly jokes or even rob him are easily able to because they know exactly what his weaknesses are. He believes, without a doubt, in the code of knight errantry that he holds himself to. He's also wise about so many things while remaining blind to his own absurdity. At times he reminded me of Polonius from “Hamlet” spouting off wisdom to anyone who will listen. Sometimes it's good advice, sometimes not but he believes it wholeheartedly. There's a purity in living a life so full of earnestness that you believe in your dreams without faltering and you hold yourself to a higher standard.BOTTOM LINE: This isn’t a novel I’ll re-read every year or anything, but it was a richly rewarding experience for me. It made me want to believe in some of the magic in life and to not always question the motives of others. Don Quixote and Sancho Panza will be with me for years to come. "Then the very same thing, said the knight, happens in the comedy and commerce of this world, where one meets with some people playing the parts of emperors, others in the characters of popes, and finally, all the different personages that can be introduced in a comedy; but, when the play is done, that is, when life is at an end, death strips them of the robes that distinguished their stations, and they become all equal in the grave.”“Time ripens all things. No man is born wise.”
    • 5/5
      Just amazing, I can see why it is often described as a foundation of the modern novel. In many ways it reads like it was written last week rather than more than 400 years ago.
    • 4/5
      One of the most widely read stories in human history. Pretty cut and dry. He is a lunatic.
    • 3/5
      "The truth may be stretched thin, but it never breaks, and it surfaces above lies, as oil on water."Don Quixote is a middle-aged man from the region of La Mancha in Spain obsessed with reading books about chivalrous knights errant. One day he decides to set out, taking with him an honest but simple farm labourer, Sancho Panza, as his squire, armed with a lance and a sword to right wrongs and rescue damsels. On his horse, Rozinante, who like his master is well past his prime, Don Quixote rides the roads of Spain in search of adventure and glory.None of Don Quixote's adventures never really turn out as he would have hoped and his triumphs are more imaginary than real. He abandons a boy tied to a tree and being whipped by a farmer, simply because the farmer swears an oath that he will not harm the boy. He steals a barber’s basin believing it to be a mythical helmet, frees a wicked and devious man who has been sentenced to become a galley slave, absconds from an inn where he has spent the night without paying because he believes that he was a guest in a castle and therefore shouldn't have to pay. However, not everything that Don Quixote does turns out bad. He does manage, if unwittingly, to reunite two couples who had become estranged.Despite often bearing the brunt of the physical punishments that result from Don Quixote’s erratic behaviour, Sancho nonetheless remains loyal to his master as he endeavours to limit Don Quixote's outlandish fantasies. The first part of the novel ends when two of Don Quixote’s friends, tricks him into returning home. Once back in his home all of Don Quixote's books on knights errantry are burnt in an attempt to cure him of his madness but unfortunately it is far too deeply rooted to be cured so simply and it is only a matter of time before he sets out on his travels once again, accompanied by his faithful squire.During the intervening period of time whilst they were back at home a book has been written relating the pair's earlier escapades making them infamous. Don Quixote and Sancho meet a Duke and Duchess who have read the book about their exploits and conspire to play tricks on them for their own amusement. Whilst staying with them Sancho becomes the governor of a fictitious island which he rules for ten days before resigning reasoning that it is better to be a happy farm labourer than a miserable governor.On leaving the Duke and Duchess the pair travel on to Barcelona where Don Quixote is beaten and battered in a joust. They return to their respective homes where Don Quixote comes to recognise his folly whilst suffering from a fever which ultimately kills him.Now I must admit that I was not expecting too much before starting this but was very pleasantly surprised as I found myself on more than one occasion in tears of laughter. Likewise I enjoyed many of the conversations between Don Quixote and Sancho. I ended up almost feeling rather sorry for Don Quixote in his madness as he strived to recreate a world that never really existed. In particular I felt sorry by how he was treated by the Duke and Duchess and was uncertain whether they were merely cruel or as barmy as our two heroes. However, I also found the novel overly long and at times fairly repetitive, equally as one of my fellow reviewers have stated I hated the fact that some of the paragraphs were several pages long. Although I did enjoy it, it was a plod rather than a sprint through it. I am glad that I've read it but it is highly unlikely that I will bother to revisit it.
    • 4/5
      Really enjoyed the bantering between Don Quixote and Sancho Panza, unfortunately, they often get separated for multiple chapters at a time. Had trouble caring about the other side stories and digressions.
