Hello everyone! Today I will be reviewing the book "Don Quixote" written by Miguel de Cervantes. This review will be structured incredibly similarly to the film review, so no preface necessary. I apologize for taking a while to get this one out, I've been quite busy with life stuff. That aside though, let's begin the review!
Don Quixote
Review
Expectations: I am going to be upfront in saying that I believe my expectations for this book likely hampered my enjoyment of it. It's hard not to be influenced in some ways when this book is so often touted as the first modern novel. This is definitely an exceptional book that might have more influence on modern literature than any book in existence; however, it does not mean it was all that enjoyable to me.
Review/Critique: Now I also have to be upfront about one other thing, which is that I only finished the first book of two. The first book alone was 500 pages long and since other series are split into individual books on my reading list to keep myself sane, this book was to be no exception. It is very likely my opinion on this piece of literature would change upon reading the second novel since a lot of what engaged me could exist in droves within the second novel. I was expecting this book to be a lot more philosophical and self reflective, and it seems that most of that is contained within the second novel. In the end though, I am not judging "Don Quixote" as a whole but as a standalone novel, so take this review with a grain of salt.
As it stands now "Don Quixote" is a novel which engaged me very strongly during certain moments, and felt very drawn out and uninteresting at others. I should be more frank, almost everything involving Sancho and Don Quixote alone was quite boring. It shouldn't come as a surprise that this is the case as the novel is a satire of old Spanish stories of knights adventures, a type of novel I have never read. These sections are likely much funnier to somebody who has read these novels; however, for me they get incredibly repetitive. Don Quixote does something dumb, Sancho says something selfish, some slapstick fighting occurs between them and somebody who realizes Don Quixote is crazy, rinse and repeat. This novel also has a lot of vulgar, slapstick humor. I guess it's true that farts have always been funny, and perhaps you will enjoy that type of humor (nothing wrong with that), but I just found those sections quite gross (and containing a lot of second hand embarrassment). Now I'm saying a lot of negative things, but I did not hate this book by any means, it's just that most of what I really enjoyed about the novel were the parts not involving Don Quixote and Sancho.
Don Quixote and Sancho meet a ton of different characters throughout the book who all have incredibly rich histories and engaging stories. This was the heart of the book for me, and what I really enjoyed the most when reading it. You could argue this was intended, as Don Quixote attempts to go on all of these magical adventures only for the normal every day life crap to be what's truly interesting, and I would agree. My only issue is that the parts only involving Don Quixote and Sancho take up much of the book and are rather boring and repetitive. They may have been more engaging if I knew more about old Spanish literature, but I don't, and I'm judging this book based on the notion that most people reading this book don't either. If there was less of it I believe I would have enjoyed the book much more.
Recommendation: I don't know how qualified I am to recommend this book. By all accounts I believe reading the second book will completely turn me around on my feelings for the novel as it stands now. So I guess I will try to be as safe as possible in my recommendation. I recommend "Don Quixote" to anyone who wants to read a true piece of literary history. Something that shaped the direction of all novels to come after it. If you love literature I cannot recommend this book enough; however, if it sounds like something you wouldn't enjoy you probably won't enjoy it.
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