Rating: 
Summary: A work of brilliance not to be neglected
Review: My only reservation about zeaously recommending this book is that I don't feel qualified to pass judgment on it adequately. However, for the sake of those out there who wavered before plunging in (like me), I will try.
I had started to read this book a few years ago, but the translation was from the 18 century and I found it bewildering to follow, and got quickly frustrated. Strange that an 18th century translation should be such a problem, seeing that Edith Grossman has supposedly rendered 16th century prose as faithfully as possible with a result that reads like a miracle of clarity. One can strongly feel 16th century Spain though it is presented in 21st century prose that feels as natural today as anything else I've read. It's strange to find the book so profound and yet so simple and plainspoken.
As for the story, I confess I thought it would be difficult to stay interested in a book supposedly devoted to satirizing the Spanish addiction to novels of chivalry and knight errantry. But this is just the particular soil that Cervantes chose to plant his universal work of art in. It is so large a book that one senses that it will be difficult to get to the ultimate point or truth of the book, even if one reads it twenty times. There are hidden meanings and truths if we have the attention and patience that require them to be revealed.
But forget the profundity and depth of the book. Read the book for the funny conversations between Don Quixote and Sancho Panza. During their adventures, these two characters have many moments to reflect on the nature of life, duty, love, courage, scholarship, art, death, etc. and the results are always charming, wistful, ridiculous, and full of the vital spirit of generosity that governs the entire book. As a student of the Don Quixote puzzle, I am often tempted to theorize that Don Quixote is "Spirit" and Sancho Panza is "Body" or reflect on any number of such dry dualities. But it's a pedantic fool's errand to do so, at least for a review, and it clouds the charm, which is there for anyone willing to be surprised by the potency of this wonderful old book.
Rating:
Summary: 35 Excellent CDs
Review: Plenty of other readers have reviewed the content of the book. I'll limit my remarks to those specially pertinent to this audio edition.This recording is one of my favorite recorded books. George Guidall, as always, performs very well as a reader, taking up the many voices of the characters of this novel with great skill, clarity, and expression. I never found my interest flagging. The thirty-five CDs of this set are a great achievement. The only problem I found in this set of CDs is that some of the information printed on them is not correct: 1. Each CD is marked "Tracks Every 3 Minutes," which is completely false. Each approximately 70-minute CD is divided into eight to fourteen tracks of varying lengths corresponding to natural breaks in the text. 2. Each CD is marked "First printed in 1605." This notice is only true in the case of the first 17 CDs. In truth, the last eighteen CDs, which contain Part II, should note that the text was first printed in 1615.
Rating:
Summary: The Ur-Novel
Review: Quixote is a character who inspires frustration. I came to realize that there are Quixotes all around us. Those who reject simple explanations for their problems in favor convoluted excuses, conspiracies, and narratives, in which their mundane lives take on a aura of excitement. Today's compulsive liars and humble neighbors with delusions of grandeur, these are modern-day Don Quixotes. And Sancho Panza is just as foolish as the rest of us who humor those who are touched with this special madness. As a work of literature the book is quite astounding, wrenching you out of the mistaken frame of mind that before James Joyce, before the "modern day," literature was uncomplicated and linear. Especially in Part 2 when Part 1, itself, becomes a sort of character in the book, one realizes that today's writers are not innovators so much as the great great grandchildren of Cervantes, and in fact Cervantes was the progenitor, the ur-novelist (and Don Quixote the ur-novel), from whom all novelists must necessarily borrow. The book is essential to all who wish to understand "the novel" as a literary form.
Rating:
Summary: If there's one book you ever read...
Review: The book of books. We will always need new translations of Don Quijote. Edith Grossman's is simply outstanding. She captures the humor and the rhythms of the dialogue that are so central to the Spanish original. I have always believed that when Cervantes started writing this novel he had no idea what it would become. The early chapters suggest a rather light-hearted (albeit extremely witty) spoof of the "novelas de caballería" that were already out of favor in his day. But Cervantes must have quickly realized that this was to be the novel of novels, something completely new -- the most complex and creative work of prose literature yet written. Cervantes' ability to capture both the spirit of counterreformation Spain and the idealism and process of self-knowledge in individuals is breathtaking. Even more miraculous is that his words still speak to us today, as fresh as ever. A great and humane work.
Rating: 
Summary: A lot to get through, but a lovely point
Review: The character of Don Quixote has decided that he will become a knight errant, leaving his life behind and sallying forth to advance the values of chivalry in the world. He takes the working-class (sorry for the anachronism) Sancho Panza with him as his squire. Much to the chagrin of those close to him, Don Quixote believes that he is indeed a knight, and the reality of the world falls victim to his perceptions of it as a place in which knights are assailed by magical forces and spells, in which the Helmet of Mambrino comes along for the taking and in which windmills are the enemy.
Don Quixote serves the lovely Dulcinea del Toboso, and performs his brave exploits in her honor. He has however never seen her (and she seems that she does not indeed exist), and some funny incidents happen when interactions are sought with her. Also, Don Quixote has promised Sancho an island to rule as governor, and Sancho pursues all avenues to achieve this end. In the second book of the novel, Sancho gets a chance to rule, and he shows interesting capabilities and savviness in the discharge of his duties.