    • 4/5
      “El que lee mucho y anda mucho, ve mucho y sabe mucho.”In "Don Quixote" by Miguel de CervantesDon Quixote is one of my favourite novels, exasperating though it is at times with all those stories within stories knockabout humour and cruel practical jokes. Simply because it’s so complex, we both admire and laugh at Don Quixote. When he speaks we are inclined to share his world view. And then Cervantes reminds us of what a ridiculous figure he is and undermines the effect. Until Quixote opens his mouth again. This happens again and again - until we end up seeing the novel - and the world - in two incompatible ways at once. And the relationship between Quixote and Sancho is one of the most beautiful friendships in literature. And then there are all the meta-fictional or postmodern tricks. There’s just so much to talk about. Violent slapstick isn’t to everyone’s taste and four hundred-year-old Spanish satire, where you have to read the footnotes to get the punch line, is … tricky. There is not in all the world’s literature, and that of the universe, as far as we know, and if you follow positivist logic, being as no other life has as of yet been detected, two palsy and yet hierarchised figures whose genial, sharp, philosophical and jocoserious dialogue, and whose philosophical adventures, bring them so endearing and humanly close to each other as the “Distinguidos” Señores Alonso Quijano and Sancho Panza. It is worth it to learn Spanish and travel the entire peninsula, which Alberti said looks like the hide of a bull, just to appreciate the impressive genius with which a writer can glean and reproduce in words the soul of his land.Cervantes also proves being a misogynist does not preclude great literature. Nor does being a violent, macho hypocrite. Hemingway sends his regards.
    • 4/5
      I feel like I should throw myself a party having finally finished Miguel de Cervantes' "Don Quixote," which took me about two months to read. It was overall a worthwhile read, even though it sometimes became a bit tedious, it was mostly an interesting book.As most people are probably aware, Don Quixote goes a bit off his rocker, becomes a knight errant and crisscrosses the countryside with his trusty squire Sancho Panza. They get into heaps of trouble while he tilts at windmills, which he believes are dragons, and pining for the love of the Dulcinea de Toboso, whom he believes is enchanted and trapped in a cave. As Don Quixote's reputation spread, people take advantage of his madness for their own amusement. While I felt first portion of the book got a bit repetitive, Cervantes seemed to get better as he went along about putting Don Quixote in new amusing situations. This is definitely one of those classic books I'm happy to have finally read, but that I probably would never read again.
    • 3/5
       This is a difficult one to review. Partly that is as it just took me too long to get through it. 4 months reading the same book just means that all I felt on finishing it was relief that I'd made it to the end. However, after having let it stew for a bit, I have come to the conclusion that I'm glad I have read this, and that I enjoyed it, even if that was dulled by the sheer length of the book. Don Quixote is one of those books that is the source of a number of phrases and sayings that are in use, and yet, until now, I'd never read the source from which they spring. Tilting at windmills is a pointless, slightly absurd, exercise, and so is Don Quixote when he attacks the windmills, thinking them to be giants. That is one of a very great number of instances when he appears to disadvantage, not seeing the world as it is, but insisting on seeing it as he imagines it should be. In the first part of the book, the tone is very much that he is mad and that he is to be laughed at. However, as the book progresses and the other characters in the books start to have fun at Don Quixote's expense (the Duke & Duchess being the most obvious examples) then I felt that he was maybe not to be laughed at. He has a sort of nobility of purpose, even if that purpose is the result of something apparently deranged. That purity of heart, if misguided, makes him seem an innocent and the way he is put through make believe trials shifts the reader's sympathies towards him. This shift is also reflected in Sancho Panca's attitude to his master. He seems to start in the same position as us, Don Quixote is mad and a figure of fun, yet by the second book, he is no longer entirely sure what is truth and what is made up. He becomes a faithful squire, supporting his master (for the most part) in all his strange adventures. At times I felt that I was maybe missing out on some background, or could have done with a more heavily annotated edition, in order to understand the background to Spain at this time and the literature of the knight errant that has influenced Don Quixote to set out on his quest. While I was relieved to reach the end, I felt it didn't really do the Don justice. I'm glad I have read this, I just wish I could have got through it a little bit more quickly, such that it felt less like a chore.
