PatThe Ingenious Hidalgo Don Quixote Of La Mancha
January 6th 2008 04:00
I was originally intending to use this blog to review books as I finished them. This is probably still what I’m going to do, but I was thinking about this book today and thought I would write about it - despite me reading it about three years ago. Hopefully this means that my review is both inaccurate and unhelpful.
Sucks to be you - the reader - I guess.
Wikipedia is terrible at everything and is generally completely inaccurate (thanks to terrific ‘wiki-vandals’, such as myself) and that means it is perfect for my purposes.
“Published in two volumes a decade apart, Don Quixote is the most influential work of literature to emerge from the Spanish Golden Age and perhaps the entire Spanish literary canon. As a founding work of modern Western literature, it regularly appears at or near the top of lists of the greatest works of fiction ever published and is the best-selling non-religious, non-political work of fiction of all time.”
The above is the kind of talk that made me read this book. The first thing that’ll you notice about Don Quixote, is that it is long. Seriously long.
Second thing that you’ll notice is that the title character, The Ingenious Hidalgo Don Quixote of La Mancha, is a complete jerk.
I accept that he’s a funny sort of guy sometimes, and gets up to some silly antics which might entertain you momentarily, but when you get right on down to it, he is one hell of an annoying idiot. And that’s when the book’s length becomes a problem. After about half-way through the story, I was just hoping for it all to end because I hated Don Quixote and the fact that he couldn’t do anything right ever and the joke wore very, very thin.
Ha ha, I can't believe that Don Quixote still thinks he is a knight! When will this guy come to his senses, ha ha ha.
Thirdly, Don Quixote is obviously mentally ill. I laugh at the mentally ill all the time, but I’m a bad person. You (and I mean *you*), shouldn’t laugh at the mentally ill because you’re not a horrible person. Maybe this sort of thing was ok, a couple of hundred years ago in Spain when Cervantes put together this story, but if you published a story today about a kid with downs syndrome wandering around like a vagrant and mocking his attempts to succeed in modern life, then you would be considered a not very nice person!!
In fact, Cervantes makes it seem like a tragic event when Don Quixote comes to his senses at the end of book and realises his follies! Not only does he mock the mentally ill, but he seems to say that it is a terrible thing when someone recovers from their mental illness, because society doesn’t have something to laugh at anymore.
So, I guess what I am trying to say is that this is a great book, but if you like it then you’re a hypocrite, unless you can admit that modern-day retards and the mentally ill are hilarious.
I can admit this so that means I’m in the clear. Unlike you (and I mean *you*).
I realise that I haven't discussed the plot or anything of any substance about the book. Too bad. I didn't feel like it.
ps. I’m actually retarded and/or mentally ill so I’m allowed to mock people like this and use the term ‘retard’ all the time, so don’t even start.
Sucks to be you - the reader - I guess.
Wikipedia is terrible at everything and is generally completely inaccurate (thanks to terrific ‘wiki-vandals’, such as myself) and that means it is perfect for my purposes.
“Published in two volumes a decade apart, Don Quixote is the most influential work of literature to emerge from the Spanish Golden Age and perhaps the entire Spanish literary canon. As a founding work of modern Western literature, it regularly appears at or near the top of lists of the greatest works of fiction ever published and is the best-selling non-religious, non-political work of fiction of all time.”
The above is the kind of talk that made me read this book. The first thing that’ll you notice about Don Quixote, is that it is long. Seriously long.
Second thing that you’ll notice is that the title character, The Ingenious Hidalgo Don Quixote of La Mancha, is a complete jerk.
I accept that he’s a funny sort of guy sometimes, and gets up to some silly antics which might entertain you momentarily, but when you get right on down to it, he is one hell of an annoying idiot. And that’s when the book’s length becomes a problem. After about half-way through the story, I was just hoping for it all to end because I hated Don Quixote and the fact that he couldn’t do anything right ever and the joke wore very, very thin.
Ha ha, I can't believe that Don Quixote still thinks he is a knight! When will this guy come to his senses, ha ha ha.
Thirdly, Don Quixote is obviously mentally ill. I laugh at the mentally ill all the time, but I’m a bad person. You (and I mean *you*), shouldn’t laugh at the mentally ill because you’re not a horrible person. Maybe this sort of thing was ok, a couple of hundred years ago in Spain when Cervantes put together this story, but if you published a story today about a kid with downs syndrome wandering around like a vagrant and mocking his attempts to succeed in modern life, then you would be considered a not very nice person!!
In fact, Cervantes makes it seem like a tragic event when Don Quixote comes to his senses at the end of book and realises his follies! Not only does he mock the mentally ill, but he seems to say that it is a terrible thing when someone recovers from their mental illness, because society doesn’t have something to laugh at anymore.
So, I guess what I am trying to say is that this is a great book, but if you like it then you’re a hypocrite, unless you can admit that modern-day retards and the mentally ill are hilarious.
I can admit this so that means I’m in the clear. Unlike you (and I mean *you*).
I realise that I haven't discussed the plot or anything of any substance about the book. Too bad. I didn't feel like it.
ps. I’m actually retarded and/or mentally ill so I’m allowed to mock people like this and use the term ‘retard’ all the time, so don’t even start.
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So when I began to read this (with several strains of confusion and anguish), I realised that pretty much this entire 'blog' is a word-for-word recount of the true to life comments you made about the book back in 2003.
Congrats! You may be a social retard, but your memory is superb.
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