Don Quixote

Translated by Edith Grossman

De: Edith Grossman - translator, Miguel de Cervantes

Narrado por: George Guidall

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.

©2003 Edith Grossman (translation) (P)2003 Recorded Books

Masterpiece - in literature and narration!

I've been listening to audiobooks for over 3 years now, over 35 books, 2 hours a day in my commute. Of all the books I've listened to, this is easily the best. It's the first that had me laughing so hard I was worried about the effect on my driving. George Guidall's unparalleled narration took me completely into the drama of the story, brought out the characters as if they were alive in another country - not some un-relatable figures from the 14th century.
I can't fully put in words how much I enjoyed this listen and I have to make this review short as I am at work.
Get it.

Absoultely, amazingly delightful

What made the experience of listening to Don Quixote the most enjoyable?

It is mpossible to separate the three geniuses who made this such a fantastic listening experience. Of course they are Miguel de Cervantez - who wrote such an amazing piece over 400 years ago, Edith Grossman - who gave us such a glorious translation which reads like it was written both half a millennium ago and yesterday, and George Guidall who gives such an amazing performance that his every inflection becomes hilarious. The three together make this story wonderfully enjoyable from beginning to end.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Oh, puuulllleeeeze!!! Anyone who says their favorite character isn't Sancho Panza is lying or has been recently tossed in a blanket.

What does George Guidall bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

George Guidall's understanding of the humor and his ability to deliver it is spot on glorious. I think that had I read the book in print, I would have walked away thinking, "That was really good," but not "That was quite possibly the most hilarious and entertaining thing I've ever read." An absolute tour-d-force. One of my favorite narrations EVER.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Well, when poor Sancho got tossed in his befouled blanket, and then proceeded to remind us about the incident 200 times thereafter. Also the running "Helmet of Mabrino" gag was hilarious every time it came up.

Any additional comments?

Okay, here's a point I really want to make. My family and I listened to this recorded book (I had listened to it once before) on a couple road trips, which spanned maybe 6,000 miles. I have an 11 year old and a 13 year old, and mostly all they want to do is play video games non-stop. One of the best parts of the experience for me, was when the narrative was winding down, AFTER 39 HOURS, and my 11 year old says, "I wish Don Quixote never had to die and could just keep going on adventures forever." Seriously, this kid enjoying anything that isn't on a screen moving 200 majillion pixels/hr bores him, and he was thoroughly entertained by a classic four centuries old. Bravo Recorded Books, and thanks Audible for picking this title up.

The Real Don Quixote

Any additional comments?

For all of my adult life I have been bombarded with snippets of Don Quixote never quite understanding the meaning and purpose of this figure. Listening to this excellent translation and performance, I reveled in the humor and wisdom and pathos and social critiques therein to be found. Remarkable!

So much more than you expect

I am firmly in the '"Don Quixote" is incredibly deep and insightful' camp. Considering all I knew about the book I had learned from PBS's "Wishbone" TV show, I really appreciated the complexity both Don Quixote and Sancho Panza have. Sancho drops some serious knowledge bombs, and Quixote has a number of masterful social commentary moments.

Cervantes takes his time, and I can understand if some readers grow tired at the depth to which he explores his characters, but each story contributes something, and there is SO much more to this book than a madman and some windmills. It's a shame that is all most people get exposed to.

First western modern novel MASTERFULLY narrated

Few people will read Don Quixote., and for that alone, if successful, you deserve a medal (even if it's made of freshly-cooled gingerbread and self-bestowed via puppets - so be it). Don Quixote is around 30 hours long on audiobook - depending on who is reading it - and full of diversions dispersed throughout two separately published volumes. One was published in hopes that fame and fortune would make way for the second. And the plan worked for a very grateful and threadbare Miguel Cervantez, who lost the use of his left arm in the Battle of Lepanto on the side of the victorious Holy League against the Ottoman Empire's control of the Mediterranean in 1571, a battle in which all of present-day western Europe seemed to be embroiled with the sole exception of France. In fact, much of his tales in Don Quixote could have easily been drawn from his own living memory.

Don Quixote is supposed to the ultimate fool, and he is. But the fool's errand turns out to be the centerpiece of entertainment for many of an imagined and real audience throughout Span, as the characters eventually find out by Volume 2 that their adventures have been published (and with more or less accuracy, or at least with rather unkind and excessive commentary explaining some of the more embarrassing moments). Luckily, however, there are also many beautiful imaginings that rival some of the best romances Don Quixote himself would have read prior to taking up his lance, shaving bowl helmet and makeshift armor synched together like so many raggedy tin men.

Sancho and Don Quixote prove themselves in the journey to be heroes as heroic as probably any other heroes who've ever lived, and probably just as valiant. Heroes are fools seen from just the right angle and in the best light. That is one takeaway from this the first modern novel - that is, the first novel to use irony in a deliberate way to comic effect.

Scholars have seen this novel as a turning point for literature with a capital L (and even for those of a smaller l), because of the deflationary irony used to deconstruct (as many might say now) the romance stories that issue with the Rennaissance from the much-fabled (and indeed continually-fabled) Frankish legacy of the House of Lorraine in France, from which so many engrossing romantic myths continually and cryptically leak forth even today.

As a reading experience, Don Quixote is perhaps in a class all its own. Grossman's English translation from the original is amazing. Only later do novels come along that can rival the irony and severe biting sarcastic comedy of this one, though the ancients certainly had Aristophanes' comedic satirical plays about ancient Athens, Juvenal's satiric social essays on Roman life, and Boccacio's Medieval short stories with their scandalous social intrigues. Don Quixote has something none of these has - Cervantes' own hard-earned life-stories and benevolent sense of humor to diffuse excess of harsh and difficult experiences that could easily have left him with crippling bitterness had Don Quixote never been put to paper.