Book Review- Don Quixote

It only took me a year and a half but I have finally finished Miguel Cervantes's novel Don Quixote! I was reading it for the Classics Club but it's also one of my husband's favorite books. Currently I'm questioning his judgement.

Before I get started on my review, here's a synopsis from Goodreads.

Don Quixote has become so entranced by reading chivalric romances that he determines to become a knight-errant himself. In the company of his faithful squire, Sancho Panza, his exploits blossom in all sorts of wonderful ways. While Quixote's fancy often leads him astray—he tilts at windmills, imagining them to be giants—Sancho acquires cunning and a certain sagacity. Sane madman and wise fool, they roam the world together, and together they have haunted readers' imaginations for nearly four hundred years.

Now don't get me wrong... it's not a bad book. It's really quite intriguing and oftentimes humorous. It's just simply too long! It needed some editing. Several of Don Quixote's and Sancho Paz's adventures were madcap hilarity but then several were also just meh and made the story drag. There are actually two parts to the story. The two parts are published together now but they were actually originally published ten years apart. I think I preferred the second part overall... the writing was tighter.
While Don Quixote is the titular character I found Sancho Pax the most interesting. He continually baffled me as he blindly follow Don Quixote and even as especially in the second part when Sancho Paz begins to question Don Quixote's sanity. Throughout the book you question Sancho's own sanity and wait for him to come to his senses to no avail. He is the one that kept me continually intrigued throughout the book.
My thoughts are rambling on this book. It took me so long to read that I have trouble remembering some of the beginning. I actually started it, stopped for a couple months and then restarted it in a different translation. My husband and I both owned copies and while mine is a beautiful old edition the translation was just harder to read. My husband's translation was more modern and easier to read and made the overall experience more enjoyable. If you're interested in which translation it was the one done by Edith Grossman and I'd recommend it if you're interested in reading it.
I do understand why it is considered a masterpiece and I liked it but I just didn't love it.

Follow my blog with Bloglovin