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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
101 of 109 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An excellent edition of this classic.,
By
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Don Quixote de La Mancha (Modern Library) (Hardcover)
Note: Amazon.com seems to have a hard time linking reviews to specific editions - it makes a difference. This review is of the Modern Library edition, ISBN-0679602860, translated by Samuel Putnam. I am reposting it, hoping it will link correctly this time).----------------------------------------------------------- When you approach reading (or rereading) a "classic" work you really, mostly, don't have to think about whether to read it -- that decision was either made by someone assigning it to you or, more wonderfully, by you, yourself deciding to swim contra-current against the cultural waters... following Neil Young's advice to "turn off that MTV." So. You are going to read it. And, if you are paddling the Amazon.com, here, you are going to buy and OWN it. The question really becomes which edition you should own. This is the one. Its a fine translation - surprising in its avoidance of archaic language. It has a nice structure - the inevitable notes are available but not obtrusive. This edition, the Modern Library hardback edition, translated by Putnam, is also a nice book to own. It isn't one of those pretty faux-leather "shelf-candy" copies that'll break your wallet first. This is a hardworking book - the essence of the Modern Library idea. But it is a wonderful packaging of the whole 1000+ pages that is both readable and shelvable. No thousand-page paperback will survive an actual reading as anything you would want excepting as backup next to the latrine. Did I mention that it is a great book, great story? Well, others over the years have managed that :-). But I will loudly agree. I'm rereading it only now after a 35 year hiatus (yes, indeed, classics can be lost on the young - thats why you want books that last. In 35 more years, when you turn your lance back toward targets you thought you left behind, a copy will cost you [a lot of money]). It is just plain startling in its innovations and story. I always thought Bruce Willis and Cybil Shepard were the first to break down that "third wall" and talk to the audience - yet here is Cervantes doing so five centuries back ! Wow. Even if you've been made to buy it and to read it, buy a nice copy. Read the "Cliff notes" if you must, but someday you'll be a crazy old coot like Don Q. (or me) and want to toss something more meaningful than Palahniuk (or even Rushdie) at the cobwebs that cling.
50 of 53 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Don,
By
This review is from: The Adventures of Don Quixote (Penguin Classics) (Paperback)
I was assigned to read this book this year in my senior Humanities class. We were not expected to read every chapter, but once I started, I couldn't dream of skipping anything. Don Quixote, Book 1, tells the story of a man more optimistic and idealistic than any other in literature. He sets out as a "righter of wrongs and injustices" and doesn't let anything stand in his way. Book one is also incredibly funny in many parts, both physically and intellectually. Book 2, although a somewhat difficult read and much less humorous, is by far the better work of art. At first, I was apalled at the ending of the book, but I now feel that Cervantes was justified in his ending because he wanted us to mourn the absence of chivalry and hope in our world. I cannot express how much perspective this book will add to your life. Tip: If you are reading Don Quixote in English, I reccommend the Putnam translation.
15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Putnam's translation has never been beat,
By Caraculiambro (La Mancha and environs) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Don Quixote de La Mancha (Modern Library) (Hardcover)
If you want to make going through "Don Quixote" as painless as possible, get the Samuel Putnam translation from the 1950's (ISBN: 0679602860), published these days by the Modern Library.
The Modern Library edition also has copious footnotes at the back of the book (Putnam's original ones), which is quite nice. For my money, nobody has ever come close to matching the natural grace and power Putnam summoned when he pulled this one off. If you can't find the Putnam, the Charles Jarvis translation (used in the Oxford World's Classics edition, ISBN: 0192834835) is, despite having originally been published in the 1600's (!), a serviceable second choice. Also well-glossed.
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