The book is episodic, as Don Quixote and Sancho encounter various adventures and challenges. The reader has a humorous view of the two adventurers, able to see the reality in relief to their vision of the world. While Sancho seems not to have suffered a "psychic break" with the world, he is humorously flexible in his views; when it serves him, he accepts Don Quixote's explanations of reality, when it behooves him to see the world as it is, he does so, but modifies his retelling of his events for his master to maintain Don Quixote's illusion.
What comes first and foremost to mind is the line in the movie Quiz Show spoken by Charles Van Doren's father, a literature professor at Columbia University, as his students leave the lecture hall. Some of them cannot suspend their disbelief that a man could make his knightly fantasy last so long and be so believable (to himself), and Prof. Van Doren says he is able to be a knight because "he believes he is one" (or something to that effect). Strangely, it was this inadvertant lecture on Don Quixote that has made it most appealing to me, that explains the motivation and charm and compelling aspect of Don Quixote; he is chivalrous because he believes he is, he continues to honor those values because he believes they can be honored, and he believes that the world embraces his services because chivalry is alive, is needed, and its priests are welcomed.
Don Quixote's state of mind and construction of reality are humorous to be sure, but his beliefs in overarching values are appealing and made me think of what could be real because we make it so, what could be real for the better? As the novel progresses, Cervantes gives more credence to Don Quixote's value system, and less to those who are sane around him. It's an interesting read, and certainly a foundational work.
Rating: 
Summary: Timeless
Review: This book shares a timeless and classic quality with other great works of literature such as "Cadide" and Machievelli's "The Prince." It is worth checking out this new translation. I also suggest you take a look at the "New Sex Now" video or dvd for a more modern approach to heroic acts.
Rating:
Summary: One of the Best-Loved Novels of all Time!
Review: This is a best-loved novel with good reason. Who hasn't heard of Don Quixote and his "tilting at windmills"? The novel was intended to be a satire on chivalry as experienced during Cervantes' time. The book was written in the late sixteenth century. But the book is much more than this. Cervantes leaves nothing sacred as he pokes fun at all the social and literary conventions of his day. The book also gives a very good picture of Spanish life and times as it was in the sixteenth century. There are lots of wonderful minor characters that Don Quixote meets along his way. Don Quixote and his faithful Sancho Panza introduce the reader to all kinds of human triumphs and foibles as they pursue their lofty adventures. This story is well worth reading if for no other reason than the story of Don Quixote has achieved a legendary spot in our culture.
Rating:
Summary: Grossman's Translation is a Delight
Review: This is a superb translation; Grossman captures the comic spirit of the book in modern, easy-to-read English. Every page is a delight. I'm deliberately reading this slowly (2 chapters a day) because *I NEVER WANT THIS BOOK TO END!!!* Over time, I am confident that Grossman's translation will rank as one of the very best translations ever of any text. Highly recommewnded for all readers.
Rating:
Summary: A matter of taste
Review: This is a wonderful translation. I first read Quixote seriously in the Putnam, and was completely swept away by it - the prose was just as readable as it is here, and Putnam communicated a love for the text in his notes (as well as a hatred for the translators that had butchered it before) that was a nice accompaniment to the actual story. Grossman's language is smoother, and I suppose Putnam's prose does have the dust of fifty odd years on it - but that isn't necessarily a bad thing. I don't mind if an old book reads a bit like an old book: slightly dated English gives a book a certain flavor. I like Putnam for the same reason I enjoy Maude's translations of Tolstoy. Grossman does write a better sentence, I think, and she certainly doesn't make the book any more colloquial than Cervantes did - although I was annoyed at her constantly having Sancho say Wassup. Putnam's Quixote, incidentally, is filled with notes: more notes than most people who aren't scholars will want. Every one of Sancho's proverbs is explained (and those aren't exactly the comic high point of the book, either) and he constantly takes potshots at Motteux and other translations, a la Nabokov when he translated A Hero of Our Time. They're sort of funny, but eventually you want him to get out of the way of Quixote, which is what one actually wants to read - not the translator's thoughts. But then again: a note can easily be skipped, and it's nice to have the extensive information that Putnam packs in, about the historical situation in Spain, potential variant readings of a passage, all the brouhaha about the fake second half of Don Quixote that actually ends up having a part in the book - and lots of other stuff. Still, a good translation of a book that can be read a hundred times in a hundred different ways is always worthwhile. Don Quixote truly never stops being funny or sad (especially when you know which parts can be skipped the second and third time around) - people who expect a dreary classic will be surprised to find an author that is as relevant today as he ever was. (Kidding about the Wassup.)
Rating:
Summary: laurel and hardy on horseback
Review: this is really two books. the seond written as a sequal to a very popular first book.
in the first, cervantes follows the style of using the quixoti storyline as a means of telling not only the tales of the man of la moncha, but to tell numerous short stories within the story. the quixoti tale here is excellent. the antics of our two heroes, quixoti and sancho panza his squire, are laugh out loud funny. every effort at chivalry made by our heroes turns out wrong. the stories within the story are only ok and actually detract from the main storyline.
the second book drops the stories within the story and simply tells the further tale of quixoti and panza. in this book, however, our heroes become simply the butt of everyone's jokes. they become entertainment for everyone they meet. it makes the story cruel and even sad. these two characters need to be laughed with, not at.
they remind me alot of laurel and hardy. as a result, you enjoy laughing at their antics and predicaments, but don't like simply making fun of them. that is the problem with part 2 of the story.
the book however is classic literature and one of the most oft cited of its time. any lover of literature must read this book.
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