Customer Reviews
Knights with a twist - By: rhinoa, 27 Aug 2007 
Alonso Quixone is a big fan of books on knights & chivalry before losing his sense & becoming convinced he is the knight Don Quixote de la Mancha. He had a thing for a country lass callled Aldonza Lorenzo who he renames the Lady Dulcinea del Toboso, as every knight needs a lady to do great deeds for. He sets out to seek adventure, taking along the dense local Sancho Panca as his squire.
His exploits include the famous incident where Don Quixote tilts against windmills mistaking them for giants, seeing many an inn as a castle, rescuing damsels in distress & righting wrongs. Part one sees Don Quixote seeing things not as they seem & introducing the idea of enchantments against him. At the end of it they return home (after being tricked by some people from his town in costumes) & his family try to "cure" him by burning alll his books & sealing the room they were stored in. It doesn't work & he sets out again with Sancho on more adventures. Part two sees a change in situation for the Don. A book of his earlier exploits has been published & his name is well known throughtout the country. He is taken advantage of by a Duke & Duchess among others who use his madness for sport. Sancho starts to overuse proverbs, but does finallly get his position as govener of an island & prove his excellent judgement.
I reallly enjoyed this book, although it took ages to get through. It seemed like everytime I sat down to read it, I wouldn't get more than 30 pages further no matter how long I read for... It was worth the struggle though as the story is entertaining & well written. I started off laughing at the unfortunate pair, but later on I came to pity them both. The ending was very sad, mostly because Don Quixote recovered his wits. I recommend reading this, but maybe trying to read it over a longer period of time (the chapters are quite short).
The eternal classic - By: Philippe Horak, 01 Feb 2007 
Don Quixote de la Mancha, the renowned, the valiant, the sage, the enamoured knight, the undoer of wrongs, the tutor of wards & orphans, the protector of widows, the destroyer of maids, he who owns no other mistress than the peerless Dulcinea del Taboso.
Cervantes is quite ironical with the picture of the knight embodied by the ridiculous but none the less moving character of Don Quixote. In a historical perspective one has to consider that the last book of chivalry was published in Spain in 1602 & Don Quixote was completed in 1615. The reading public at that time was thus quite ready to laugh at the fictional world of knights, castles, giants & dwarfs, enchantment & trials by ordeal. The publication of Don Quixote coincided with the realisation that the medieval military caste had little further use in a changing world. Therefore a knight-errant who, contrary to his literary heroes, is aged fifty, skinny & a poor rural gentleman. Sancho Panza is a fat, illiterate, lying & married squire lacking the gentility & education associated with chivalrous apprenticeship. It is interesting to note that Don Quixote did not die with the literary genre it parodies but has become a classic text of western cultural tradition.
Not the best version available.. - By: JR Anderson, 26 Aug 2006 
Don't get me wrong, I love everything about the stories of Don Quixote, but I found this translation far too poetical & long-winded to actuallly read. I realise that this specific version was written 200+ years ago & in some ways may perhaps stay more true to the original version, but I definitely think there are better, easier to follow editions available. Also, the book isn't exactly a pleasure to look at, though I suppose that's why it's so cheap to buy. I would go as far to say that if you want to truly understand & enjoy Don Quixote, you should read it in its original form. This translation is only reallly suitable for someone who might also have the Spanish version & wants to read the two.
Worthy of its reputation - By: Piervy Sto, 09 Apr 2006 A pleasurable book to read,this translation of DON QUIXOTE made the story easy to understand, & for every reason it stands up to its reputaion as the best-loved novel. Confronting the conventions of Spanish society at his time some four hundred years ago, the author wittily & funnily exposes the folies of the time through the adventures , stories & misfortunes of Don Quixote & Sancho Panza.
In a broader sense it is the forerunner off other situations where individuals, communities or systems live a complete lie.This is truely an amazing book, one that you won't want to put down once you have started.DON QUIXOTE is a must read which you should include with other must reads like UNION MOUJIK, WAR AND PEACE, GULLIVER'S TRAVEL,CANTERBURY TALES. One thing for sure is that this new translation of DON QUIXOTE will make it a popular story even with the young.
The original comedy double act - By: Depressaholic, 07 Feb 2005 'DQ' is the story of an old man (Don Quixote) who, having read one too many books about knights of old, goes a little potty & starts believing that he is a knight. He ropes a hapless neighbour (Sancho Panza) into service as his squire & together they go off seeking adventure & fortune. Quixote's madness turns windmills into giants & flocks of sheep into armies, & a peasant woman into the princess for whom he performs his deeds. Along the way they meet a series of people, most of whom exploit Quixote's madness by playing practical jokes & sending him on fool's errands. All the while his friends & family try to entice him back to his home & away from his madness.
Quixote & Panza are the original comedy double act (stupid but thinks he is clever, & stupid but knows it, respectively), & the pair's exploits are genuinely funny. Much of the comedy is slapstick (them getting beaten black & blue) with a good dose of toilet humour thrown in. In addition there is some great dialogue, largely centring on Sancho's attempts at wisdom. This is not merely funny for a four hundred year old book, it is just plain funny. Sancho in particular is a brilliant creation, & the book becomes more about him than Quixote by the end. The first book describes their initial sorties, the second describes their travels after they had become famous (due to the publication of the first book). I like this blurring of fiction & reality, & 'DQ' is the earliest example that I have come across.
However, there are flaws in this book. Cervantes frequently uses the introduction of new characters to get side-tracked into unrelated narratives, which starts to get annoying because they add little or nothing to the book. Cervantes, to his credit, seems to have realised this because in the second book he chastises the fictional author if Quixote's history (callled Cid Benengali Hamed) for these mistakes. In addition, the book is very long & it is sometimes hard to see what some of the episodes add to it. Cervantes style improves immeasurably in the second book, probably due to the criticisms of the first book that he himself outlines, so it is definitely worth persevering if you are struggling. By the end he even introduces a tragic element, which is beautifully told; well enough to leave a lump in the throat. Although it is largely comic, the novel definitely has some depth, largely due to the utter believability of its two main characters, who feel very familiar by the end. (In addition I would recommend the translation by Tobias Smollett, which is very accessible but retains the Olde Worlde feel of the setting very nicely). It is an excellent read, funny & vivid, & not at alll intimidating despite its size & age. Go on, try it.