    • 5/5
      "Master, sadness was made for men, not for beasts, but if men let themselves give way too much to it, they turn into beasts."It has been said that a person should read Don Quixote at least three times in one's life: in youth, in middle age, and in old age. I whole-heartedly agree, but I would hope that it could be read more often than that. This is my all-time favorite book, the one book I would want with me if I was stuck on a deserted island (besides the Bible, of course). To me, the best reason for a person to learn how to read literature is to be able to read this one book.What makes it so great? The first thing to mention is the characters. Don Quixote and Sancho Panza are the kind of people I would love to have to dinner, just to listen to them talk. They are the kinds of characters that when you finish the book you breath a big sigh and say to yourself, "I wish they were real people, so that I could meet them." And then you smile and think, "Wait, it's a book--I can meet them again anytime I want to!"In addition to the characters, another great quality of Don Quixote is its humor. At some parts you will laugh out loud, at others you will simply smile. But whether you roll on the floor or just grin, Don Quixote is just about the most pleasant book you will ever read. And by that I mean that it's just plain fun, from cover to cover.That's not to say that it's not serious. Don Quixote deals with the most important issues of life: love, friendship, duty, honor. It is also quite sad and moving in a few places. In fact, it may contain the saddest scene I have ever read.But what is it about? you may be asking. I haven't said anything yet about the plot, and for two reasons. One, many people are familiar with the story of the old man who has read so many books about knights that he decides to become one. And two, Don Quixote isn't really about the plot. It's really the story of one man's attempt to make a real difference in the world, no matter how foolish he seems to others.I would like to conclude with a few words about how to approach this book. First, know that it is extremely long, so it requires patience and perseverance. Second, understand that the book is divided into two parts, which were written 15 years apart. That's important to know to get some of the humor of the second part, which is actually the best half. Try to read a complete, unabridged version if you can, even if you have to skim a few chapters. Finally, Don Quixote needs to be read at a leisurely pace. It is not like a blockbuster action movie, or a suspenseful thriller. Reading it should be more like sinking into a hot tub at the end of the day, or like sitting around a campfire talking with friends late at night. It is something to be savored, because it is over far too soon.
    • 3/5
      The 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.
    • 5/5
      I finally finished Cervantes' DON QUIXOTE. It was a rewarding experience. It is a hilarious book. To travel along with Quixote, the knight errant and his squire, Sancho Panza is quite a voyage full of adventures. I could call this an adventure story if it weren't so ridiculous. Quixote decides to act out the story of the chivalrous knight that was prevalent in the literature of the time. We accompany him on all sorts of adventures which seem preposterous but he seemed to believe them. It is a fun read and i recommend it.
    • 1/5
      I tried, I really did. Just could not finish it. There were some funny moments, but after struggling to get 1/3 of the way through, I gave up.
    • 5/5
      Can 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.
    • 4/5
      Oh Don Quixote! How I loved you and hated you and loved you some more! I struggled to become engaged with this book, but at some point I fell in hard and found myself laughing through Don Quixote and Sancho Panza's ridiculous adventures! This is a story of madness, friendship, and everything in between. While some parts are down right hard to believe, they are balanced with times of such genuine human interaction, that the reader cannot help but identify with the main characters.
    • 5/5
      The idea of the novel starts here. This is the source of the modern novel for many. While it remains the epitome of story-telling its fame has also led to the coinage of such terms as "quixotic" and others. Influential beyond almost any other single work of fiction, the characters through their charm and uniqueness remain indelible in the memory of readers.Don Quixote is one of those books whose influence is so far-reaching as to be almost ubiquitous, like The Odyssey, or the Bible. And like the Bible or Homer’s epic, it is more often talked about than read. But my conclusion upon reading it is to recommend to all: read it and enjoy the stories.
    • 4/5
      An 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.
    • 4/5
      The first true novel, Don Quixote, has impacted not only the literary world but culture and society the globe over for over 500 years. The masterpiece of Miguel de Cervantes blends fantasy, romance, sarcasm, and parody in such an amazing way that it has captured the imagination of generations over and over again no matter where they lived. The adventures, or misadventures, of Don Quixote and his squire Sancho Panza have made them icons for beyond anything Cervantes might have thought possible.The narrative of the events of the knight-errant Don Quixote’s three sallies is widely known, though more so those in Part I than those of Part II. However, while the adventures of the windmills and the battle of the wineskins and Sancho’s blanketing are the best known it the events in Part II that truly show the modern narrative arc that Cervantes was only beginning to display in Part I. While Quixote and Sancho’s hilarious misadventures are just as funny in Part II as in Part I, through the challenges for Bachelor Carrasco to snap Quixote out of his madness and the machinations of the Duke and Duchess for their entertainment at their expense a narrative arc is plainly seen and can be compared to novels of today very easily.Although the central narrative of Don Quixote is without question a wonderful read, the overall book—mainly Part I—does have some issues that way enjoyment. Large sections of Part I contain stories within the story that do no concern either central character but secondary or tertiary characters that only briefly interact with Quixote and Sancho. Throughout Part II, Cervantes’ rage at another author who published a fake sequel is brought up again and again throughout the narrative arc that just lessened the reading experience.The cultural footprint of Don Quixote today is so wide spread that everyone knows particular scenes that occur in the book, mainly the charge towards the windmills. Yet Cervantes’ masterpiece is so much more than one scene as it parodies the literary culture of Spain at the time in various entertaining ways that still hold up half a millennium later. Although reading this novel does take time, it is time well spent follow the famous knight-errant Don Quixote and his squire Sancho Panza.