Friday, September 25, 2015

Don Quixote -- Part One (a book review post)

I'm going to start by pointing out the obvious: Don Quixote is a long book. My copy, which is in small print, has more than 1000 pages. This is the main reason why it's taken me so long to read it. Not that I'm daunted by long books, but I would look at it and look at my other books and think that I could read so many other books in the same time it took to read Don Quixote, and that's what I would do. [I had the same problem when I was a kid collecting Star Wars toys. There would be some big item I wanted, like the Millennium Falcon or an AT-AT, that I would save up money to get but, when I got to the store, I would look at that one thing and realize how many action figures I could buy with the same money and end up buying the action figures.] I'm sorry I waited so long to read it.

Don Quixote is a great book full of laugh out loud moments. Now, understand, this is a book that was written 400 years ago. What this tells me, which is something I already knew but this serves as confirmation, is people don't really change all that much. I mean, you have everything here, from Quixote and Sancho puking in each other's faces to political satire to ripping on other authors' popularity despite poor quality writing to statements about the human condition. The book is compelling and a surprisingly fast read. At least it was for me.

Just the basics in case you don't know them: Quixote (not his real name) is a minor Spanish noble in love with chivalry and everything to do with it, so much so that he decides to become a knight. Let me be clear about this: He just decides to become a knight. This would be like just deciding to become Batman. You go out and buy a Batman costume and a bunch of gadgets and start stalking the streets in hopes of finding bad guys to beat up. Essentially, this is what Quixote does. He puts on some armor, gets his nag of a horse, and hits the trails looking for bad guys to defeat in honorable combat. Needless to say, hi-jinks ensue. And a little bit of crazy. Okay, a lot of crazy.

The crazy is best summed up in the whole tilting-at-windmills scene but only because, if there's anything people know about Don Quixote, it's the bit where he tries to joust with the windmills. He thinks they're giants. This is far from the best or funniest scene in the book; people know about it because it happens early. It's like how everyone knows about the Lilliputians from Gulliver's Travels even though the first section, the section in Lilliput, is the least of that book.

Quixote's friends don't like what he's doing and decide that he's gone crazy and needs to be cured. Their method of curing him is to burn all of his books. Books, see, are bad examples. At least, the books about chivalry that Quixote loves are bad examples, so they decide to remove the source of his illness by burning the books. Of course, before they burn them, they go through them and keep for themselves all of the valuable ones or the ones they just happen to like. It's really pretty horrible.

It's also Cervantes method of dismissing authors he thought were hacks (for lack of a better word) and uplifting authors he admired. Including, or maybe especially, contemporaries.

Look, there's a reason that this book is still considered one of the greatest novels ever written. I wish I hadn't waited so long to get around to it. It's well worth the time even if it does look long.

18 comments:

  1. I've never read it. And, yeah, the thousand pages might take me awhile to get through at the pace I read. But I really should pick it up one of these days.

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    1. L.G. It goes much faster than you would think. Though I'm sure the translation is important, too.

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  2. I read Don Quixote when I was in high school during the Dark Ages. In fact, it had just been published. I didn't care for it, but I was young and stupid. I might like it now. I'm glad you enjoyed it.

    Love,
    Janie

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    1. Janie: You know, it might be a "boy" book. The views of women are somewhat... well, let's just say "outdated."

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  3. Boy, I'm glad I only had to read a few chapters in school (although it was in Spanish). We only got to read boring scenes. The puking in each other's faces thing would have been hilarious.

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    1. Jeanne: That scene was hilarious. Much of the book is laugh out loud funny.

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  4. I won't pretend that I'll ever read this, but I did read a good piece of it in Spanish class, back when books were still made of paper. I liked it then, though I was more sad than amused by the book. I think I'm too emo when characters have definite mental issues....
    Still props to you for taking on a classic. So, WAR AND PEACE next month, or ANNA KARENINA?
    V:)

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    1. Veronica: I don't buy into the mental illness bit. Cervantes doesn't either, so I'm good with that.

      My next classic is The Count of Monte Cristo.

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  5. I never read this one and I know I probley should have.
    Just never seemed that interested in it.
    Your review makes it sound much more enjoyable than I thought.

    cheers, parsnip

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    1. parsnip: I was surprised myself. I don't know what I expected, but it was so much more than whatever that was.

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  6. Lilliputians are the least of the book: I see what you did there.

    I started reading this a long time ago. My mom had a collection of 'classic' books from the Franklin Mint, all nicely bound. I trailed off on it and never got very far. Your review made me think I'd revisit it except my attempts to read 'classics' always end up that way. They're just not for me.

    My last connection with "Don Quixote" was ""J.C. Audetat, Translator of Don Quixote," by BJ Novak. I'm not sure how you'd feel about his stories, but I really liked them.

    But this was one of the more important books. I think I read somewhere that it was the first novel.

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    1. Briane: I did do that, didn't I? ;)

      Don Quixote is considered the first canonical novel. It's not the first novel, but it's the first one that people ought to read. And, yes, people should still be reading this one.

      Have you tried any Dumas?

      I like Novak in general, but I haven't read anything he's written, only watched stuff he's written.

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  7. Hmm, maybe I should give this a try. It seems much more interesting now that I've read your review. Thanks!

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  8. Dreeeeeam the impossible dreeeeeeeeam...

    I've never read it. As far as the long books go, I think I'm more likely to read War and Peace first.

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    1. TAS: I want to read 'War and Peace'. At least, in my head, I want to read it. I'm not sure I'll ever actually get to it, though.

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  9. I really want to read this book badly. Sounds like I shouldn't put it off much longer, especially since I could read it easily on the Kindle or some such thing for free. Who was your translator?

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    1. Alex H: Walter Starkie. I liked it, though there are spots where you can tell it's an older translation. If I was more dedicated, I would check out some other translations just to see the differences, but I have other things I need to read.

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