Book Summary VIII (Don Quixote "Part 1" )

He is the most doubtless, courageous, chivalrous, intriguing figure to roam the countryside.
Yes it's Don Quixote of La Monza!!

It's strange, I could describe this book with one simple sentence or divulge myself in 250 paragraphs. Either way you would get an adequate understanding of Don Quixote. For his story is both complicated and simplistic.
It's incredibly difficult book to recommend. On the one hand I'd say it's too long. Most people just don't have the time commitment for a 900 page novel. Especially one that has such a simplistic story. But on the other hand it's those countless pages of conversations, Proverb,s philosophy and general human interaction that make up the true Spirit of the book. The main story itself is nothing more than a centrepiece to relay all these secondary tails on to.

So I'm left bewildered.
I'm not in the right frame of mind to recommend this book. It was one of my absolute favourite reads but at the same time it was slow and daunting. And I just can't foresee that many people wanting to try and track through it.
It's like describing the beauty of the sun. You can draw as many images of it is you want, you can talk of it as the greatest thing and known universe. You can worship it like a God. But to actually sit there and stare at it, will lead you to go blind.

It's a cultural Milestone if you understand Don Quixote then you will have a simpler time grasping stories made after it. It's become the reference material for so much. And itself makes reference to stories before it.
Rather they be the books of chivalry, Greek philosophies, Christian spirituality and even a few stories of Turkish, Moor and Arabic origin.

Or you could just flip a coin. Unless you're just going to read it so you can walk around and proudly Proclaim that you read a really long book. In which case don't waste any body's time. Your own included. I never understood why people do that with books. Oh it's really long that means it's really impressive if I read it. Not really it just means you're good at wasting your life or you just want to be the centre of attention. God knows we don't need more of that in the world.

Some have quoted this as the first modern novel. A book about the realities of the world. The letting go of superstition, the fighting back against the whimsy and the disbelief in the mystical. For indeed at no point do we ever encounter any ''real'' magic.
If you read it with the right frame of mind you could almost make this out as an atheist perspective on a religious world.
I think one would be stretching to go that direction but they can at least make an argument. Really I think it's about letting go of our romanticised past. We like to portray the world before us as a time of better living, brighter people and of simpler understanding. When the reality is that the past is usually more violent and riddled with crime.
The very people who are supposed to guide and protect us are often our biggest enemy. Rather it be a corrupted Clergy or Monarchy consolidating power within their own reach and manipulating the peasantry around them into believing that their subpar standard of life is as good as it's going to get. Even when evidence to the contrary exist like an ever-expanding Roman Republic, the age of Greek philosophers or even the Persian Empire. Of course all these have their problems too. They were far from peaceful. But they were certainly better off then the medieval people of Western Europe.
Just look at those famous Knights of old, those people of ''chivalry'' the very image that Don Quixote himself is trying so hard to emulate.
They were horrible men who pillaged, robbed and rapes the land around them. They stole from everybody and had little regard for their Common folk. Truly the people who resemble the Knights of old the best are the modern-day Mafia.
They ran protection rackets and would react violently to anybody that would oppose them. Only they're worse than the Mafia, because much of their power was granted through the state or buy a line of succession that guaranteed their title. So think of it like Mobsters with police badges.

In searching for his own adventure Don Quixote would go up against not an army or an opposing Knight but most of the time just the regular people trying to live their lives peacefully. His dedication to his quest would often intervene with other people's livelihood. His disturbance of the local Spanish communities got so out of hand that even the holy office* was beginning to make a search for him.
the outcome to Don Quixote's courage was usually a beating from the local peasants. More than once Don Quixote would be left with a bruised skull and broken ribs as his only reward.